The aero mods begin (Now working on Diffuser) !!!

[Recumpence]

Here are a couple pictures of the nose of the car.

 

Basically, I realized I had a super thin flexible piece of carbon fiber laying around the shop and decided to cover the outer two openings in my lower grille and cover the fog lights.

 

I think I have about 45 minutes of time invested in these changes.

 

Matt

[frbill]

Love the pictures Matt! If I still had my C-Max, I would be driving up to Northern IL, to pay you to create a set of those covers! I suspect you might be getting requests from these wonderful Pics.

[fotomoto]

 I taken them off every few thousand miles to clean the wheels and the covers. It is a pain that they are always dirty on the inside and the wheels are much dirtier.

 

WOW, that's a lot of work and effort for a 1-2 mpg gain especially when thinking long term.   Unless professionally done, painting the outside won't last so what about an inside the spokes cover?  Another suggestion;  powder coated aluminum covers would be much more durable.  I have a lot of experience in the durability aspect with motorcycle wheels.

 

 

I can tell you today was 53 and rainy but I still averaged 57.2mpg for the day. That is far better than the 51 or 52mpg I would normally see last year without mods.

 

Have you done the 13B07 update?

[Jus-A-CMax]

Great pictures Matt, thank you -true craftsmanship there, if you ever plan to come down to SoCal, give me a tingle.... :)

 

 

 

 

Love the pictures Matt! If I still had my C-Max, I would be driving up to Northern IL, to pay you to create a set of those covers! I suspect you might be getting requests from these wonderful Pics.

 

C'mon Fr.Bill...don't you wish a slight inkling for a C-Max now...jus a wee bit.... :drool:

Edited November 12, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax

[Recumpence]

Yes, I have all updates.

 

The remaining mods I have planned are;

 

--Upper grille block

--New radiused air intakes in all grilles

--Wheel spats

--Lowered chin spoiler (lowered about 2 inches to match the lowest point of the pan)

--Complete the belly pan at the rear between the rear wheels to fill that HUGE open area.

--Block heater for winter mileage

--Window tinting to reduce interior temp in the summer. This should reduce the need for open windows or AC and help MPG accordingly.

 

I am hoping to gain another 2mpg with all changes combined. Basically what I am trying for is a consistant 60mpg every day in the summer and 50mpg every day in winter. That is 8mpg overall above my stock numbers.

 

Matt

[ptjones]

Frank - as a followup, what gains have you seen since the hood sealing project? Was it worth the time and material? Paul - did you do something similar?

I sealed up the hole hood with packing tape and didn't notice a change.

 

Here are a couple pictures of the nose of the car.

 

Basically, I realized I had a super thin flexible piece of carbon fiber laying around the shop and decided to cover the outer two openings in my lower grille and cover the fog lights.

 

I think I have about 45 minutes of time invested in these changes.

 

Matt

Are you letting any air into lower grills? Nice job. I'm getting LEXAN today to make more Grill Covers for CMAX and FFH that people have requested. Also 3/16 LEXAN for Wheel Covers and should have ready shortly for those waiting for them.

 

 

 

Yes, I need to write up what became tire pressures AND upper grill seals. Mileage improvement was modest, +1-2%, and temperature dependent; 1% at 60F, 2% at 40F. I expect most of the difference is tire pressure, especially the slope change, but the upper grill block is invisible and the hood seals are the right thing to do, so it all stays.

MPG vs Temp TP_UG 131110.jpg

 

I'm curious to see a repeat of the grill cover testing, post 13B07 PCM update. I didn't treat the lower grills so I didn't interfere with stock cooling, knowing the PCM update included changes to louvre operation. I am curious is the large benefit initially seen with grill covers has dissappeared. That would get at the aero contribution vs. warm-up for front end treatment.

 

And my pizza pans have been the source of spousal entertainment as well... we'll see when they're on the car.

 

HAve fun,

Frank

I'm going to set up my Computer camera to monitor Shutter operation to see if it changed. Hope to do more aero testing shortly.

 

Paul

[fbov]

Here are a couple pictures of the nose of the car....

Nice look!

[frbill]

 

C'mon Fr.Bill...don't you wish a slight inkling for a C-Max now...jus a wee bit.... :drool:

 

Jus, I keep up with the board because my folks have (and love) their C-Max. I must say I do miss the cargo space of the C-max but not the 12 voltanitis. I am getting such great mileage with my Fusion Energi I don't think I will need any mods to keep getting them. I may even give my Gas Pods to the folks to help them get better mileage.

[Recumpence]

The average temperature today has been 26 degrees F. I rolled into my driveway after 125 miles of driving with an indicated 50.7mpg! This is 6 to 7mpg higher than stock at this temperature.

 

Matt

[ptjones]

The average temperature today has been 26 degrees F. I rolled into my driveway after 125 miles of driving with an indicated 50.7mpg! This is 6 to 7mpg higher than stock at this temperature.

 

Matt

I took more careful look at your pics and barely able to see the holes in the grill cover. Nice job.  What Coolant temps are you seeing?

 

Paul

[Recumpence]

I am seeing 150 go 190 degrees. I could close off one more hole.

 

Matt

[ptjones]

I am seeing 150 go 190 degrees. I could close off one more hole.

 

Matt

It would seem that 210degrees would the temp to shoot for given that the shutters open up at 210degress at slow speeds.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I just notice that an end of one of my foam species was sticking out and think the only way that can happen is if there is air pressure pushing the cover out and letting the foam to come out.

