Whats the purpose?

[blacknight]

I had the VX jacked up today to remove some leaves in the radiator grill and for the very first time I noticed something. Has anyone seen this before? there's a piece of plastic screwed directly across the bottom of the radiator and its an 'L' shaped unit.

I thought it might have to do with generating turbulence or deflecting air into the bottom half of the radiator. Does it matter anyway? Its only held in there by 4 phillips screws and its easily detached. Has anyone seen this? On the back of the car the rear plastic 'moulds' of the VX bumper also seem to be creating more draft. Does anyone know how to use or make a better way of air flowing from behind the vehicle?

[Bravotwozero]

I had the VX jacked up today to remove some leaves in the radiator grill and for the very first time I noticed something. Has anyone seen this before? there's a piece of plastic screwed directly across the bottom of the radiator and its an 'L' shaped unit.

I thought it might have to do with generating turbulence or deflecting air into the bottom half of the radiator. Does it matter anyway? Its only held in there by 4 phillips screws and its easily detached. Has anyone seen this? On the back of the car the rear plastic 'moulds' of the VX bumper also seem to be creating more draft. Does anyone know how to use or make a better way of air flowing from behind the vehicle?

You answered your own question. And dude, you're not driving a race car!

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

It is to create turbulance under the vehicle and cause a low pressure area to draw hot air from around the engine down and out the rear.

[blacknight]

I see. I was reading this fascinating article on autospeed.com about aerodynamics UNDER the car. Was wondering if anyone had tinkered around with DIY air deflectors?

[monkeys437]

I spoke to an engineer who worked on the aero for the VE a few years back. Some of the biggest target areas in drag reduction were in underbody airflow so I guess its a pretty significant area. Dont know how much stuff can be DIY retrofitted though, and more importantly without wind tunnels and CFD modelling it would be hard to verify if your changes had worked (or been counterproductive).

[blacknight]

Yes. I am sure the rear bumper is creating a lot of drag and without any windtunnel testing, there isnt any way to gauge improvements in DIY projects

[F l a k]

I think from memory Morton did something pretty cool with his old Statesman, have a search for it. He made a whole cover thing for under the front of the car and measured an improvement in fuel efficiency. I think he said it was a pretty fiddly job though.