Quote:
Originally Posted by Nerds laugh at me
ChrstphR : I added the VW emblem to the front of the grille.
*snip*
EDIT : I just viewed the picture that you posted of your car. NICE hubcaps !
Can you post a good picture of them so I can add them to the model ?
As smooth as they appear to be, they should function just as well as 'moon' wheels.
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Whoo, the front emblem is something I didn't yet have in place -- I've gotten the hubcap logo sized up, after many attempts.
And the hubcaps, I don't have a photo per se, but I took measurements ... I'm in the process of trying to model those right now, what I need to do is take depth measurements to get all the details right -- they're not flat hubcaps, like the ones on my mom's ol' 1980 Impala.
My back is killing me from a no-obvious-cause pull around my shoulder blade today, but I'll try to get a few of those remaining depth measurements found out in the next few days. I'll forward a drawing, even if it's only 2-D, of the stock Jetta hubcaps when I get that much done. If I get the whole thing done up, then I'll send that, as well.
The hubcaps on my Jetta "Greta", are the stock model's steelie covers. The model I dug up and sent your way it has the GLI (or GLS?) model alloy wheels, which are nice, but probably not as nice from an aerodynamic standpoint.
And since you mentioned it, here's what I'm hoping to accomplish with my car after getting semi-accurate model with an engine/underbody:
Nearer term ideas:
- Rear wheel spats.
- Fair in / block most of the extraneous radiator intake vents.
- Re-mount either a stock, or an aftermarket skid plate. I'm running without, and I know it's a noisier car without that extra bit of sound deadening. It's probably costing me quite a few points on my Cd as well.
- Full undertray, built up in stages, out of coroplast. There's room to improve from the front valance to the stock/aftermarket skidplate, and before the front wheels. I'd have to avoid any hotspots like the exhaust, too, but most of the ares under the passenger compartment, and the trunk can be improved upon, too.
- Wiper fairing just after the end of the hood, before the windshield. trebuchet03 and I bantered about this idea in another thread.
Longer term ideas, when I have access to my Dad's garage a few provinces away... These ideas are listed from most practical, to more fanciful. I doubt I'll achieve them all, but hey, why not throw the ideas out?
- Full undertray. (Metal supports and maybe Al-plastic-Al sandwich material like that used on signage, excepting the area already well covered by the stock or aftermarket skid plate)
- Proper air-intake to Radiator fairing, that funnels outward from the intake to the radiator in a venturi tunnel/diffuser shape.
- Reshape the front wheel wells for closer tolerances, and/or make fibreglass outer fenders to shape the trailing edge of the wheel wells to allow for better airflow.
- Model various fairings for the mirrors, to see if any give reasonable benefits.
- Fastback modification. If modelling fails to make this work well, I'd consider keeping my eye out for a Jetta TDI wagon, and consider modifying the roofline so it gradually slopes downward after the front seats, at an 11? angle.
- Or, basjoos-inspired fastback/teardrop fairing to improve the drag from the roof and the back end of the car. (pending local laws permitting such things)
Of course, after being able to model a car "stock" and with some of those modfications, I can decide which of the low-hanging fruit give the best improvements in airflow and drag.
Overall, I'd like to make changes that make the car maintain it's stock look, and/or modifications have to be reversable, to return to stock.
Sometimes trunks are useful things when fulled full of groceries, and closer fitting wheel-wells may not work well in winter due to ice and snow buildup. All in all, I still need a reasonably practical car; and other people will be more likely to make changes to their own vehicle that don't change the outward appearance of the car appreciably. If a full undertray's worth 5mpg or more, and no one sees it, it's a more compelling reason to make the change.
One of the benefits to modelling for CFD purposes, will be a bit of testing on the cheap, to refine better ideas before endlessly making physical prototypes.
The auto industry does this already, to reduce R&D costs. I like the idea of building a wiper fairing ... but I don't like the idea of making 12 variations of a fairing, and then doing A-B-A testing on each to verify that one's marginally better than the others.
Another benefit will be -- dimensioned drawings can easily be made from the modelled modification parts, which'll allow for more OEM looking parts to be made for myself, and allow other tinkerers to make their own fairings and parts that will fit their same cars too.
This allows more rigorous testing -- more people to reproduce the results, real-world. I know I would've made some underbody fairings to make a belly pan by now, if someone
ELSE made up plans and drawings and a nice how-to already. But that really hasn't happenned, for my Jetta yet.
Thus, instead of waiting for someone else to hand that to me on a silver Jetta... erm, platter, I meant... it looks like I have to do that legwork myself, well with a bit of help from folks like you, Nerds laugh at me.
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