Matt Romanowski

Pat is very knowledgeable and will be a great resource.

PorscheDoc

Sheet of alumilite for $100. Build a front splitter, and a rear nascar style wing off the rubber spoiler with adjustable turbuckles for angle. We did it with out 944 chumpcar and the difference was unreal.

Ernie J

Hi All, after 30 hrs of windtunnel testing this past year at the University of Ontario , full scale windtunnel. I can tell you that what you think works and what does, appears to be at odds with many setups. Rear downforce with a "wing" is easy to get, frontdown force is not, aero balance is again , not easy and thats real important. Still working on making more downforce.

333pg333

It is interesting Cyril. A fascinating field. Wish I was younger and had the brain power to study it professionally.

I don't want to publish pics of our latest splitter online as it's taken time and money to get where we are now. You can see the end plates are different which of course can't be hidden. Suffice to say much of what happens is underneath. This took some effort just to make room for the diffusers such as moving power steering pump into the cabin and devising a way to move the sway bar behind the front axle. Also moved from a large air to oil cooler to a water to oil cooler which is a lot more compact. Only then could we start on the diffusers. We've also made changes to other parts of the car to enable the diffuser to work better. Venting the wheel wells is very important too. Essentially whatever you can do to allow the high pressure underhood to exit the car but not underneath which causes lift. Hence we went to the extreme of cutting the A pillar to open it up and venting the doors. Something a bit different but I doubt it would be breaking any rules.

333pg333

Exactly Ernie!

Sterling Doc

Interesting stuff! The canards appear to be gone as well. Those are some impressive side pods as well.

Ernie J

Your remarks regarding the diffuser, are correct. just proved that this saturday

333pg333

Yes Eric, the Canards are long gone on our car which pleases me on both an Aero and cosmetic scale. The front end is VERY planted now so we know the changes are working. The rockers were bought from IFC and we modified them to run that angle at the front end which aids the evacuation of air pressure. See the older pic showing the cooling cores are sealed and vented through the hood. Another good way of increasing frontal downforce.

Hi Ernie. Yes, if you mean my reference re front diffusers then they make a BIG difference. Our frontal downforce has increased a huge amount. Would love to be able to run the car in a windtunnel to watch and measure what is going on. We had to find this as the twin element rear wing produces well over 1000lbs of downforce. By increasing the AoA of the smaller rear element just 2 holes it added 400lbs downforce. We even put a gurney on the rear of our front fenders as instructed. It all helps.

mark kibort

There has been huge gains in frontal downforce in hood venting, and venting it to the lower pressure zones of the hood area. instead of the air that has been split by the splitter, going into the radiator and then into the engine compartment and THEN under the car, the hood vent not only takes that air that was going into the engine area and routes it somewhere else besides under the car, but it routes it to a lower pressure zone around the mid/front hood area that is a big lifting force.
As Patrick has seen, hes doing it all. hood vents, fender vents, rear fender vents and diveplanes.
all that helps him be able to run that huge wing in the back!

333pg333

Agreed Mark but what you may not have seen as the pic wasn't perfectly clear, we now have no openings in the front bar or bumper/nose panels for air to get into our engine bay at all. The only opening is the aforementioned ducted cooling cores and the two small round openings on the LHS which leads to a sealed box where the air filter is housed. In general 1/3rd of a car's drag is due to the cooling cores in the front bar. As you mention, the more air that goes into an engine bay, the more likely it is that it finds it's escape route under the car. Imagine having a full flat floor car with no upper body ventilation. That would be a massive drag inducer. In our class we can't run a full flat floor. Only allowed to run to each axle line respectively. Hence, we actually raised our side rocker height from the legal limit. No point in keeping the air running under the car if it hits the oem chassis between the axles and gets all dirty. So we've encouraged it out the sides with the angled fronts to the rockers and of course very large fender and door openings.

Strategic positioning of hood and fender vents is highly beneficial. Even the shape of the vents is important. Ours are not ideal. We worked to get some improved vents made but left it too late for a few weeks ago. It's always good to know there is more to be gained.

Sterling Doc

Patrick, this is all very interesting, and helpful. Your car is such an impressive effort, and the detail work is beautifully done.

I am flipping the intake on the LS1 for several reasons, among them to leave room up front for radiator/hood ducting. It looks like there is a lot of fabrication involved in getting it right. I have time, and access to the tools to do a fair amount of this, but your car sets the bar very high, and mine won't be quite so well turned out under the hood!

333pg333

I didn't realise you're going to be running a V8 Eric. I'd check out what Tony G and Jim / Disasterman have done with their 948's too. Might pick up some decent hints.

Sterling Doc

Jim/Disasterman runs (and deleveloped the splitter for) the Good Aero system. The splitter isn't too dear for all the development work that went into it, and the nice mounting system. I may end up goign that route for the front, at least.

I bought my wheels from Jim as he is going wide body. There are several really nicely developed LS1 swapped 944's around, and they have been quite competitive, even nationally in open rules classes - astounding for a 30+ year old platform.

After many years and 5 builds in the 944 Spec class, it is fun to break all the rules on this one, but as expected, keeping the costs in check has been the biggest challenge. Lots of Ex-Nascar parts on it - from Wilwood calipers with titanum pistons to all of the dash hardware. The Lexan windshield is a NIB spare from a Dodge COT - $80. Ebay, Craigslist, Rennlist, Pleican, and the 944 Hybrids forums have been godsends, all of them. It may be time to start a thread on the build itself.

I've followed Tony G's posts as well - some really nice stuff there. and some way beyond my scope (996 rear suspension).

333pg333

Well that sounds like a fun car. On a purely subjective viewpoint I'm not a fan of the V8 in a small car but I totally get why people do it. Especially in the US where parts and labour are so much cheaper. Generally the V8 should be more reliable and have dollops of easy tq which leads to less gearchanges. Tony did have some bad luck with his two engines which expired very quickly so it's not all one way traffic on the reliability stakes vs the i4 motor. Jim seems to have had very good experiences so far with some great lap times achieved. I think his modular splitter system looks pretty good for what it is. If you can make any form of diffuser in there it should help a little more.
This is our water to oil cooler. Works really well. Brings the oil up to temp very quickly and then it just sits there at around 85c. Bit pricey but perhaps there's something in the US that can be found for a fair price. This allowed us to make more room on one side of the car and run the diffuser.

Sterling Doc

I do like the idea of the water to oil in much faster oil warmup times. I have seen this in moving from the N/A style oil cooler + sandwich plate to the 951 style alone. Super clean installation/fab work again!

As far as the V8 swap, if it cost me weight and upset the 944's balance, I'd have a problem, but as a weight neutral, practical solution to easy, reliable power, it's hard to beat, especially now that the upgrade path and problem areas have been well addressed. And then there is the glorious sound!