damian

iTrader: (2)

in an effort to reduce high temps at the track i wanted to follow some others in ducting the radiator better so that more air is forced through it rather than around it... so i did the first step, close the big gaps between the underpanel and the car body...

Here is the right side:


Here is the left side:


Here is a shot from the inside of the nose, of the right side, showing the coverage:


All I used was some foam stripping, sheet metal, and rivets. I mocked up shapes from cardboard. It is not 'air tight' just yet, but lets just say its dripping blood rather than gushing from the jugular...

If people want i will make pdf templates like i did with my intake sheild....

cow

Wow.. nice analogy. :s

Very good work though, I love fabbed or custom stuff.

darkness

Good work. Record some before and after temperatures.

damian

iTrader: (2)

thanks guys, ill post the temps i see at the track tuesday and see if they drop a bit

Radical Rotary Avantgard

Great minds think alike!!!!
I am doing just that with my 99 spec front bumper and under tray.
Yours looks very nice, I am still cutting and bending the aluminum sheets to adapt.
Waiting on the new 99 spec air ducts for the oil coolers and brakes from Mazdacomp.
Report your results.

damian

iTrader: (2)

very cool RRA

Mr. Stock

Are you using the 93-95 undertray? Or is the 99 spec undertray different and available.
I know that there is a Mazdaspeed undertray for the 99 nose.

FDeez

You don't mean the one on the page mentioned below costing near $1000 do you? I think it seems like a cool product, but just way overpriced.

http://www.jt-imports.com/Mazdaspeed_FD_Parts_List.htm

RonKMiller

I think your sheet metal work is just great, and I can really appreciate the amount of time you've taken to do the templates. There are truly about a dozen guys on this forum who have the ability to innovate and not just
throw endless amounts of cash and bolt on stuff in their quest to go faster, stay cooler, etc. You are leading the way in coming up with new ideas with your ability to think outside the box.

But consider this: now that you've got more fresh air directed at the radiator how do you get it out?
There are two sides to the equation that will allow more efficiency, and the other half is exhaust. There is a point where you can present as much air, "a high pressure area" to the front of the radiator as you want, but it will just cavitate and not flow unless you allow for an equal "low pressure" area behind it to extract it.

Certainly a vented hood would help dramatically, but every time you have ducting/cowling on the skin of the car you are disturbing the laminar flow, and quite possibly slowing you down from the extra parasite drag enountered at higher speeds.

While I don't do any racing, I do enjoy some very spirited and extended high speed driving here in southern Arizona and I like the look of a completely stock car.

With my ghetto mod of using the existing NACA ducts on the sides of the car to evacuate engine room air I have noticed an incredible difference in under hood temps, and I *think* a large part of it is due to the improved efficiency of the radiator. I have temp sending units installed on the bottom of my leading edge plugs and as hard as I push it I cannot get them over 200F. At sustained 90 to 110 mph driving they go down and stabilize at 185F. I'm not really concerned that much with water temps since they fluctuate wildly all the time depending on the type of driving.

Food for thought for your next "ghetto" mod.

I know I'm going to be fabricating some of your ducting in the near future.

As they say: "innovate or die".

damian

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the kind words Ron, and ur right, i should look at the mod you did to get more air out of the engine bay... I did save off the images you posted and the instructions, maybe I'll do it up this weekend.

...hey what was the original color of your car?

RonKMiller

It's still VR and looks awesome - I just had it professionaly polished (first time) recently for $175.00. I can't BELIEVE I actually paid someone to do it for me but it was worth every nickle. They even removed the spoiler to get at the hatch paint. I just know if I tried it I would have screwed it up.

It looks really orange in those pix due to my 5 year old digital camera which has since been replaced.........

I'm going to do some serious insulating of the intake manifold, intake tract, and intercooler this fall for my next project. Cheap horsepower? We'll see..

Radical Rotary Avantgard

Mr.Stock, you really don't need the 99 spec under tray.
It is the same as the 93-95 with the only difference being, that it does not have that small flap or scoop on top of it.
Take my word, you DON'T need it, unless you want to throw away $90 bucks.
In order to fit the old under tray, all you need to do is remove the rivets for that flap and your done.

RonKMiller, you are definitely right you have to be able to exit all that air out, so that's why I'm getting a KS hood.
On the subject of disturbance of flow and parasite drag,
I see your point and even though I agree, I don't think we can feel or notice the difference.
The only way of knowing if it really affects performance and how much, it can only be measured on a wind tunnel.

More power to the wanna be engineers.
Keep the gehtto mods coming.

damian

iTrader: (2)

>>It looks really orange in those pix due to my 5 year old digital camera which has since been replaced.........

:-)

damian

iTrader: (2)

well, on the freeway it seemed to only drop temps a few degrees, and at the track it was not really noticable, however turning on my heat all the way dropped the temps 5-10 degrees (hehehe)

Brentis

so... i love the fab work.. but is it possible that some of the open orifices were designed into the cooling of the engine system? Haven't given too much thought about it, just a thought. Like Ron K. said water temps are not everything. What about oil/engine temps? Clueless here but thogught I'd ask the question..

damian

iTrader: (2)

agreed brentis, i also think it has to do with what some mentioned earlier, it dosnt matter if i restrict more flow through if only so much can get out, in other words, vent the engine bay to see any gain

David Beale

My thinking is that this reduces fan operation only. That is, the fans suck the air through the rad. What you are doing just seals the intake area of the rad. forcing more air through at speed. It shouldn't affect the air flow that the fans cause.

I'm working under there right now, trying to do better cool air intake (those who have fab.ed from the pass. side oil cooler duct are better men than I - I gave up in frustration).

As far as hot air out of the bay, it does flow out under the car. A vented hood is cool (pun intended), but $$$$.

Cihuuy

wow... all that work for free!?! first you made custom template for the air filters and now this... boy, you are my hero Damian!!

question: im a bit lost regarding the pix... im only familiar wiv the last pix...

damian

iTrader: (2)

heheh, thanks cihuuy :-)

i get a LOT of help from this forum, so I don't hesitate to try and contribute back when i can.

>>first you made custom template for the air filters and now this...

does this mean you want to see some templates for these? I didnt get a response when i asked if templates were wanted, so i figured no one cared...

>>question: im a bit lost regarding the pix... im only familiar wiv the last pix...

do you mean they are to close up so you cant tell where it is on the car? I can make a pic that is more 'zoomed out' to show a more 'global' view of where they went

bureau_c

If its not too much trouble I'd certainly like to see the templates. I thought it was assumed that everyone wanted them :-)

jds

DaedelGT

I'd love to see the templates as well. After taking everything out of the engine bay those big gaps are very noticeable.

damian

iTrader: (2)

hmm, dam, i think i toosed the original carboard templates after i got no initial response.... I'll see what i can do.

Cihuuy

templates would be great... it seems you are like a perfectionist or something... so take your time...

i just put my turbo back and cant wait to take the Rx for a ride... maybe, just maybe your templates would be done by the time i finish putting her back... hikhikhik

damian

iTrader: (2)

:-)

RonKMiller

I second the motion - especially for the radiator - that would save a LOT of time.

I love PDF's. Serve'em up!