[DeTomaso] functional airscoops?
Mad Dog Antenucci
teampantera at yahoo.com
Thu Oct 9 13:22:07 EDT 2008
Correction to your most excellent post -
'Both' elephant ears sucked out at the Texas Big Bend ORR 3 years ago. But we did not have to buy new ones....One was recovered (via homing device) by MF'r and the other was found by a course worker and mailed to me by MF'r after the banquet dinner in Fort Stockton. We've since safety wired them to my mungus.
Dawg
JDeRyke at aol.com wrote:
There has been some controversy on whether these things actually scoop air
into the Pantera engine bay. I did an informal test a decade ago by wetting a
finger and gradually inching the wet end out the barely rolled-down side window
at around 100 mph. My finger was out nearly 3" before evaporative cooling
could be felt, indicating a fairly thick boundary layer along the sides of the
Pantera body. This may be why almost no effect is seen with small tasteful scoops
in the rear quarter area. A photo study done in Sweden a couple of years ago
with yarn tufts showed that at speeds below about 100 mph, air came OUT the
gill-scoops, not into them!
Underbody airflow is not well understood but it appears that air from the
front of the car plus that going thru the radiator progresses further aft until
it gets to the engine bay. Our 'sugar-scoop' style decklid generates a huge
low-pressure area right at the rear window opening, pulling the underbody air up
and out at high velocity over the decklid. That underbody air also may go out
the rear quarter openings, scoops or not.
Above 100 mph, the largest type scoops (called 'elephant-ears') do gather air
inward. But most high-speed racers have found that unless the ductiing and
other stuff on & around the carb are not carefully designed, it causes the
engine to go lean at a time when its alrewady under quite a strain. The results may
be a fragged motor. So most carbureted cars leave a 2" or so gap between the
scoop ducting and the carb throat. In most cases, it seems that cool air will
give a more reliable power boost than ram air does. Maybe at Bonneville,
but.... Finally, if you still want to mess around with quarter window scoops, be
aware that the window frames are held in only by gasket friction'. MD once suck
ed a window frame out of the car at well over150 mph during an ORR, and found
that replacements were kind of pricey. Run some sheet metal screws thru the
frames if you intend to do high speed testing. Good luck -J Deryke
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Mad Dawg Antenucci
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