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Old Nov 4, 2013 | 09:10 PM
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Can some knowledgable person (Talon/Paul?) outline the functions/purpose of each of the Z51 air vents?
Thanks much.
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Old Nov 4, 2013 | 09:12 PM
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They explain the vent pretty well here

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/27/w...nts-heres-why/
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Old Nov 4, 2013 | 09:20 PM
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Originally Posted by dalinone
Can some knowledgable person (Talon/Paul?) outline the functions/purpose of each of the Z51 air vents?
Thanks much.
We all need to vent sometimes...
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 04:15 PM
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Sorry, never saw this thread request. Well, I can tell you what I've been told about them in not so technical terms.

The visible vents that you see are on the hood, at the gills on the side in front of the door panels and on the top of the rear quarter panels. The vents and inlets that you don't see are down in front of the front wheels and the same for the rear wheels.

The hood vent is an exhaust vent. It takes hot air that has been passed through the radiator by the act of moving forward and exhausts it up and over the front of the car and on over the windshield. This serves two purposes, it allows the air to exit in the most expedient fashion and provides significant downforce for the front end. So much so that they needed to offset the downforce in the front with added drag on the rear and that is why the Z51 has a larger spoiler.

The gills that you see just in front of the Stingray emblem serve the same purpose that they did on the C6. They are heat extractors. While in motion an area of low pressure is created that draws the hot air out of the engine compartment. This allows for an exchange of air and keeps the engine compartment cooler.

The vents that you see on the top of the rear fenders provide an inlet for cooling air for the transmission and differential. The air is drawn in from air movement over that surface while under motion and exhausted out the back beside and below the tail lights. Kirk commented in a seminar at the NCM that those vents are each moving 8 cubic feet of air per minute to exchange air and extract heat from the diff and trans. On a Z51 car both vents are functional. On an automatic transmission non-Z51 car only the transmission vent is functional and on a manual transmission non-Z51 car neither of them are functional. The non functional vents are present for consistency of parts across the platform. The vents are simply molded closed on the non-Z51 cars where they are not needed.

The convertible cars do not get these visible vents but do employ heat exchangers in the same locations as the coupe. The design for the mechanism that opens the top was going to interfere with the visible vent placement and a compromise was reached to allow for added cooling with out the forced air from the vents. They use a fin system to extract heat and cool it with passing air. The thought here is that a convertible isn't going to see the temps that driving on a race track will generate because most tracks prohibit the use of convertibles without a full approved roll bar.

The underside of the car provides a very smooth surface for airflow. At the point in front of each wheel, there is an intake that draws in cooling air for each brake rotor. You will find a molded duct at each wheel well that directs this cooling air towards the rotors.
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by talon90
Sorry, never saw this thread request. Well, I can tell you what I've been told about them in not so technical terms.

The visible vents that you see are on the hood, at the gills on the side in front of the door panels and on the top of the rear quarter panels. The vents and inlets that you don't see are down in front of the front wheels and the same for the rear wheels.

The hood vent is an exhaust vent. It takes hot air that has been passed through the radiator by the act of moving forward and exhausts it up and over the front of the car and on over the windshield. This serves two purposes, it allows the air to exit in the most expedient fashion and provides significant downforce for the front end. So much so that they needed to offset the downforce in the front with added drag on the rear and that is why the Z51 has a larger spoiler.

The gills that you see just in front of the Stingray emblem serve the same purpose that they did on the C6. They are heat extractors. While in motion an area of low pressure is created that draws the hot air out of the engine compartment. This allows for an exchange of air and keeps the engine compartment cooler.

The vents that you see on the top of the rear fenders provide an inlet for cooling air for the transmission and differential. The air is drawn in from air movement over that surface while under motion and exhausted out the back beside and below the tail lights. Kirk commented in a seminar at the NCM that those vents are each moving 8 cubic feet of air per minute to exchange air and extract heat from the diff and trans. On a Z51 car both vents are functional. On an automatic transmission non-Z51 car only the transmission vent is functional and on a manual transmission non-Z51 car neither of them are functional. The non functional vents are present for consistency of parts across the platform. The vents are simply molded closed on the non-Z51 cars where they are not needed.

