I'm building my Camaro into a silver cup ready racecar. But its also going to be streetlegal. Im looking to get speeds of up to 160+...anyway, looking at the body the other night I realised I could probably clean up the aerodynamics quite a bit. I'm going to be sanding the car completely down and repainting it. I was thinking while I do that, why not use some bondo to fill the seams in between the nosepiece and front fenders.

While im at it, I'm going to install a 5" tall iroc spoiler, and I was thinking about smoothing out the hatch to spoiler joint with bondo. I just dont want a whole lot of rough spots on the exterior when it comes to the aerodynamics.

Shaving the door handles would be a good thing too.

Another spot would be the the headlights. The headlight pockets on Camaros cant be overly aerodynamic. I was thinking about clear headlight covers, abd again filling the edges with bondo for a seamless look. Same with the GFX seams....fill and smooth with bondo.

Has anyone ever done anything like this? Im sure I could effect the highspeed feel to the car...if not I think it would look really cool to have a totally seamless, very aerodynamic looking car.


Please post any comments about aerodynamics mods, pictures, tips or ideas!

 

I really, really don't honestly think that little subtle modifications like that will make any noticable difference in performance whatsoever.

Might be interesting to see done though. It would have to be a really really clean job to look good. I don't see how you can Bondo metal and polyurethane together and have it not crack... and I'm not really sure how you could bondo plastic headlight covers to it either. I'd expect things to crumble apart.

Now you could do all this and prove me completely wrong and have one heck of a unique car, but that's my take on it.

 

Plus, if you ever had to remove your GFX, or the nose of your car, or your spoiler, for any reason....

 

The only thing that would even be of any real concern is covering the headlight pockets and extending the front gfx. Everything else would be very minimal if it even helped at all.

 

Headlight pockets, front gfx and rear spoiler is all I've decided to do. too much trouble and money to do what I was thinking about earlier.

 

Bondo+Car=POS

I would NEVER do that to a nice car, after all, all you are doing is putting mounds of brown sh*t on your car and painting it. If you want to fix the seems of the car get a one piece fiberglass nose clip, as far as the spolier goes those have been known to cause drag. I'de just get a nose clip and headlight covers, spend the rest of your money on the engine/drivetrain/paint.

 

Good luck finding a 5" IROC spoiler. If you haven't heard/read, they don't make them anymore. You might have to add onto it to get the extra inches. With all the other bondo work you did, I bet you could do it.

IF you do find the 5" IROC spoiler, let us know a lot of people want one on the board.

*edit* I just read the 5" IROC thread and realized there is a supplier out there.

-Jesse

 

If you fill the seems w/ bondo there is a very good chance the bondo will crack soon after you've finished. Bondo isn't the best material and the body flexes too much.

 

I was just thinkin about some of your plans. One thing that would take out two birds with one stone is getting a new one-piece front clip. Somebody makes a one piece front clip and it is the front bumper and both fenders all in one piece and all fiberglass. Being that it is all fiberglass, you would not have fewer lines to mess with, and it will be much lighter.

I believe that it is made 2" longer for some reason (probably for dragsters) so you would have to cut two inches off of the rear of the fender so it would line up correctly, but I read that for the same product at a different place so it could be different.

It has the front chin spoiler integrated with it (85-89 style), but they did not inetegrate it so the line is still there. You are also going to have to cut holes out of it for the headlights, blinkers, and grill.

The one I'm looking at is in Classic Industries magazine (http://www.classicindustries.com) is part number CFC4 and costs $645.95 and is shipped by truck freight.

-Jesse

 

Forget about the 5" spoiler and start thinking about an adjustable spoiler similar to what NASCAR uses. If you're looking for 160mph stability, you're going to want adjustability.

I would also suggest replacing the front bumper cover & lower valance with fiberglass pieces. The urethane stuff will probably twist up and flap like a pretzel at 160mph. You'll want a cover underneath the front of the car too. it'll keep air out of the engine bay and from underneath the rest of the car. You can make it adjustable as well. Smoothing your floor pans and making some shields to keep air out of the transmission tunnel and the rear axle area will probably help too.

 

dont use bondo, at all... to "seal" any seams, that will just fall off and your paint will start to crack all over the place, it will be horrible, just don't use bondo unless you really have to, i have seen guys making an entire spoiler out of that crap (yeah, that worked out real good)

 

i don't think it would make a difference at all, or even work, but if it did work, i think it would probably look cool.

 

Try installing some fender vents, like found on 80-81 camaros and the BMW Z3...

Alot of people don't know they are actually functional...

When air enters the fender area, since it's blocked off at the back it has no where to go so therefore at high speeds it causes the front end to raise up....

By installing a vent near the back of the fender, you are actually creating a exit for all that air, therefore you are actually helping to lower the car while you are at high speeds.....

 

If you're trying to lower the drag, get rid of the side view mirrors and radio antenna. Both will help clean things up. Running without a wing will help too. The factory ground effects will also create more drag than running without them. For racing, you can tape all the seams with racers tape (i.e. body colored duct tape). Remove the wipers as well. Blocking off and taping shut the foglight opening should help some as well, since cooling should not be a problem at 160. One of the mainstream car mags had a open road racer third-gen article a few years ago, where the guy did a belly pan and rear diffuser duct. That will help tremendously, and will also generate downforce with a much smaller drag penalty than a big 'ole 5" tall wing.

 

Instead of a ugly 5" IROC spoiler, why don't you put on a 87-90 GTA spoiler. They actually create downforce at speeds. Stay away from the 91-92 GTA spoilers, they create upforce at speeds. Also, you might want to look into making a belly pan because the underside of a third gen is NOT smooth. Talk about instability at speeds above 100 MPH! More air ovder the top of the car and less underneath, thats what you need.