Bronco drag /Pushing the brick wall

[jonpblewis@yaho]

I've heard it said a number of times on the site And it's true . That from 45 miles an hour and up the bronco becomes a brick wall your trying to push through the air. One look at the front end of the bronco is easy to see where the majority of that wind drag comes from. With the front grille scooped inward and a solid core support behind that. Than a solid flat piece of glass bordered by a raised rubber seal. If the hardtop is on then it projects out over the windshield so air is not flowing up over the top. When it does make it off the sides of the glass. over the robber seal and finally to the edge of the frame it can't easily spill over the edge without getting past the drip rail that comes from and leads to nowhere. A number of years ago something had gone wrong with my windshield wiper switch. Living in San Diego there wasn't much need to fix it and so I'd forget it was broken. One morning I woke up to pouring rain. I remember my windshield wipers were broke. So I grabbed some rain X off the shelf in the garage and gave that flat piece of glass a coating. I then headed out into the rain. The rain beaded up on the glass just as I'd expected but at about 25 miles an hour where I expected it to fly off the windshield it didn't. Those little beads of water just stayed fixed in place jiggling like a tiny piece of jello. Surely they'll fly off the windshield when I get on the freeway I thought to myself. Nope! They didn't budge. They just grew larger. I almost couldn't believe it. Since then in my mind's eye I picture a bronco in a wind tunnel. With that clean stream of some white smoke. Like you see in those car commercials flowing effortlessly over the top of the car. Only in the case of the bronco you see that Clean stream of smoke hit something and explode into a Fog. You can't even see the bronco.
Setting aside the big contributors to the wind drag. And take a closer look there are hundreds of small to tiny things that must add up to a significant percentage of the overall wind resistance. My question is can we make a list of those things and come up with a a way to eliminate or reduce their effect? For example. Glue in windshield flush to the frame. Open up the core support. Shave those drip rails on the side of the windshield frame. How about those pockets behind each tire that just dead end.
Anyway I'd like to get some thoughts on this topic. As well as any ideas or suggestions

 

[sykanr0ng]

If you open up the core support you will allow air to flow around the radiator instead of being forced through it, end result = no cooling.

If you modify a Bronco to be as aerodynamic as a modern vehicle it will end up just like any modern vehicle with none of the characteristics of a classic Bronco left.

 

[garberz]

What would the pluses be of a more aerodynamic Bronco? I'll just settle for the 13 mpg that mine gets and leave the classic styling.

Mark

 

[Slowleak]

If the goal is to make it aerodynamic enough to create a significant gain in mileage, I think it’s a lost cause. It would take decades to get your money back. If the goal is better performance, that money would be better spent on a more efficient drivetrain. A brick is a brick........

 

[sykanr0ng]

If the goal is to make it aerodynamic enough create a significant gain in mileage, I think it’s a lost cause. It would take decades to get your money back. If the goal is better performance, that money would be better spent on a more efficient drivetrain. A brick is a brick........

"Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." - Enzo Ferrari

 

[phred]

"Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." - Enzo Ferrari

X2


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[jonpblewis@yaho]

I could be wrong but I'm not sure I agree with the idea that some of these little things don't start to add up. I'm not talking about redesigning the thing but if you look at some SUV's today like say the FJ. It's not streamlined at all but it doesn't have edges and voids exposed that catch air. Things are kept flush and large pocket voids are covered. I'm just saying small thing start to add up fast. Covering the voids behind the fenders and shaving the drip rails down the windshield edges are not things that take away from the the classic body lines.

 

[garberz]

What are you looking to gain? More efficiency?

Mark

 

[sykanr0ng]

The big inefficiencies will still be there.

You start with a cement block dragging a parachute down the highway and end up with a cement block dragging a smaller parachute.

 

[darrell82]

Let's just hope the 2020 Bronco will be what you are talking about, an EB with out a drip rail a more aerodynamically efficient grill and no air catching voids but still holding the classic lines and a flat windshield maybe a couple degrees angled back more.


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[Rustytruck]

Back in the 80's the aftermarket vendors came out with a plastic air dam that mounted to the front of the Bronco hood. Touted to save gas. On my Bronco it gave me an actual 1 mile to the gallon more.

Without the plastic dam rising above the hood line. When you drove down the highway you would see the windshield wipers blow up the windshield and be above the windshield gasket. Once the dam was put on it rose the the hood edge up about 3 inches or so and at the speed of 55 to 60 mph the wipers no longer blew up over the windshield gasket. If you ever ran into a flock of butterflys or bees they use to pelt the crap out of the windshield and the front of the hard top. This never happened again when running the air dam. Once the gas wars were over and people running much faster than 55to 60 mph the use of the air dams went away. At the time my Bronco was blue and I used a blue air dam. Its been off the Bronco for more than 30 years now but it is still hanging up in the rafters. It was an interesting experiment for the time.

 

[boonz28]

Why not just drop one of these bad boys in and gain “up to” 15% better gas mileage

 

[Godwick]

Interesting premise. Hell, if doing some small mods doesn't change the look too much and saves me 1 or 2 mpgs, I'm interested.

 

[73azbronco]

Anything used to improve the aerodynamics on an EB will in direct inverse proportion start turning it into a Prius.