ZL1 Belly Pan and LT Headers

[axis]

Originally Posted by willhe64

Nope, the worse that can happen is a fire that burns your car to the ground.

Seriously.

As many times as i've seen melted plastic panels on cars, NONE of them caught fire.

[Tribute]

Originally Posted by Nitroman28

Whats the purpose of the pan? Seems like it would hold more heat in the engine bay.

It is recommended to only use a belly pan if you have some for of heat extraction hood.

Originally Posted by Inferno LS3

Helps with the cars downforce and routes air around the tranny to help cool it.

[axis]

Originally Posted by Lukeko

It is recommended to only use a belly pan if you have some for of heat extraction hood.

Recommended by who? I've seen several post of people saying you need heat extracters but have yet to hear any hard evidence as to absolutely needing them. I'm not saying you don't need them but i'd like to hear from someone in the "know", rather than speculation. There are many cars out there that come from the factory with belly pans and don't have vented hoods. Hell, my old 00 Z71 truck has a brush guard that almost completely covered the underneath of the engine and it didn't have a vented hood.

[bannonm]

Originally Posted by Lukeko

It is recommended to only use a belly pan if you have some for of heat extraction hood.

Originally Posted by axis

Recommended by who? I've seen several post of people saying you need heat extracters but have yet to hear any hard evidence as to absolutely needing them. I'm not saying you don't need them but i'd like to hear from someone in the "know", rather than speculation. There are many cars out there that come from the factory with belly pans and don't have vented hoods. Hell, my old 00 Z71 truck has a brush guard that almost completely covered the underneath of the engine and it didn't have a vented hood.

Yeah there's no one on this forum that has proof one way or the other. After discussing this at length with my friend who used to build stock cars and races, the pan will help with the down force because air entering the engine compartment builds up at a higher pressure. As the air flows down and out the bottom a pressure drop occurs and and causes a vacuum effect. Having the proper splitter and belly pan will create down force the SS sorely needs. The NACA ducts on the ZL1 pan are an added benefit to cool the tranny.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for the heat extraction is because of the super charger, not so much as a requirement if the belly pan is on. Katech did wind tunnel testing on a Corvette and added a splitter and belly pan and tested in different configurations to show the benefits are each separately and working together.

I'm in the process of getting a new custom heat extraction hood and making a belly pan which will cover the same as the ZL1 plus in front of the wheel wells. This week I'm cutting the template out of a fiberglass sheet for fitment, and then will cut the final pan from aluminum.

[Tribute]

Originally Posted by axis

Recommended by who? I've seen several post of people saying you need heat extracters but have yet to hear any hard evidence as to absolutely needing them. I'm not saying you don't need them but i'd like to hear from someone in the "know", rather than speculation. There are many cars out there that come from the factory with belly pans and don't have vented hoods. Hell, my old 00 Z71 truck has a brush guard that almost completely covered the underneath of the engine and it didn't have a vented hood.

Well, I do agree with you that I'm probably reading the same stuff you are reading regarding this. The Heat extraction logically makes sense for cars that are FI and are tracked and build up a good amount of heat, especially with the belly pan closing in the engine bay a bit more. So if you aren't doing any of that, then yes it wouldn't make sense to "have" to have a heat extractor hood.

Originally Posted by bannonm

Yeah there's no one on this forum that has proof one way or the other. After discussing this at length with my friend who used to build stock cars and races, the pan will help with the down force because air entering the engine compartment builds up at a higher pressure. As the air flows down and out the bottom a pressure drop occurs and and causes a vacuum effect. Having the proper splitter and belly pan will create down force the SS sorely needs. The NACA ducts on the ZL1 pan are an added benefit to cool the tranny.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for the heat extraction is because of the super charger, not so much as a requirement if the belly pan is on. Katech did wind tunnel testing on a Corvette and added a splitter and belly pan and tested in different configurations to show the benefits are each separately and working together.

I'm in the process of getting a new custom heat extraction hood and making a belly pan which will cover the same as the ZL1 plus in front of the wheel wells. This week I'm cutting the template out of a fiberglass sheet for fitment, and then will cut the final pan from aluminum.

[Inferno LSX]

Its all designed to work together

[axis]

Originally Posted by Inferno LS3

Its all designed to work together

That explains a lot of what's going on with all the little enhancements. It also mentions and shows that the heat extractors are for added cooling at the higher HP levels. Air goes in the front, then out the top. In our engine bays, the air goes out the bottom, which is where the perceived problem would occur with a belly pan. What's to say that air won't still be forced out the bottom, around the outter edges of the pan and along the pan to the tranny, as it was intended?

[Inferno LSX]

Originally Posted by axis

That explains a lot of what's going on with all the little enhancements. It also mentions and shows that the heat extractors are for added cooling at the higher HP levels. Air goes in the front, then out the top. In our engine bays, the air goes out the bottom, which is where the perceived problem would occur with a belly pan. What's to say that air won't still be forced out the bottom, around the outter edges of the pan and along the pan to the tranny, as it was intended?

I personally wouldn't know. Guess that's for the GM engineers. I'm gonna do the ZL1 conversion after watching that vid. I want it for the down force effect and the brake cooling. I already got the brakes and rotors ready to go on.