Experience with Belly Pans
 

Hi All,

Looking at Rads 70 Nova build and the belly pans. (PS, they always do SICK cars don't they !!) Does anyone have any experience with belly pans and resultant heat buildup ? I was looking to add a front and rear belly pan to my Porsche 356G with the exhaust running through the tunnel and wrapped front to rear - and wanted to close the entire deal off like Rads is doing here. Wouldn't the heat buildup be huge ?

Anyone running pans with input appreciated.

Jim

Hello Jim!

I was asking same thing in that nova thread.This is good idea to open totally new one for belly pans and "diffusors"

I would like to know can it be done with leaf springs? Does it matter if leafs come out in tight hole-will it affect air flow ??

I remember Johnnys orion camaro had one too !

On our wagon project we are running the exhaust tight to the trans in the "tunnel". The side belly pans run from the outer rocker to the inner side of the frame rail leaving the "tunnel" open. The exhaust will then make a 60 degree angle thru the frame rail and exit thru the rear rocker. The oval round mufflers will be in the open tunnel area and only 3" oval tubing will flow thru approx. 30" of covered belly pan area. In that area we will run a 3/8" thick steel plate for protecton of the carpet padding and dyno mat the top under the carpet. At that distance from the engine and post muffler, the tubing will not reach temps that could cause any direct flame or temp. concerns.

I am doing a similar treatment with a 51 Woody I am building going from the rocker pinch weld to the inner rail, The car sits low so unless you have it up on a lift or a ultra skinny head you would be hard pressed to tell it doesn't have full pan.


Am I the only one who just doesn't have any luck with exhaust wrap on a driven car? They get ANY leak on them and they will smoke forever. They destroy the finish on the pipe from the heat and trapped condensation. Last with a thermometer the temp drop was about 10 degrees. Better off just having system coated. Work great on a bike where you skin comes in contact with pipe.

Thanks for the info Steve and Brian. I have some of the same concerns Brian.

I plan on doing a 3 piece undertray system. An engine bay pan with 3 naca ducts on it like (if you've seen these before) something on a VW Passat. I have a Passat and the belly pan is plastic with foil faced insulation and 3 naca ducts to remove heat. I'd planned on doing something like Rads is doing on the rear. And for the middle - I'm setup just like a stock C5 vette. Planning on a heat shield just above the dual exhausts (stock like the vette) so that the middle section of exhaust is open to outside/bottom. But then I've also seen this setup done closed - with the closeout panel having 4 inch louvers front to back all the way to the rear. (something like the Mclaren or Mercedes solution)

Also had planned on ceramic coating the entire exhaust system - and then tape wrap everything. But if I only get 10 degrees for the tape - it's not worth the effort/cost IMO.

Hey Steve Rupp,

Here's another couple ideas for an article.

1) Tape wrap engineering vs real world test.

2) Diffusers for the street. How do they work, real engineering test of a couple cars, and an analysis of is it worth the cost on a non-track car.

Circle Track or some other mag may have already covered these and I just didn't catch it.

Jim

Yes!!!

3) The principals of diffusers and "how to" made one:lateral:

I have built a belly pan for my 48 Pro Street although my exaust will run up under the rockers. They are a nice detail to the rear of the car that cleans up the whole whole rear area!
Although still in mock up and plan on using smaller stainless nuts should be pretty cool when done i like the look of they on most cars ecs customs!

here is what we did on my project

http://www.syborgtwinturbo.com/album..._09_28_011.jpg

http://www.syborgtwinturbo.com/album..._09_28_006.jpg

http://www.syborgtwinturbo.com/album..._10_07_016.jpg

http://www.syborgtwinturbo.com/album..._10_07_017.jpg

http://www.syborgtwinturbo.com/album..._10_07_018.jpg

Nice pics, are those removeable, or did you weld them in?