after i got my front lip painted, i figured it was time to make a new splitter to both protect my lip and maybe double for aerodynamics. here is the finished product. I used econolite. the pieces that i bought did not come in a big 4' x 8' sheet so i had to work with what i had, 2' x 3' sheets. i only used 2 3' x 1' pieces to make this and just pieced it together. it is still very strong and it does NOT flex at all either when it's by itself, or on the car. I would have had the entire bottom side plated, but it wouldnt have cleared the undertray guard, which i plan on keeping. i have enough material to make 4 more of these given the same design.

 

Ohh, I like that last pic showing the underside, so how much did all of that cost?

 

i bought the sheet for 150. used about 1/4 of it. metal plates and fasteners were about 25 bucks ( i bought the nuts and bolts in bulk). i already had black primer. so i would say like 50-60 bucks in material.

 

...but it doesn't do anything, or look good.

 

I think its pretty cool. I'd like to make entire underbody panels someday, but theres a point where the weight of the panel "outweighs"(pun intended) the aerodynamic benefit. How much does a sheet of that weight, for example a 1' by 1' peice?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crazi-85crx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...but it doesn't do anything, or look good. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Go take a fluid dynamics class

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tommymoose &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think its pretty cool. I'd like to make entire underbody panels someday, but theres a point where the weight of the panel "outweighs"(pun intended) the aerodynamic benefit. How much does a sheet of that weight, for example a 1' by 1' peice?

Go take a fluid dynamics class </TD></TR></TABLE>

a rough guess... but i think a 1' x 4' was like, 8 oz.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crazi-85crx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...but it doesn't do anything, or look good. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i think many people on this forum would disagree, but the only one that looks funny and dysfunctional is you

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crazi-85crx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...but it doesn't do anything, or look good. </TD></TR></TABLE>

have you ever smacked the pavement and cracked a front lip? this prevents it.. protects the lip.

 

Splitters are made for aerodynamics. Yes they do somthing and they can look good.

Just check out the splitter on our car in this months Import tuner

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RedZone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Splitters are made for aerodynamics. Yes they do somthing and they can look good.

Just check out the splitter on our car in this months Import tuner</TD></TR></TABLE>

shameless plug

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr.E.G. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">shameless plug </TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe , but really Splitters do work....you can come to the shop too if you like to see it!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RedZone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe , but really Splitters do work....you can come to the shop too if you like to see it! </TD></TR></TABLE>

you're preaching to the choir my friend. i beleive in two things:

1. jfk was assasinated by a second gunman

2. aerodynamics are awesome.

 

fremont? not far from where i live lol. just maybe, just maybe one day when i pass by.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr.E.G. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you're preaching to the choir my friend. i beleive in two things:

1. jfk was assasinated by a second gunman

2. aerodynamics are awesome.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

can you post some better pictures on how you mounted the splitter to the bottom of the lip/car?

 

yeah real splitters work. but not this one, it's flat against the bottom of the lip, real splitters are slanted downward to direct air. the only function i see for this splitter is to protect the lip. imo i think it looks stupid.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuangAlang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah real splitters work. but not this one, it's flat against the bottom of the lip, real splitters are slanted downward to direct air. the only function i see for this splitter is to protect the lip. imo i think it looks stupid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats incorrect. there are plenty of race cars that use splitters that are mounted parrallel to the ground.

i will agree that the usefulness of this particular splitter is limited. but it has nothing to do with the reasons you listed. the limit of this splitter isnt so much the splitter design it self but rather due to the other supplemntary features of the car. for example the metal guard under the engine protrudes quite a bit into the air flow which will limit the potential of the splitter adn there are several other things that would need to be optimised. but the splitter itself is not much different from what you would expect to see on amtuer race cars, and in some cases professional race cars.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuangAlang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah real splitters work. but not this one, it's flat against the bottom of the lip, real splitters are slanted downward to direct air. the only function i see for this splitter is to protect the lip. imo i think it looks stupid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

also i should point out that im not trying to be a dick to you, im just saying that you are mistaken. its not a personal attack or anything. aerodynamics are often misunderstood since there are countless examples of people using aerodynamic tricks that arnt correct.

im not going to mke too bold of a statement, but i will say that a good number of the japanese manufacturers who make overpriced aero parts, dont use the off the shelf stuff on thier rcae cars and that the vast majority of that stuff is uber ricer bling.

i used to think that alot of that stuff was cool as hell until i became educated on the subject and then i started to notice numerous instances where function took a back seat to creative design and visual appeal.

again, no offense to you. can you post some pics of what you think his splitter should look like. im just curious as to why you think what you think.

and another point that should be brought up is why is it that when you loomk at a racing series where all of the cars are of similar design, all of the cars will have nearly identical aerodynamic aids. but these japanese aero kit manufacturers all take a completley different approach to thier aerodynamics. why is that? they are making the same part for the same cars, shouldnt they look virtually the same?

well they dont, which should give you a good indication that there is a lot of guess work and creative liberties being taken, yet they are all pawned off as being race parts.

im not saying its all crap, but common sense tells us that if you have the same shape and two different companies that are supposedly selling the same part yet they are totally different in design. someboady has to be right and somebody has to be wrong.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuangAlang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah real splitters work. but not this one, it's flat against the bottom of the lip, real splitters are slanted downward to direct air. the only function i see for this splitter is to protect the lip. imo i think it looks stupid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

actually, this splitter is slanted downward towards the front.