The convertible cars do not get these visible vents but do employ heat exchangers in the same locations as the coupe. The design for the mechanism that opens the top was going to interfere with the visible vent placement and a compromise was reached to allow for added cooling with out the forced air from the vents. They use a fin system to extract heat and cool it with passing air. The thought here is that a convertible isn't going to see the temps that driving on a race track will generate because most tracks prohibit the use of convertibles without a full approved roll bar.

The underside of the car provides a very smooth surface for airflow. At the point in front of each wheel, there is an intake that draws in cooling air for each brake rotor. You will find a molded duct at each wheel well that directs this cooling air towards the rotors.
For cooling the automatic transmission, is there any sort of fan to move air through there when stuck in traffic?
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 07:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Gearhead Jim
For cooling the automatic transmission, is there any sort of fan to move air through there when stuck in traffic?
Wouldn't think heat build up would be as bad as there is pretty light loading?
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 07:34 PM
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Default From the Corvette web site...

Originally Posted by dalinone
Can some knowledgable person (Talon/Paul?) outline the functions/purpose of each of the Z51 air vents?
Thanks much.
This is a visual of how they work...
http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/ve...b7006.mp4.html
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Gearhead Jim
For cooling the automatic transmission, is there any sort of fan to move air through there when stuck in traffic?
yes.
Reply
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 07:50 PM
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Originally Posted by KenHorse
Wouldn't think heat build up would be as bad as there is pretty light loading?
On our C6, stop & go driving does run the A6 temp up. Not extreme, but some cooling is definitely desired. I think it's because the torque converter is constantly slipping.
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Old Nov 5, 2013 | 07:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Gearhead Jim
For cooling the automatic transmission, is there any sort of fan to move air through there when stuck in traffic?
Originally Posted by JoesC5
yes.
Thanks!
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Old Nov 8, 2013 | 07:47 AM
  #11  
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From: Hodges SC
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Originally Posted by talon90
Sorry, never saw this thread request. Well, I can tell you what I've been told about them in not so technical terms.

The visible vents that you see are on the hood, at the gills on the side in front of the door panels and on the top of the rear quarter panels. The vents and inlets that you don't see are down in front of the front wheels and the same for the rear wheels.

The hood vent is an exhaust vent. It takes hot air that has been passed through the radiator by the act of moving forward and exhausts it up and over the front of the car and on over the windshield. This serves two purposes, it allows the air to exit in the most expedient fashion and provides significant downforce for the front end. So much so that they needed to offset the downforce in the front with added drag on the rear and that is why the Z51 has a larger spoiler.

The gills that you see just in front of the Stingray emblem serve the same purpose that they did on the C6. They are heat extractors. While in motion an area of low pressure is created that draws the hot air out of the engine compartment. This allows for an exchange of air and keeps the engine compartment cooler.

The vents that you see on the top of the rear fenders provide an inlet for cooling air for the transmission and differential. The air is drawn in from air movement over that surface while under motion and exhausted out the back beside and below the tail lights. Kirk commented in a seminar at the NCM that those vents are each moving 8 cubic feet of air per minute to exchange air and extract heat from the diff and trans. On a Z51 car both vents are functional. On an automatic transmission non-Z51 car only the transmission vent is functional and on a manual transmission non-Z51 car neither of them are functional. The non functional vents are present for consistency of parts across the platform. The vents are simply molded closed on the non-Z51 cars where they are not needed.

The convertible cars do not get these visible vents but do employ heat exchangers in the same locations as the coupe. The design for the mechanism that opens the top was going to interfere with the visible vent placement and a compromise was reached to allow for added cooling with out the forced air from the vents. They use a fin system to extract heat and cool it with passing air. The thought here is that a convertible isn't going to see the temps that driving on a race track will generate because most tracks prohibit the use of convertibles without a full approved roll bar.

The underside of the car provides a very smooth surface for airflow. At the point in front of each wheel, there is an intake that draws in cooling air for each brake rotor. You will find a molded duct at each wheel well that directs this cooling air towards the rotors.
Thanks all. The forum at its best....
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Old Nov 9, 2013 | 03:58 AM
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Originally Posted by BlueOx
This is a visual of how they work...
http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/ve...b7006.mp4.html

Perfect, ty
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Old Nov 9, 2013 | 04:15 AM
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Great replies.
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