Nissan Spec-V: Part 21: Improving Aerodynamics Part III
2/16/2007
In our last segment Brian Kono of Afterhours Automotive was working on our Syndicate Customs aero kit to make it work better in a racecar and to increase the amount of downforce it could generate without increasing the drag.
We’re reaching the home stretch of our construction. Most of the difficult work is finished with the exception of the rear wing. We are waiting for our custom Aerodynamics Solution rear wing to be completed. The Aerodynamics Solutions piece is engineered to have an efficient downforce-to-drag ratio. Also its performance curves are fully mapped out which we will find most useful when determining the best place to mount and which angle to run the wing at.
Mounting the wing will require is to fabricate mounting struts in the area of the trunk so that area of the car is what still needs considerable work in the near future, as soon as we get the wing.
On our short list is the fabrication/mounting of canards/vortex generators to the front bumper, installing Aerolatches on our hood, mounting the rear wing and rear trunk lid, mounting our aerodynamic sideview mirrors, mounting Lexan side windows and sanding and clearcoating all of the new carbon pieces. Then we are just down to paint, graphics and initial chassis setup and we are ready for the first test sessions at the track!
Our Project Spec-V looks pretty in the sun outside of Afterhours Automotive
The front view gives you a look at how the hood, airdam and splitter look. In final form the front end will also have canards on either side of the bumper
Our Syndicate Customs hood received some additional venting. Kono custom molded these vent lovers and mounted them flush into the surface of the hood with epoxy. The more air that can be encouraged to flow out the top of the hood rather than under the car, the better the airdam and splitter will work to create downforce. The easier time the air has getting out of the engine bay, the less overall drag the car will have as well. The fact that the radiator will cool better is another plus. There is a reason why the JGTC cars have these vents.
The venting completed, we need to sand and clear coat the hood.
The Shields Lexan window is flush-mounted to reduce drag. Shields Lexan parts have a special coating to make them as scratch resistant as regular glas,s unlike regular Lexan which scratches and hazes very easily.
The front looks quite mean and purposeful. It could probably hold its own at a show but it is every bit functional.
The Kono-modified side skirt with its lip splitter is more effective at preventing air from curling under the car. The wake vortexes created by the canards we will install later will also help prevent this from happening. All of these aero tweaks will help us keep the pressure under the car lower than the top.
This is a closeup of the lip.
Remember the flange that Kono was shrinkforming in an earlier post? Well here it is, used to hold our carbon sunroof plug in place.
This is the view from the top.
This is after the carbon plug is installed. It will be clearcoated later.
Our rear diffuser installed on the car
The rear diffuser in side view. Hopefully this will give us enough downforce so we can set the car up to oversteer in the slow turns while gripping at high speeds.
Our oil cooler is plumbed with top quality Earls AN fitting and hoses, important since this is so critical for reliability of the engine.
The cooler shroud under construction. The cooler will take air though a vent in the front bumper located where the factory fog lights used to be and exit the air in the low pressure zone under the passenger side canard.
Kono fits up the duct sheetmetal
The inlet of the finished part
The outlet
The ram air box takes intake air from where the drivers side foglight used to be
The Jim Wolf Technology POP charger lives in the airbox
With the front end removed, you can see the location of the oil cooler and airbox in relationship to the front of the car