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Best flowing grille ?

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domesticpower

Track Addict
190
135
NS
twistedneck said:
Most of the racecars that use a big opening front grill also have hood vents. All that extra air coming in needs to go out up through the hood vents not down toward the wheels causing lift. this was seen in the early days with the tiger racing hood.. starting 13 Ford added vents for the same reason, they are not cosmetic.

For even higher speeds you need to close the grill to outside air. you don't have to close it via the external surfaces just do what Ferrari does and create plastic sprung doors that close when there is enough force on the door to overcome the spring - presto - closed off grill at high speeds.

Easier said than done, anyone know of a way we can do this? PS. what is the best place to purchase the 302s grill?

Absolutely, a tiger racing hood is high on my list.

That's a good idea, I didn't think of that. I don't think Ferrari has grille shutters. Ferrari's active aero was to improve downforce if I remember correctly and if you're referring to the 458. The vanes were probably airfoil shaped and deflected at high speed due to increasing air pressure (dynamic) causing their angle of attack to change and increase downforce. This is all my opinion though, I don't know for sure how they work. Fabricating something like this would be very expensive because of all the aero testing and having to incorporate it in a grille or lower fascia somehow.

I would imagine the easiest way would be to machine a plate/flap into the shape of the grille, couple it to a small servo motor and connect that to an air speed sensor with a programable chip. Set the chip to signal on the motor at a certain air speed to close the plate/flap and reduce air. If someone can figure out how to tap into the car's speedo or OBD port for a speed signal to control the motor, that would be cheaper and save a few lb of wiring and controls. I would love to take on a project like that if I had the money for many trials and errors lol.
 
twistedneck said:
Most of the racecars that use a big opening front grill also have hood vents. All that extra air coming in needs to go out up through the hood vents not down toward the wheels causing lift. this was seen in the early days with the tiger racing hood.. starting 13 Ford added vents for the same reason, they are not cosmetic.

For even higher speeds you need to close the grill to outside air. you don't have to close it via the external surfaces just do what Ferrari does and create plastic sprung doors that close when there is enough force on the door to overcome the spring - presto - closed off grill at high speeds.

Easier said than done, anyone know of a way we can do this? PS. what is the best place to purchase the 302s grill?
Theres a lightly used grille for sale in the parts forum.
 
domesticpower said:
Absolutely, a tiger racing hood is high on my list.

That's a good idea, I didn't think of that. I don't think Ferrari has grille shutters. Ferrari's active aero was to improve downforce if I remember correctly and if you're referring to the 458. The vanes were probably airfoil shaped and deflected at high speed due to increasing air pressure (dynamic) causing their angle of attack to change and increase downforce. This is all my opinion though, I don't know for sure how they work. Fabricating something like this would be very expensive because of all the aero testing and having to incorporate it in a grille or lower fascia somehow.

I would imagine the easiest way would be to machine a plate/flap into the shape of the grille, couple it to a small servo motor and connect that to an air speed sensor with a programable chip. Set the chip to signal on the motor at a certain air speed to close the plate/flap and reduce air. If someone can figure out how to tap into the car's speedo or OBD port for a speed signal to control the motor, that would be cheaper and save a few lb of wiring and controls. I would love to take on a project like that if I had the money for many trials and errors lol.

Interfacing with the OBD has been done. Maybe not by anyone here (yet). I plan on a project that will interface with the OBD but I procrastinate lol. There was an engineer who hacked his car (a WRX IIRC) to use as a racing simulator. He could read the steering wheel, throttle, and brake inputs into an interface with the PC and just mounted a large monitor or projector in front of the car with the game running. With almost everything being fly-by-wire these types of projects will only become more common, IMO.

I think a hobby servo would have enough power to close the slats as long as they are rotating on their center line, but I would still be concerned about a plastic geared one. You can find cheap metal gear ones now since precision is not needed, just open vs closed. The mechanism to do it all could just be a bunch of control horns linked together with clevises and threaded rod from a model airplane catalog. I would be worried about how stiff the vanes/slats are, too, If they deform and bend inward they might get all jammed up.
 

domesticpower

Track Addict
190
135
NS
WinterSucks said:
Interfacing with the OBD has been done. Maybe not by anyone here (yet). I plan on a project that will interface with the OBD but I procrastinate lol. There was an engineer who hacked his car (a WRX IIRC) to use as a racing simulator. He could read the steering wheel, throttle, and brake inputs into an interface with the PC and just mounted a large monitor or projector in front of the car with the game running. With almost everything being fly-by-wire these types of projects will only become more common, IMO.

I think a hobby servo would have enough power to close the slats as long as they are rotating on their center line, but I would still be concerned about a plastic geared one. You can find cheap metal gear ones now since precision is not needed, just open vs closed. The mechanism to do it all could just be a bunch of control horns linked together with clevises and threaded rod from a model airplane catalog. I would be worried about how stiff the vanes/slats are, too, If they deform and bend inward they might get all jammed up.

That would be great. What's your project if you don't mind sharing before you finish it?

That's exactly what I was thinking. It wouldn't just affect front end grip but closing the slats should reduce drag coefficient so in effect it would be an automated DRS lol. I wonder how much difference a system like that would have on lap times. I would imagine minimal, but it would be cool nonetheless.
 
Well I plan on trying this kind of project out on my Focus SE. The Focus SFE package (and 2013+ SE) have active grille slats so I was thinking of trying to find a crashed one Focus with them install them. If the programming or wire harness is not in the car by default then I might have to make up my own box that can read engine temp and base the open vs closed status on that. Maybe speed as well. Not sure yet. As and EE I like to tinker and it would be a great learning experience.

Edit: never mind. Looks like mine is a "job 2" 2012 and has them. They are just way back in there so I never noticed. So that means I will go for active brake duct shutters for the Boss!
 

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