Sorry if this has been cover before or even beaten to death but I'm new to this forum and with my dial-up impossible for me to click and read every post.
On to the issue on hand.
It will be either A: impossible or B: very expensive for me to design and build a belly pan for my 92 Sidekick because of the low hanging exhaust system, front suspension deisign and solid rear axle.
So I have decided in order to keep as much air as possible from getting caught up under the frame I will need to build a HUGE air dam.
In order for this to work I will also need to block much of the grill to keep the air from getting into the engine bay to start with. No problems there. Also I should lower the front as much as possible to keep from having a really tall air dam.
To my question. Will this work? Or will I only be adding to the frontal area and thus defeating the purpose?
Another question. Adding wheel skirts may look really funny on this thing. Should I make a smooth liner insert for the wheel well. Or leave it open to let the air excape?
Afterwords, I need to find some sort of way of dealing with the convertible top. Either A: making a fiberglass shell or B: ??????
Thanks guys!
P.S. The air dam will be fabricated from a couple of used black 5 gallon buckets from work. They are used to sell chains at the hardware store I work at. When the full bucket of chain has sold a new bucket of chains arrive and the old bucket is stacked in the back.
I think this would be perfect for this as it's flexible and tuff at the sametime.
OK, I know it's been awhile, but I decided to build the airdam today.
Brought my plastic 5 gallon buckets to my parents house and started cutting it.
I placed the first bucket on the inside of the driverside wheelwell. The original plastic cover was gone. So I made a new one. Mostly to keep the mud from getting all over the door seal. Wind noise too.
Next was the lower grill opening below the front bumper.
I cut 2 pieces 5" tall and screwed them in from behind the grill. There was no reason at all for the opening to began with? The only thing behind the grill was the suspension and frame! The radiator is mostly above the bumper.
Then here is where it got interesting. I took a measurment of how low the frame and suspension hung down below the lowest section of my bumper.
8 freaking stupid inches!!!!!!!
I would have to make my airdam at least 9" tall to be effective. That would just look plain stupid!
So I decided against. Even if I lower the truck there will still be 8" of frame to block.
Here's a thread discussing the air dam. I think that it would not help with your application anyway. Any chance of doing partial belly pans covering the front and rear? If you don't have to wide of tires you might be able to make some wheel skirts. Just use duct tape at first and see how it works.
Maybe you could build something to divert the air to the sides, instead of underneath the body. I just thought that might be better since the suzuki is a narrow tall blocky vehicle, and you wouldnt want to send air over the top or underneath. you could then add wheel skirts and spoilers to add to the effect.
Front belly pan is out of the question. The distance from the bumper to the frame bracket holding the suspention arm is only about 4 inches. might as well be an air dam.
As far as the rear goes. Samething. Axle gastank rea bumper is only about 9 or 10 inches. This truck has almost no overhang.
The middle? Maybe? There is the tranmission bracket, driveshaft, exhaust and axle that are lower than the frame rails.
I'm pretty much screwed?
I need to take a picture. Been meaning too for awhile now. maybe this weekend.
Thanks guys!
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