 

yeah i know what you guys are saying about splitters smoothing out the air flow on the bottom of the car. there are a lot of reasons why race cars use splitters: imrpove air flow under the car, redirecting air for cooling systems, and down force, some are even wing shape to help with down force; the more air that travels under your car the more downforce youre gonna have. im just talking about this particular one, it has no engineering involved, no time in a wind tunnel, it was made by "guestimation"on what a splitter should look like. common if you saw this homemade splitter on a street car wouldnt you laugh???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuangAlang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">there are a lot of reasons why race cars use splitters: imrpove air flow under the car, redirecting air for cooling systems, and down force, some are even wing shape to help with down force; the more air that travels under your car the more downforce youre gonna have.</TD></TR></TABLE>

u create downforce by directing more air over the car. u want to create a vaccuum under the car. get your physics straight before you make any more comments.

and go look up some really $300 dollar splitters. they are all just a flat piece of CF, sheet metal, or ABS plastic. not much R&D to make a splitter. go look up the road race forum if u don't believe me. the stupid ones are those spending over a 100 on a splitter when it's going to be banged up in the long run and scraping all over the place.

 

I dig it dude...very cool

 

you are waaaaaaaaaaaay off. you really are very confused about splitters my friend. you want LESS air flowing under the car. the ideal situation is a small amount of air flowing under the car at a high velocity.

lets etablish something before we go any further. splitters are the horizontal protrusion of the bumper. a lip (also known as air dam or front spoiler) is the vertical extenion of the bumper.

often the two are incorporated into one piece and one can impact the other, but make no mistake about it, they are seperate devices.

here is how a splitter works:

imagine you drop a bowling ball in a swimming pool. the water will diverge around it. well cars traveling through air cause the air to do the same thing. the very front of most production cars are relatively flat. so when the air hits this part of the vehicle it will spread out and flow either up down or sideways. obviously we dont want the air to go under the car, we want it to go over the car. the splitter simply keeps the air from traveling downward so that the only direction that the air can go is sideways or upward. removing the possibility of the air going downward slows the air on top of the splitter and as we know from bernoulis teachings, the slower the air moves the more pressure it makes. this pressure pushes down on the splitter and presto change-O we have downforce.

heres a pic showing the same car with and without a splitter

without a splitter:




you can see that the air goes under the car just as much as the air goes over the car.


with:



as you mentioned earlier some cars angle the splitter. but you were wrong when you said that that is the only way that it will make downforce. in the above explanation there was no mention of angling the splitter and that wasnt a mistake.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO ANGLE THE SPLITTER TO MAKE DOWNFORCE

increasing the angle can increase downforce but it can also increase drag. for an amatuer without access to a lot of testing equipment you should just keep it parrallel to the ground.


i am not saying this stuff to sound like a dick or to make you look foolish, but you really dont know what you are talking about and you sure the fvck dont need to be talking badly about someone else and criticizing them for something that you are very misinformed on.

maybe his design doesnt look too pretty, but you are not correct in your evaluation of it. as i mentioned earlier there are certain things that are holding his splitter back from being really beneficial, but the splitter itself isnt too shabby.

also, for you to say that his splitter cant work because he hasnt used a wind tunnel is rediculous. a lot of people build thier own intakes, and they never use a flowbench to make sure its completely optimal.

could it be improved upon? yes. but is a wind tunnel entireley necessary? well lets just say that unless you are talking about mugen, none of the japanese aero kit manufacturers use wind tunnels.

as far as you being misinformed about aerodynamics, dont feel bad, most people are. again i am not calling you out or any of that ****, but i do recommend you chill with the **** talking since you are so wrong. if you wish to become better infromed on the subject all you have to do is ask and i will point you in the right direction. as several people on here can probably confirm i will talk about aerodynamics until im blue in the face. i will be glad to help.

i am by no means an expert but i know a thing or two, thats for sure.

 

errr thats a good start but you really aren't doing much with such a little amount of flat area under the car. Also the are can get through the "air dam" and "spliter" were they meet.


good start but IMO it isn't going to do much.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slammed_93_hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">errr thats a good start but you really aren't doing much with such a little amount of flat area under the car.
good start but IMO it isn't going to do much.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree partially. i think the flat underbody should be extended a little further, but you have to consider that the air from the radiator has to go somewhere so you cant block off too much of the underbody.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slammed_93_hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Also the are can get through the "air dam" and "spliter" were they meet.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree with this. i would cut out a piece of the flat material and seal that section.