Made a difference to mine at motorway speeds and above
I'd bite, but getting them to me will be the big issue.If it’s a case of getting aero advantage from the spoilers and not originality you can make them out of sheet alloy. I was thinking of scanning a 3500 front end and modeling some myself as I can make them at a pretty reasonable price I reckon. Would that interest anyone?
Where are you? I might have other options.I'd bite, but getting them to me will be the big issue.
Post is a non starter and couriers will break the bank.
Man I'd love to get my hands on one of those spoilers but I'm way too late! I knew I recognised the air-ducts but couldn't place it - thanks for the infoI think I bought the last of Scott's front spoilers, it is modelled like the Torana A9X front with two big brake ducts in the front. They look very cool but I haven't put it on as its one piece and goes right across all three panels and I haven't finished playing with the front yet.
I think they don't greatly enhance the aero in terms of overall drag. I think what they do is prevent pressure building around the valence and front wheelarch causing lift at high speeds. Lots of BL cars of the era got something similar like the Dolly sprint. Even late Allegros. Basically welcome to the motorway age for old designs in the late 70s.So these front spoilers obviously work as has been confirmed by the many people who have them but as an aerospace engineer, I wonder exactly what they do? Clive's awesome car has bumper, overrider and foglight right in the airflow to the spoiler itself so direct airflow would be extremely turbulent. These items in the airfow would upset it enough for the to just dissipate randomly I expect so not causing any specific impact. I expect however that at speed the air flows downwards from above and behind the bumper and is also pushed outwards by the bulge in the front valence. This airflow must cause a pressure on the valence and result in an upwards force at speed which makes the car wander. The spoilers break up that airflow resulting in the weight of the front of the car firmly planting itself on the tarmac at any speed.... Just a thought!!!
I would agree with that, I think the spoilers push the air out sideways, instead of letting it continue under the valance.So these front spoilers obviously work as has been confirmed by the many people who have them but as an aerospace engineer, I wonder exactly what they do? Clive's awesome car has bumper, overrider and foglight right in the airflow to the spoiler itself so direct airflow would be extremely turbulent. These items in the airfow would upset it enough for the to just dissipate randomly I expect so not causing any specific impact. I expect however that at speed the air flows downwards from above and behind the bumper and is also pushed outwards by the bulge in the front valence. This airflow must cause a pressure on the valence and result in an upwards force at speed which makes the car wander. The spoilers break up that airflow resulting in the weight of the front of the car firmly planting itself on the tarmac at any speed.... Just a thought!!!
I was sure you were about to hire out Thruxton race circuit to drive both clockwise and anti-clockwise, letting the stopwatch decide.even better would be to only have one spoiler fitted,
That’s a great piece of problem solving. To your point of the wind tunnel I’ve used CFD software along with a 3D scan to solve aero issues in the past. I’m looking at solving an issue with heat flow from the radiator on an XJR-15 at the moment. The heat from radiator in the nose follows the nose and around the A pillar and into the tiny opening in the window. The cad cooks the driver in about 15 mins. So I’m looking at ways of disrupting the laminar flow along the surface to the window.Well there is only so much theorising you can do, sometimes you just got to go and try something and see what is going on.
Off on a tangent, I worked for a company building replicas of the Jaguar SS100, these were fitted with an XK 4.2 lump. The cars had twin SU carbs with individual mesh filters, they would not rev beyond 3500 rpm.
This was driving everyone nuts, we could not crack the problem. I removed the filters and still no good. I was convinced it was a carb issue, so I got the bonnet removed and laid on the front wing and running board so I could watch the carb air slides and someone belted the thing up the road, sure enough the air slides were not going past half way.
After mulling this over a thought occurred to me that the air was rushing past the carbs so hard that maybe they could not pull any air in, I made some crescent shaped covers to fit on the leading edge of the filters to create a negative pressure area in front of the carb venturi, the car went up the road and revved to nearly 6k. This taught me to never be afraid to try anything no matter how daft it seemed.
We have better tech nowadays, you can put a go pro under a bonnet or wing and record all you need.
Short of hiring a wind tunnel I cannot think of another way to find out the airflow over the front end.
I have no complaints regarding my rather over size spoilers, the car is rock steady at 100 mph plus, but I have not taken the car to that speed without them, so who knows, they may be just good rabbit catchers. I guess I need to find a ball of wool !
That’s a great piece of problem solving. To your point of the wind tunnel I’ve used CFD software along with a 3D scan to solve aero issues in the past. I’m looking at solving an issue with heat flow from the radiator on an XJR-15 at the moment. The heat from radiator in the nose follows the nose and around the A pillar and into the tiny opening in the window. The cad cooks the driver in about 15 mins. So I’m looking at ways of disrupting the laminar flow along the surface to the window.