Paul 

[Recumpence]

It was 44 degrees today and I averaged 55.9mpg.

 

I would say these aero mods are definately helping with all driving, including cold weather.

 

I am planning on doing the upper grille and remaking the lower grille this Saturday. Also, I have done some research, and it looks like I will be making a very simple Kamm-Back from Lexan. The roofline is such that it looks like I can do it with minimal effort and minimal impact on the look of the car. It would only be around 8 to 10 inches long. Not a big deal. But, they normally make quite a difference in FE.

 

Beyond that, wheel spats, a lowered chin spoiler, and possibly small wheel well deflectors, to reduce turbulence around the tire/wheel well gap, may be in order

 

Matt

[ptjones]

I agree with you about the chin spoiler, I think there is to much pressure under the car and pushing out wheel covers.  Need to do more tuff testing to see what is happening to front and sides of car.

 

Paul

[mtb9153]

Was wondering how difficult is it to remove the black plastic pieces below each fog light in the front bumper?  What holds them on beyond the obvious round plastic plug which has fallen off the one on the drivers side and the button head phillips screw in the wheel well facing towards the front tire.

[Recumpence]

Here is an upper grille block I made today. I have about 45 minutes in it so far.

I have it mounted with a few screws for testing purposes. I will finish mounting it tomorrow.

I used a piece of 3/4 inch 6061 aluminum box tube bent to the shape of the nose of the hood as a support behind the grille to hold the proper shape since there is nothing at the top edge to mount the grille to. Otherwise it would try to flex flat.

The nose finally has that nose fully rounded look to it.

I will post FE numbers when I have them.

Matt

[ptjones]

Here is an upper grille block I made today. I have about 45 minutes in it so far.

 

I have it mounted with a few screws for testing purposes. I will finish mounting it tomorrow.

 

I used a piece of 3/4 inch 6061 aluminum box tube bent to the shape of the nose of the hood as a support behind the grille to hold the proper shape since there is nothing at the top edge to mount the grille to. Otherwise it would try to flex flat.

 

The nose finally has that nose fully rounded look to it.

 

I will post FE numbers when I have them.

 

Matt

How are you getting air to the intake?

 

Paul

[fotomoto]

Here is an upper grille block I made today. I have about 45 minutes in it so far.]

 

 

Looks like the front end of a salt lakes racer. IOW, aero.   :rockon:

 

Once your happy with your final design, you should get someone to paint the grill design back onto the covers.   :)   

Edited November 20, 2013 by fotomoto

[Recumpence]

How are you getting air to the intake?

 

Paul

That section is very open on the back side. If you open your hood and look at that area, there are large openings to the engine compartment at each end about the side of a tennis ball. I have done a bnuch of reading on warm air intake for FE. It runs out there is a slight FE improvement with warm air intake as opposed to cool air. Cool air increases power, but requires more fuel. Warm air intake increases FE.

 

Matt

[Recumpence]

Looks like the front end of a salt lakes racer. IOW, aero.   :rockon:

 

Once your happy with your final design, you should get someone to paint the grill design back onto the covers.   :)   

I still have some work to do on the front end. But, I have considered buying a Ford emblem sticker to stick on the upper grille and some silver pin stripe to make the center grille look somewhat stock.

 

But, honestly, with all 3 grilles somewhat matching, I really like the look. The upper grille looks really cool in person. The picture does not do it justice.

 

Oh, wait till you see my new lower grille.   :)

 

Matt

Edited November 20, 2013 by Recumpence

[fbov]

+1 to no issues blocking upper grill. Lots of room under the hood latch for the intake to breath in my book too.

 

This is a very attractive, coherent approach to a clean front end; nicely done!

 

HAve fun,

Frank

[ptjones]

That section is very open on the back side. If you open your hood and look at that area, there are large openings to the engine compartment at each end about the side of a tennis ball. I have done a bnuch of reading on warm air intake for FE. It runs out there is a slight FE improvement with warm air intake as opposed to cool air. Cool air increases power, but requires more fuel. Warm air intake increases FE.

 

Matt

I was thinking about making it have a ram air effect to improve MPG. :)

 

Paul

[Recumpence]

Here are a couple more pictures.

 

I made a new lower grille. This new grille fits a lot better. Also, the intake is one rectangle opening with a 1/2 inch radiused edge. This edge radiuses into a 1 inch thick piece of Delrin just like a velocity stack.

 

The upper grille is finished as well. You can see how close it comes to the hood edge.

 

Oh, one thing I found;

 

Once I got the upper grille mounted, I noticed the hood sits kind of high. I adjusted the rests to let the hood settle down 5/16 of an inch. This drastically reduced the gap above the headlights, at the grille, and all the way around. However, the latch was too high now. This made the hood sloppy in how it latches. So, I removed the latch assembly and used my plasma cutter to elongate the four holes (two screw holes and two alignment holes). Now, with the latch lowered, the hood shuts snug and sits at the proper level, thus closing off much of the gaps.

 

The next thing to do is pick up some weather stripping to seal the gaps around the headlights. These gaps are quite large and constitute a relatively large opening in the nose if you consider all gaps together.

 

Matt

[fbov]

Once I got the upper grille mounted, I noticed the hood sits kind of high.... So, I... used my plasma cutter to...

This is one reason I started with weatherstripping...