Does The Belly Pan Help or Hurt The ZL1....

[omegaman]

Aerodynamics illustrated for the ZL1...

[KLR ZL1]

You still have the front splitter that creates down force which creates drag. Drag is one of the ET killers in the 1/4 mile racing. Weight would be another. You could easily reduce weight by taking out the seats. I have even seen people remove the crash bumpers behind the front and rear outer bumpers. I don't think removing the belly pan will decrease your ets. It will mess up the airflow under the car which could create more drag and hurt your ets. IMO I would go with weight reduction first.

[Stephen12ZL1]

your mass is the same on the moon but your weight would be much less because of less gravity. "g" is -9.8m/s^2 on earth.

[Mr. Wyndham]

The hood vent, belly pan, and lower air dam all work in tandem to create downforce (or rather, significantly reduce lift at speed), AND extract heat at the same time. Each of the components are reduced in effectiveness without the others.

So all three pieces are necessary to maintain the balance of the car AT SPEED. So to answer the main thread topic: yes, it helps the ZL1.

Around town? You'd likely never notice if your belly pan was missing.

[CAM....ZL1]

Thank you all for your input....much appreciated

[White_SS/RS]

Take a look at the front of the v6... see how it's designed to induce airflow under the car. There is naturally a high pressure area under the hood. this high pressure area is, in most cars designed to be there to help fuel milage at cruising speeds. It lessens the rolling resistance of the tires.

It takes a package deal to really benefit from an aero perspective. Start with a splitter... This helps but not enough (unless you make it retardedly huge) to over come the high pressure from the air incoming from the grill and exiting beneath the car. Now add the hood extractor, high pressure is relieved somewhat but a lot of air will just exit the path of least resistance which is under the car. Now finally add the belly pan and most of the air is controlled and released through the extractor and over the hood. The extractor must be kept forward as much as possible (which we see on the ZL1 and '14's) because there is another high pressure area at the base of the windshield (which is great for properly designed cowl inductions)

[crustychev]

Originally Posted by Stephen12ZL1

your mass is the same on the moon but your weight would be much less because of less gravity. "g" is -9.8m/s^2 on earth.

Getting a little complicated for me. The only formula I remember from my school days is "Pi are round and cakes are square". Not sure it applies here.

[hognutz]

all talk asside the best way to see if it actaully help is to remove it.

the thing people are not factoring into the equation and the most import factor would be how much downforce and at what speed.

I can see how you could possible pick up a tick in theory but if downforce really does not kick in to much utill you are up at pretty good speed it may not be noticable.

the pan is light enough it would have the same impact as me taking a dump before the pass ha ha. I have been know to throw down 15-18 couric's on a regular basis according to the EFSMI group.

[Angrybird 12]

Originally Posted by hognutz

all talk asside the best way to see if it actaully help is to remove it.

the thing people are not factoring into the equation and the most import factor would be how much downforce and at what speed.

I can see how you could possible pick up a tick in theory but if downforce really does not kick in to much utill you are up at pretty good speed it may not be noticable.

the pan is light enough it would have the same impact as me taking a dump before the pass ha ha. I have been know to throw down 15-18 couric's on a regular basis according to the EFSMI group.

I wonder which has the greater impact, the smoothing out the underbody turbulence or the increased downforce?

[HDRDTD]

How much drag would be reduced by simply removing the outside rear view mirrors?
After all, they do stick out.

[hognutz]

Originally Posted by Angrybird 12

I wonder which has the greater impact, the smoothing out the underbody turbulence or the increased downforce?

In my mind this would not be much of an impact either way as low as this car is with the splitter.

I am not as much a theory guy as a real world result guy. I have seen tiny stuff make .3-.5 difference and stuff I spent tones of time on my no et and .5mph haha. so I have given on on thinking my brain always predicts real world results.

I went from 29" slick to a 31" slick once and picked up .3 and I though I was going to lose ET ha ha. I realized I am not that smart at that point.

[CAM....ZL1]

Originally Posted by Stephen12ZL1

your mass is the same on the moon but your weight would be much less because of less gravity. "g" is -9.8m/s^2 on earth.

I 100% get what your saying but think of it like this at 0 down force gravity is as
Your above post. Then if you add down force it's like gravity has increased, but if your creating lift the car weighs the same but in theory is lighter because your are causing lift.....if gravity or downforce were greater you would weigh more.

[cam99]

Originally Posted by hognutz

I have been know to throw down 15-18 couric's on a regular basis according to the EFSMI group.

LMAO on the southpark reference

and on topic I left my belly pan off after the first oil change. If I were to do standing mile or something i would put it back on, but for day to day and drag racing I don't see the point of it.