any one thought of t or have suggestions on how best to accomplish it

So you're wanting to cut down on turbulence underneath the car for better fuel economy I take it?

If that's what you're looking for, check out ecomodder.com. Most are using coroplast, one guy there used pieces of aluminum off of an old garage door. Not an Accent, (this is on a Pontiac Vibe) but this guy did a pretty good job.

cleanmpg.com or gassavers.org may be a good place to look also on the subject.

This post has been edited by hoosieraccent: Sep 8 2008, 08:52 AM

fiberglass! it would be pretty simple to do. Use flexible wood as a base and then just tape a large sheet of plastic to it and then FG your self the shape you want. (the plastic should tear off . If you wanted to really do it right use PVA it's a mold release agent. you could also try waxing it.)

yeah i should have but for economy sake in there. and to keep the engine bay warmer during the long and frigid winters. but mostly to say i have one. the f/g things sounds ok but heat would be an issue i found out. i looked into it a bit and it was made clear that the exhaust system then creats enough heat to start melting inportant things if the belly pan is done wrong. i mostly only want to do it up to right before the rear beam and then continue at the spare tire tank and finish at the bumper.

that would be expensive to fiberglass the underbody of a car,
not to mention the stench would really p i s s your neighbors off.

I vote for coroplast and/or aluminum sheeting.

This post has been edited by fonque: Sep 9 2008, 12:06 AM

my first choice was aluminum

still no one will give me ideas on how to do ittt

if your going to use AL just get a thin board like I said before... zip tie the board to the underside of your car and trace it with a straight edge. Then get a big sheet of AL and lay the board down and clamp it to the board with the board on top. Cut it out :)


You need to find out where you can put bolts or self tapping screws into it. Or use whats there allrdy. it will work. I might end up doing something like this to protect the car for when I race.

I might end up using kevlar and FG because it's very light and a good composite can be just as strong as steel. AL bends to easy


http://www2.dupont.com/Kevlar/en_US/products/fiber.html


If I do that I will wrap the exhaust in insulation or metal heat tape

when it comes down to it. To do it right nothing is really cheap and you get what you pay for ...

This post has been edited by Glock23: Sep 9 2008, 02:41 AM

card board makes good molds to use to make a stencil to cut out....
if you are going to do this you could/should look at a front air dam and splitter too...


you can zip tie the card board make all modifications to it get it perfect then trace it out on a sheet of aluminum and use shears to cut it or a nice cut off wheel....use your preference on mounting(screws, bolts, etc) and viola!

thought about diffuser holes in the lower section of the rear bumper??

No! but now that you mention it, whats my bennifit? does it help join the air upper and lower air flows to cut down on the rear air drag?


This post has been edited by nobodieshero07: Sep 10 2008, 09:48 PM

ok so. i made two calls today. one to a custom fiberglass shop. and one to a custom sheet metal shop. custom fiber glass place is 9$/sqft. sheet metal is about 90 bucks. i over estimated and told them both it was 4x4 so im lookin at 144 ish for fiber glass and about 90 ish for sheet metal. soo my question is. would it be better to use sheet metal or fiber glass? i told both of them that i want a one inch deep channel in the center ish portion of it so to have an area to channel air properly. so really the under body of my car is going to drop an inch PLUSS the 1.2-1.7 ish that i drop it next year with lowering springs plus the three lower strut bars that i now have too redo if i do the belly pan. any thoughts?

my thoughts?

live without it. seems like it'll cause you more trouble than it's worth.

This post has been edited by isaac1909: Sep 17 2008, 10:21 AM

+1
I feel the same way, it wont do much performance..use that money for I/H/E which will do more to ur car.
jmtc

http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/car_aerodynamics/

thats all i could find in about two minutes....

not to get offensive or anything but this forum is dead as of late. nothing new is getting said and people arent really modding any more.

what im doing isnt as much for performance as it is for better f/e. at the same time, a lesser Cd will allow me to attain higher speeds faster. and improve f/e by i hope 10-20% (fingers are crossed for 20%) i dont expect people to agree with me or to be all for what im doing. but all im asking is an educated assesment and input as to which would be the better way to go about it. there is alot less to do performance wise then there is custom work wise. im just keeping my self busy and making my ride gooder.

again no offence guys. thanks

so you're definately doing it is what you're saying.

Might give you a little bump in f/e. We're just saying that there's alot that can go wrong.

Props for trying new stuff. Go for it, we'll be here to give you ideas as you're developing your plan.

I'd say avoid anything that'll rust.

This post has been edited by isaac1909: Sep 18 2008, 12:00 PM

ok. what could go wrong.

I think as long as you have louvers or vents beneath the engine/transmission to allow proper cooling.And exclude the exhaust pipe from the enclosure you will be fine.As far as improved mpg's I wouldn't know where to start.
I have seen some of the vents in the rear panel to let air excape instead of holding pressure inside the rear bumper .
Good luck with whatever you decide to try . :thumbsup:

Check over on EcoModder.

I've seen guys there that have improved fuel economy by 10-15% by doing a FULL belly pan (the entire underside of their car).

If you are just doing the belly pan for strictly aerodynamic purposes, you might want to consider plastic/acrylic for a material choice. It is light and easy to work with. It will cost less than aluminum.

If want some extra protection for after you lower the car, aluminum is definitely the way to go though. If you get a template, you should be able to get a machine shop to make you one for a reasonable price.

could get ripped off in the snow.