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Belly Pan... who uses their's????


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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm planning to make an oversize pan to air in underbody drag reduction, there was a fellow doing extreme MPG runs who said a full pan got him +10MPG.

I've used "water wetter" in the past and found it to work pretty well, 5-10F difference with no other changes.

I'm also an advocate of electric cooling fans, move lots of air at low speeds and don't pay to move it when you are in-motion, makes for a nice quiet idle too.

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10 MPG is not possible but 10% is. You don't need a belly pan for 10%..... just driving differently will do that. Simply practice driving without using your brakes. Every time you brake you are throwing away the gas you just used getting up to speed. Look ahead and watch for stops or slow downs and slowly slow down trying to keep the vehicle rolling. Space yourself out in traffic so you don't have to use the brakes as much. Accelerate slowly, WTF? don't be in a rush, there's no reason to rush, leave 5 min earlier. Avoid short trips when the choke is on. Keep engine in tune. Empty out your vehicle of junk that you pay gas for hauling around. DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT... Going 60 MPH uses 4 times the gas going 30 MPH, not twice the amount! Even 5 MPH makes a difference. The difference driving 100 miles at 55 rather than 60 is less than 10 minutes. Keep tires inflated closer to max than min air pressure. Keep a log book of gas and mileage and calculate it every fill up, this keeps you engaged in getting better mileage. Any sudden change can indicate a problem that can be fixed.

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  • 6 months later...
On 4/15/2018 at 1:09 PM, datzenmike said:

If you don't, and have some cooling issues under extreme conditions of heat and or hill climbing maybe this is the answer.

 

 

Can't find it in my parts call up so, 'belly pan' will have to do. It's roughly triangle shape and fits with 4 bolts between the two tension rods and the back of the engine cross member. Has a hole (mine does) so you can get at the rad petcock but covers under the oil pump, alternator and crank pulley and distributor. It's always in the way, or when it's in the way, it gets taken off and then as it doesn't seem to do much it often is not put back on.

 

 

I haven had one on forever and the car  reverse image search email checker port checker ran well temperature wise with the clutch fan whirring away. Running full throttle for 10 min up a mountain in 3rd or 4th the gauge would go up a couple of needle widths. I notice that with electric fans (come on at about 2/3) that it will climb to 3/4 and threatens more on long climbs because the low speed doesn't push near enough air through the rad. Was climbing a pass in the Kootenays last summer with a strong tail wind and the temp gauge was near the top of the run range. I had to pull over and let the fans catch up. On cruise, level roads, it's consistently higher than the clutch fan but well below the fans coming on. So I take a good look at how I can force more air through the rad, I've already removed the air con condenser, and sealed around the rad, and the rubber apron on the under side of the hood that closes down on the rad support is there. So what's to stop the air just going under the rad and up behind it? Not much but maybe the belly pan would. I should imagine it keeps road splash off alternator, pulleys, belts and distributor, but most of all forms a low pressure area behind the rad by denying air up from under the front end.

 

I found one, (I should have 3) and put it on. Looking forward to seeing if it has the effect I want.

 

I used to use the metal edge off a whipper insert and push it in one of the 6 tubes you can see from the radiator cap hole. It plugs in the bottom 4" of the core and you can't see it but the steel edge will feel the restriction and when you pull it back out the white milky crud comes up with it. 

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