vettemann62

Challenge: How to get the differential to run at lower temps without reducing handling, must be inexpensive, keep complexity to a minimum & not increase the chance of leakage! I was thinking of this primarily for the road, not the strip.

Not too long ago I had a new set of gears put in a car and within 550 miles it developed a vibration during acceleration. It was also 95degrees ambient temp all that week which I'm sure played some part. The mechanic said the gears were stressed. So I thought if I could lower the temp of the dif during break in it could help add an extra level of protection.

This is just a prototype just for running temperature tests on the differential. The final version will be constructed in a few weeks & will probably be smaller. This is primarily for non-oil cooled differentials but would benefit oil cooled as well. I see it mainly for higher HP/TQ cars like mine.

As I am in the process of breaking in new gears I was limited to the amount of miles I could put on the vehicle at any one time.

*I built a sheet metal air deflector to direct the air up towards the rear of the dif & ran some temp readings. At aprox. 80mph the thin aluminum I chose to use flexes rearward which will virtually eliminate any hypothetical lift that might take occur on the rear. Thus I've been able to create a greater cooling effect for the differential below 80mph and not alter it's handling at very high speeds. I copied the theory from the radiator cooling "flex fans" . The faster they turned the more the blades would flex opened thus reducing drag on the motor. Similar principle.


I attached a wired contact thermometer to the rear of the dif. & ran the display into the cockpit with me. It has a max temp of 157degrees so my findings were limited although very interesting. As soon as my gear breakin is complete I will have complete temp readings before & after. This is just a preliminary release.


Day 1
81 degrees ambient temp.
Dif temp 81 degrees at start
No air deflector installed

At 21 miles of highway driving aprox 60mph……….Dif housing temp was 157 degrees and rising (my therm only goes up to 157 unfortunately)


Day 2
81 degrees ambient temp.
Dif temp 81 degrees at start
YES air deflector installed

Temp rose at a much slower rate with the deflector. It took til 31 miles to reach 157 degrees that’s about 50% more miles to reach the same temp.

THIS IS JUST A PROTOTYPE TO ASSES TEMP READINGS to see if it's worth pursuing. The prelim. numbers are promissing . After my gear breakin period is over I will use an IR thermometer & post all the stats. Just thought I'd share some my early findings.

Fast06Z06

Like to see how that works goin 160 mph . I wouldnt think deflecting the air upwards would be good for that. Itll probably take off like an air plane LOL. Nice concept though just need to figure out how to not have that issue

vettemann62

I don't see why there would be a problem, the front end has an air diverted to direct a much larger volume of air up towards the radiator.

Mr.Big

would not want to do this to the aero on the bottom of my car... but to each his own...

vettemann62

It's all in the design.
I can tell you that at about 80mph the thin aluminum I chose to use flexes rearward which will virtually eliminate any lift that might take place. Thus I've been able to create a greater cooling effect below 80mph and not alter it's handling at very high speeds. I copied the theory from the "flex fans" . The faster they turned the more the blades would flex opened thus reducing drag on the motor. Similar principle.

After my gears are broken in I will be taking temp readings above 147 degrees f. I'm still in the preliminary stages of testing. The numbers so far are promising enough to continue Testing after my 600 mile gear break in period.