So i started thinking of getting a bunch of thin sheets of metal and creating a flat undertray for my CRX to improve flow under the car...

But, I'm not sure if it'll be beneficial.

Any ideas?

 

I'll find out soon with the airdam/undertray I wanna make....

I'd also like to make some canards and see if they help at all......

 

I recall Hondata did this to their CRX race car before moving to the US. I looked for info on it a few months back but couldn't find anything on it.

 

What head issues would this create?

Would you end up reflecting heat back onto things like fuel lines?

 

my design will stop before the control arms.

 

This would make it a huge pain in the *** to change the oil....
Not to mention, if you had a "moment" on track, and bent the front end up a bit, you would crumple the undertray up into something expensive, or down into the dirt, digging you in.
Yeesh. Don't want to think about that.....

 

how so , it wouldnt come back that far

basically a copy of the Realtime design to cut down on drag , if it gets ripped up so what
I'll keep the template around and make another , it will be very inexpensive to build.

I have no clue what you're talking about here.

its thin sheet metal , highly doubt it would cause much damage IF any....

rather that than hit tires.

 

After spending all weekend underneath the Miata, I can think of more than a couple of cooling hoses and other odds, ends, and belts that would get cut to ribbons with jagged thin sheet metal edges. (this is probably why the Miata comes with a *plastic* undertray--see earlier comment about the PITA to change oil--filter)Conversely, making the sheet metal thick enough to not tear like a tin can would add a lot of weight.
And still, hit something hard enough, and you'd be screwed anyway, agreed.

I am not sure that this hasn't been tried, or if it's legal in whatever class you choose to run. I'm just thinking it's too tempting to not have tried it. There has to be a reason you don't see this more often.

--Chris, who is bored at work, and just playing racecar theroy...

 

its not allowed in many classes.
it has been tried and used with great success where its allowed , look at the World Challenge cars , I will try this while doing track events but it is not allowed in the Honda-challenge so it would have to come off when the time comes.

 

oof.

 

So your design would be from the front bumper to the LCAs or the front LCAs all the way to the back of the car? I don't really see much benefit in the former case, just because it would become turbulent immediately afterward. The latter case could be beneficial but the exhaust/ CAT heat would be an issue ==> is their enough room room to get it above the exhaust?

If you can make a removable piece, then I say go for it, why not?

 

if you're wanting to flat out the whole underside, why dont you flay out the dr and pass side and leave most of the b-pipe exposed. this would give close to the same effect without the heat retention problems.?

 

my idea was to have a flat lightweight piece of aluminum or something that would begin at the front bumper, and extend back to the firewall. Then another section under the gas tank to the rear bumper.

I would either leave a channel (more likely), create a "Scoop" of some sort to force air into the engine bay, or have vents cut in the tray to allow heat to escape. This would prevent any heat issues.

what I'm looking at is, will it help with higher speed stability (90mph-120mph)?
Will it help out with reducing drag (and ultimately high speed acceleration)?

I would try to make it easy to remove for oil changes and such. I run D-Mod in autocross and i only do time trials with the car to get track experience/seat time...and if WCHC ever starts up.

 

Surprisingly, the stock design isn't that poor, and as long as you have all of the factory components in place, there's not a huge amount of room for imrovement. A key item often over looked is the rear exauhst heat sheild, not only does it keep heat away from the gastank, but it is also redirecting air from going over the top of the tank. Really, you "could" build something and make minimal gains, but the only large benefit of an undertray would be added downforce, and to do so the best way to do this is front to back with a chamber to scoop all the air you can grab and redirect. Personally, it's really not worth the time given how well the car performs in stock trim. Also, building these types of trays can get either heavy, or expensive quickly.

 

You mean Doug??????

Damn the geocities link from 3-4 years ago is dead.