--- ardunbill@webtv.net wrote:
> Hi Folks. The recent chat about aero made me
> ponder the '32 Ford
> roadster body like mine and how it fits into
> the scheme of airflow
> things.
I've often wondered about the true value of
blocking off the grill unless the shape and angle
of the grill opening are other than oblique to
the onflowing air. My basis for scientific
analysis comes from filling the coffee pot every
morning. Assuming that hydraulics and
aerodynamics share something in common- when i
put the coffee pot under the faucet and turn on
the water, then go back to the counter to put in
the filter and fill it, the pot always overfills
before I can get back to it. I've watched the
water once it gets to the top, and it seems to
create it's own, nicely shaped cushion with the
water filling the pot, and then flows neatly over
the edges. If I hold a saucer over the top of
the pot to make it like a filled in grill - then
the water splashes all over the place. I've even
gone so far with this highly scientific
experiment as to cut a small piece of cardboard
that neatly followes the shape of the top of the
pot, and the water splashes just as badly.
Doesn't air, once it fills the space behind the
grill, just form it's own, naturally aerodynamic
cushion and flow the excess around the filled
space? I think it would be interesting to take
something like a '32 coupe -run it with the grill
covered, and run it with the grill open, and see
what the difference really is. I'm sure this has
been done a bazillion times, I just don't know
what the results are. Dies a 32 Ford or a 55
Chev with a blocked off grill really run faster
than the same car with an open grill? I'm sure
blocking off the grill on a 53 Stude or a 74
Camaro results in cleaner air flow, but I wonder
about how much it really helps when working with
esthetic bricks. Any comments??
=====
Dick J in East Texas
- - ECTA #72 - -
G/FCC - FX/STR
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