Looking to increase my aerodynamics and thinking of fabricating the underbody of the car and add a few panels as well. Front lip spoilder looking to attach a sheet of metal and cover most of the area but leave most major components open or have a hatch drop for locations to get at.

I removed my rear seats and looking to redo the floor pans to make them flat and have an inner brace be made to hold the seats in and flatten alot of the under body basically to create more smoother surface area and leave hatch pockets for wires and pipe lines.

Curious if anyone else took this route and might want to offer a few tips for me and show me what they did.

Thanks



EDIT:

Found this on google images when i searched "corvette underbody"



Thought it was pretty neat, basically was thinking of something like this.

Also just found this too:

 

I highly doubt you're going anywhere near fast enough where an underbody pan like that would show any difference. Most aerodynamic improvements won't show any effect until at least 100 mph.

 

100mph is more attainable than expected but i'm enjoying my project for what i want. my car isn't any drag racer. :P

 

Drag improvements like this will work at lower speeds, typically starting to show measurable differences around 45mph or so, where downforce type mods (wings and spoilers) don't really do much but add drag at legal speeds.

The other side of this is that what you're hoping to do isn't easy if the car wasn't originally designed that way... you start sealing things up and stuff starts overheating, it needs a way out, and most street cars don't have any way besides under the car.

 

I don't have any suggestions for you, but I really want to see this done (I have been pondering it for a while). So keep the thread going.

Along with the heat issues, I think that mounting surfaces will be one of the hardest parts on a car that was not designed for this. Then you will need it easily removable, or panels for things like fluis changes. The solid rear axle on our cars also adds to the complexity.

 

If you've ever worked on something like a newer Z car or the equivalent G infinity you'll see that mounting this kind of thing isn't a problem (they have most of the front end covered, with plastic push pins).

 

The smooth underbody can do nothing but help.

But keep in mind the real goal is to allow minimal air under the car so that 1) it doesn't create drag by hitting undercar obstructions and 2) less air under the car = less lift and sometimes downforce if the air flows the right way.

 

thanks for all your inputs. I was looking into a drop, was considering a 2" drop spindle front and 2" drop spring rear, considering my car sits 27" front 28" rear. Also might look to mod around the mid belly and front nose at the time to clear open area, and leave some vent paths for things. I was thinking of cutting around the pan perhaps and having a mounted grill to it to disperse heat. if i cover some major less heated areas it would help a bit, just sucks for the major areas where heat it will create gaps to drag the car.. Another mod I had in perspective was the lsx swap and tubular k-member atleast would help, the rear end i was also considering, but it might just be doable. Also for rear wells and front. I've seen a few foreign cars do this, they have vents in the wells to allow air flow into the wheels? also they make it look like a tubbed well leaving no weird gaps, just perfectly tubbed almost. seem a few tiburons and other sportier foreign cars do this.

 

If you're looking for the most effecient method of evacuating hot air from areas of the car, do some studying on naca ducts. Hot air from under the hood must be exhausted, but there's no law saying it has to go out the bottom of the car! If hard driving for long distances is your thing, then brake heat is an issue too. Most easily solved by blowers and hoses. If there is no air moving over the transmission and rear end anymore, there are coolers and pumps to solve these issues! There is teardrop shaped tubing available for any suspension arms that are hanging out in the airflow. A full length belly pan is good, but there's lots of other methods and materials available to clean up the dirty side of a car...... Have fun!

 

NACA ducts are designed for getting air in, not out...

 

Anyone be able to supply full view of the under body of our cars? Currently cant get my car on the lift for quite sometime since i'm busy, but i have time late at night to do design work.

Do the curtains to much infront of the wheels. I see BMW and other high-end companys put flaps before the wheels, looks like it redirects it away from the wheels to reduce noise and air flow to it to create drag from what I can do. Also a cut out around oil pan and vent locations around major hot spots might help or extended heat extractors (heat sinks), like how drums are designs in the 80's. I've seen some made for oil pans and transmissions before.

 

this help

 

Perfect! thank you very much.

Looking over it, my only option is to level out the rear seats to the front seats and level out rear quarter with bumper. I'll keep looking..

Also I had a question.

Has anyone tried to refabricate the rear well with the rear compartment? I notice the gaps and angles that are after the rear wheels and look like theres major drag gaps to fill. Would leveling it and making tubs with rear vents help at all?