Airflow

[BipDBo]

I'm curious about all the vent openings. What do each of them do? How does the air flow?

Where does the air go after it passes through the radiator? Is it just up through the hood, or also a different path?

How is the intercooler ducted on both the S & R? They look to be different.

Is the engine intake ducted to the airstream, or just open to the engine bay like the GTM?

What is the purpose of the opening in the top of the rear hood?

What about the vents on the front corners? The original body had small slits:
18533
I don't know what they were supposed to be used for. Disc brake cooling perhaps?

The new design looks like this:
18534
It doesn't have those slits. Another post which I can't seem to find, had a close up picture and stated that the perforated panel is a fake intake, and that there is no opening at the corners. Is that correct?

[spaceywilly]

The corner panels aren't fake, I took a look at the open house and it was cut out behind it. You can see through to the wheel well. It would be used for brake cooling. I didn't see any intake ducting for the engine but the large side vents and open vent on the rear bumper should provide plenty of cool air to the engine. The vents on the shoulder will feed in air to the intercooler. I think some ducting would definitely help in this area to direct the air from the shoulder vents to the top of the intercooler. I think that will help cool the intake charge and get a few extra HP.

[BipDBo]

Was there any ducting installed on either of the cars? I'm hoping that the intercooler wasn't just sitting below the hood. I don't think that would not be an acceptable way to finish it.

It looks, according to the pictures, that they 818S wasn't finished. Is that correct? If not, how did they get that official weigh-in? Did they drop the remaining parts into the passenger seat?

[spaceywilly]

It is just sitting below the hood, without any ducting. I agree it doesn't seem like an ideal layout, but I guess we'll find out once people have their cars and start logging intake and exhaust temps. At the open house they said it gets plenty of cool air from the shoulder vents, and there is enough air flowing under the car and out the back that the cool air gets sucked through the intercooler. I don't think the Subaru set up with the hood scoop is very effective either, front mounted intercoolers are a common mod. The hood scoop just creates a "pillow" of air which sits on top of intercooler, I don't think there is too much flow. The 818S at the open house was a finished kit as they are shipping them today, at least that is my understanding. The Carbon Fiber "bumps" is a part they are considering as an option.

[JAubin]

Jim mentioned that there will be a sheet metal piece to help direct airflow from the shoulder vents to the intake of the intercooler. I didn't look around too see if it was on the S at the open house, but my understanding is that there will be something to help put positive pressure on the inlet of the intercooler.

[SixStar]

The cutout behind the "passenger" on the R just dumps to the engine bay. There were no cutouts in the S in that location. Active cooling of the TMIC was discussed by many at the open house. General consensus seemed to be that in factory trim (stock motor, turbo, boost levels) your temps would be ok. Time will tell, but an active solution would be SUPER easy IMO.

[BipDBo]

The cutout behind the "passenger" on the R just dumps to the engine bay. There were no cutouts in the S in that location. Active cooling of the TMIC was discussed by many at the open house. General consensus seemed to be that in factory trim (stock motor, turbo, boost levels) your temps would be ok. Time will tell, but an active solution would be SUPER easy IMO.

That intake just seems way too big. In general, there seems to be too much vent area facing the airstream open to the engine bay. It shouldn't need much airflow since the radiator is in front. It really just needs airflow through the IC and combustion air. The engine doesn't need much, if any airflow. Any extra openings facing the airstream just pressurizes the engine bay, causing uplift. Fortunately for the 818R, they put a lot of opening in the back for the air to escape, but that perforated panel will provide some resistance. I'd bet that many builders will duct the IC and the combustion to the airstream and blank off the rest.

I'm mostly curious about where the ar goes after going through the radiator. Did anyone get a good look at that ducting?

[cmcintyre]

Here's a pic with the hood off. No ducting out evident. Jesper said air in will have either the optional splitter or an aluminum plate. No discussion about out. Anybody talk that up?1855418555

[RM1SepEx]

I'm going to seriously look at dual front radiators in front of the tires to the sides. There is a great thread on doing it on the GTM that should apply well. Then I can duct air to the two radiators by cutting a bit more and letting it go out through a protective mesh in front of the tires.

Then the whole front under hood area can be a frunk.

[BipDBo]

Here's a pic with the hood off. No ducting out evident. Jesper said air in will have either the optional splitter or an aluminum plate. No discussion about out. Anybody talk that up?1855418555

That answers a bunch. Some of the air will go up through the openings in the hood, but they are much smaller than the intakes, and will probably only see about 1/4 of that flow. I had in mind that the cavity behind the radiator would be closed up to the underside of the fenders, and perhaps the rest of the air would go down. It looks like whatever doesn't go up through the hood will go through the fenders and escape down and sideways through the wheel well or the gap between the fenders and the front edge of the door. I don't think this is as good as having it all go up through the hood, but it's better than most cars, which push all of the air down under the car. Similar to what some GTM builders have done, it may be a worthwhile mod to improve this airflow by closing up the fenders to this cavity and increasing the free area of the hood vents.

[joshuo]

I'm going to seriously look at dual front radiators in front of the tires to the sides. There is a great thread on doing it on the GTM that should apply well. Then I can duct air to the two radiators by cutting a bit more and letting it go out through a protective mesh in front of the tires.

Then the whole front under hood area can be a frunk.

Good idea, but do consider you will lose considerable downforce by deleting the hood vent.

[BipDBo]

Good idea, but do consider you will lose considerable downforce by deleting the hood vent.

You could add fender vents. Many high performance cars have this anyway because the spinning tires are like centrifugal vans and pressurize the underside of the fender.

[BipDBo]

I'm going to seriously look at dual front radiators in front of the tires to the sides. There is a great thread on doing it on the GTM that should apply well. Then I can duct air to the two radiators by cutting a bit more and letting it go out through a protective mesh in front of the tires.

Then the whole front under hood area can be a frunk.

Sounds like a good idea if you can pull it off without spending too much money or labor. The front fiberglass body panel may be the most problematic. You not only need to make new larger openings at the corners, but also close up the center opening. Going paintless is definitely out of the picture. You might have to redesign and rebuild the entire thing.

Why not just build a trunk in the back? That looks easy.

[Xusia]

Why not just build a trunk in the back? That looks easy.

And very small.

[BipDBo]

And very small.

There is a lot of volume above the transmission for a potentially fairly large trunk.

[PhyrraM]

Only needs a simple fiberglass "bucket" that rests on the existing rear cover ledges.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5091/5595663170_8983e2f790_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/23291496@N04/5595663170/)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5099/5595078943_583b1e7468_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/23291496@N04/5595078943/)

[305mouse]

My dad had a Europa. Great styling in the front, designed like a brick in the back

[wleehendrick]

My dad had a Europa. Great styling in the front, designed like a brick in the back

Seriously, never understood that one... 18556

[Xusia]

There is a lot of volume above the transmission for a potentially fairly large trunk.

I hope that's the case, but the pics from the open house leave me unassured of that.

[flytosail]

Sounds like a good idea if you can pull it off without spending too much money or labor. The front fiberglass body panel may be the most problematic. You not only need to make new larger openings at the corners, but also close up the center opening. Going paintless is definitely out of the picture. You might have to redesign and rebuild the entire thing.

Why not just build a trunk in the back? That looks easy.


I started a thread on this and now that I saw these photos, I think I am wrong about a bag space behind the radiator. Hope there will be enough room for a small duffle in the back.

[RM1SepEx]

I was informed by Jesper that we would be getting AL for the rear over the transaxle area...

I think double radiators can be done w/no paint retained...