Plastic Shield Under Front End
 

I just got back from having new tires put on (fuzion zri 235/45/17) for 17x8" rims. I noticed the plastic shield under the front end has a big hole and is hanging down a few inches from the ground. I think in other threads people have removed them to get more cooling to the tranny. Is this ok to do? Any problems this may cause? I don't remember how this happened. Any feedback would be great.

Mike

Yes, you can remove it without problems occuring later. During the summer months, you can get some better cooling by removing it. If you leave it off, the engine bay just gets a little more dirty. :) Sounds like all of the little bolts were not put back on. :rolleyes:

Not Sure
 

ensteele, thanks for the fast reply. Its really a mystery to me It has a really big hole in it like acid burned a hole in it. Could any fluid from above cause this? I don't remember an incident or noise that could have caused this kind of damage. But I just went to tire kingdom:rolleyes: There's a 97' at a junkyard down the road that may have one left on it if I need one.;)

Mike:)

Re: Not Sure
 

Only thing strong enough to do that is the acid in your battery. But if your battery was leaking acid, it would have exploded a while back.

-Chike

it probably would've ate more than just that cover too.

WEIRD?
 

I just removed the undercover about an hour ago. It had a jagged hole roughly eight by twelve inches.:confused: It must have fallen out or been ripped out. I guess I ran over something and didn't realize it. I noticed some oil from a slow leak thats now visable there.

Mike

Re: Re: Not Sure
 

There is no fluid in the car capable of eating a whole in the plastic undershield Chike, even battery acid. The undershield is mad of a modified version (toughened) of the same plastic used in a battery case.

Todd

There are two under covers. The front one ends at the rack, the rear continues back under the transmission.
The front cover is there to help remove the hot air, from the radiators, out under the car. This one should stay.

The rear one can be removed. My 95 Australian model never had the rear cover fitted.

Harvey.;)

The front shield in USDM SVXs ends just infront of the engine oil pan. The under cover on Japanese, Aussie and European SVXs is longer and ends infront of the steering rack. This is why USDM SVXs have a coefficient of drag of 0.290, while ones with the longer plastic shield have a 0.285 Cd.

-Chike

I remember now
 

I think I remember when the shield got shredded. A few weeks ago I was quite innebriated one sat. night and took a detour to avoid what I thought was a checkpoint and may have done it then. Should I find another one to help the coefficient or cooling. Thanks for all the feedback.:D

Mike

Re: I remember now
 

Yep, especially if you are going cross country again.:D

Harvey.;)

Where did you read this?

The coefficient of drag is based on the frontal area of the car, the slipperyness and the underside has no effect on the Cd.

Harvey.;)

Harvey,

Got to Earthworm's site: www.svx-iw.com and click on the 90 page Road & Track feature that he scanned in.

In a section dealing with the design of the car, they talk about the under-tray being longer on JDM/Euro SVXs and these models having a Cd of 0.285 as opposed to 0.290 for the US version. ;)

-Chike

Found it Harv...

Click on pic #72: http://www.svx-iw.com/svxiw/road_track/index.html

I quote: "While achieving a breakthrough Cd number was never a must-do goal of the 23A project, the body engineers were also determined to at least equal the wind tunnel performance of the XT6. In the final tally, the U.S. version of the SVX comes in at 0.29, same as the sharp-edged XT, offering dramatic proof that all cars which have been refined in the wind tunnel don't necessarily have to end up looking alike. The European-spec car proves to be slightly better, at 0.285, due to a larger undertray below the engine."

-Chike ;) (my 4500 posts are not pointless or random btw...)

Another very significant factor is amount of turbulence the shape of the car causes.
The tray reduces amount of turbulence in the air stream under the car and reduces overall cd.

A long sharp pointy tail instead of blunt chop-off at rear bumper would be another big helper, but it is a bit unpractical :-)