STANG KILLA SS

when i was pulling the dry sump tank out of my 09, with the wheel well liner removed i notice i could see directly out of the side cove vent in the fender.

has anyone ever made this functional? im thinking about a 2" x 12" slot cut in the wheel well liner lined up with the cove vent. to help relieve the high pressure inside the wheel arch, and minimize lift.

anyone done it, or have any thoughts on it?

TrackAire

I think "theoretically" that should help relieve some wheelwell pressure, help with downforce, maybe help keep the brakes cooler since more air can be pushed into the area from the ducts since it is now a lower pressure zone.

I removed mine from my C5...not vented from the wheelwell but they may relieve a minor bit of underhood pressure unless I opened up the wheelwell with some sort of vent. But then, I'd have to make sure that the air had a path from the wheelwell to the vent and not trying to pressurize the engine compartment. The main reason I removed mine was to mount a quick detach charging port on the passenger side for a lithium battery. I removed the driver side just to match. I think for a street driven car that drives through a lot of rain, you have to be careful because on the passenger side of my car there are electrical components that the duct cover was protecting.

If you do remove them and vent the wheelwell, just tape a few strands of yarn inside the vent and use a GoPro type camera to see if the tufts of yarn are sticking out of the vent at speed. If they are, then it is working. Due to my limited driving talent (not a pro driver) I doubt I would be able to measure a difference in lap speeds even if my ducts are working.

Supercharged111

My car had some small "caps" stapled at the front of the inlet I guess you could call it. It looked like the factory made it to be able to be easily made functional.

Suns_PSD

I know there is a thread about this in the general C6 forum but no evidence of anything. I think the yarn idea is brilliant.

From what I can see, doesn't the wheel liner block these side vents up completely? I can't see how it would work but I'd love to be proven wrong.

I have a made a couple of aero mods to my car but I only do them after they have been proven by someone else as I don't have much time to tinker these days. It might be a small difference but I'll take it, if it works.

So please report back!

Hi Volts Z06

You definitely could use that vent to help reduce pressure in the wheel well. Despite the fact that my wheel wells are vented straight up through the hood.... I still made some slots to allow more pressure to be relieved. Over the winter I plan to "port" the opening in the fender as big as it can go and then make some carbon fiber ducting to connect to the wheel well. The opening isn't that big but I do think every little bit helps.

jaredtxrx

I'm sure you will but document in your build thread so I can steal your methods

STANG KILLA SS

yeah thats what im talking about on my C6 the cove vents are completely open to inside the fender area. but the wheel well liners are completly sealed so no air can get from the wheel well out those vents (or from anywhere maybe? not sure if frame/underhood wheel wells are sealed off from the inside fender area or not. my guess is they are not open to each other either )

with the wheel well liners removed you can see directly from the wheel well to the cove vents and see day light. so my thought was to cut a large slot in the liner to allow air to escape into inside the fender area and out the cove vent. my suspicions are though that the closer the cut slot is to the edge of the fender wheel arch, the less effective it will be.
to reduce the parachute effect, i would think you would want to cut the slot/hole in the liner, smaller than the area of the cove vent.

thoughts?

Suns_PSD

I won't even assume to know.

Frankly I have a hard time imagining that much air really gets in the wheels well towards the back with a wheel in there. I think you are just as likely to add drag doing this mod, as removing it.

All I have done to my '08 Z51 for Aero is:

1) World Challenge Hood
2) removed that rubber lip thing underneath
3) I built an ABS under-tray that is parallel to the ground that runs from the front fascia to somewhere around the front of the oil pan if I recall.
4) Car is lowered moderately with a bit of rake to it

These are things that are proven to work by others so I just copied although no one really builds an affordable front end under-tray for a base car so I just did it. The idea was to reduce lift at the front which is the shortcoming on the C6s, although the previous owner of my car also added a nifty little ZR1 rear spoiler that probably slightly assists with rear lift at the detriment to front end lift.

jaredtxrx

So you have turned your base car from a bottom breather to a front breather? I sounds like you closed up bottom of the car where the radiator gets air from?

STANG KILLA SS

arent all c6s front breathers?

i know non z06s dont have the block off panel underneith, so they technically have rad opening to grill AND bottom. but i believe all C6s are considered front breathers.
unlike an fbody that had NO grill opening, and all air came from a large 4" air damn underneith. were definatly bottom breathers.

C5s were bottom breathers too i guess?

Suns_PSD

Yes I did. Because that bottom feeder stuff is just BS.

The base cars and the Z06 both have a big *** hole in front of the entire cooling package. And the Z06s get some additional aero help by closing up the unneeded bottom hole. It does nothing to leave that big hole open except hurt aero at high speeds and save GM $4.

rabrooks

Like This?

rabrooks

This is what I did.
Yes there is build up of air pressure in the wheel wells. It comes from several places. The high pressure pushes the air out and it leaves in a dirty fashion. Going out thru the vent cleans it up some as the vent and trim becomes a vortex generator. So it alleviates some lift and some aerodynamic friction

jaredtxrx

Are there any electronics or anything that may be harmed or need extra protection in the vented area?

Suns_PSD

I'm not disagreeing, I just want to know how you reached and measured your conclusions or your source. Cause, ya know, it's the internet.

If I can verify the info you state is correct, I will be doing the same.

fuggles

Why do gt and dp race cars have wheel well vents above and slightly aft of the wheel?

STANG KILLA SS

ive seen the lower/open front fenders become super popular in the last few years too. probly slightly more related to what im asking.

rabrooks

I think the drivers side is pretty clean. The passenger side has the PCM in it but its up high and tight to the upper liner. And the connection is sealed. It should benefit oil cooling as well.

rabrooks

I can't offer exact info to help you. But I was very interested in Aero packages and how it all worked. I did a lot of research paying close attention to F1 for diffusers and DTM for front downforce. There's theres plenty of good info about the wheel well pressure and the dirty air coming out if it. You might want to serch vortex generators to learn how they allow the air to clean itself and reduce friction.
Cheers

TrackAire

I love aero stuff in general and seeing what works vs what doesn't. In your picture of your oval vent cut into the back of the fender liner, I do think that it might be a little too small to make a major difference (I would make it at least 3 times as large). It would either need to be a lot larger or best case scenario is to vent the top of the fender with vents (if you have a C6)....kind of like the Viper ACR-R and the new Porsche 911 GT2 RS use to vent the wheelwell.

If you had a choice between the two types of vents, I would say the side vent might be better for venting the engine compartment if it needs it.