SkiFreak
Crazy Person
The temperature at my place has been consistently lower than normal for this time of the year, so working on my composite body build has yet again been put on hold. Sigh......
Not wishing to do nothing truck related during this period I have turned my attention to other tasks.
Anyone that knows these trucks would understand the potential issue of damage or blocking of the intercooler/radiator fins, as there is little to no protection. Also, if mud were to go between the intercooler and radiator, it would be difficult to remove.
Adding a splash guard under my intercooler and radiator has always been on my "to do list", but it was not high on the list so remained undone, until now.
My biggest concern about adding a big plate under the truck was the potential of reducing airflow to the radiator and intercooler, as the FG84 (FG140 equivalent) has a bit of a reputation for overheating. Personally, I have never experienced overheating issues with my truck, but I have heard from numerous others that have.
Anyway... not wishing to assume anything, I decided that a bit of before and after testing was required for this modification. To that end I bought a relatively cheap anemometer (a device that measures airflow) off eBay and built a small bracket to hold it in front of the intercooler. I then did some before testing, taking readings over a 3km distance @ 80 kph (six runs) to get my baseline measurement. I was happy to see that all runs yielded similar numbers.
My splash guard is a very simple, boring design, consisting of a 3mm thick aluminium sheet, with a lip bent on two sides for a bit more strength. Mounting the sheet under my truck was very simple too, as the coil suspension setup gives me some perfect attachment points. I used common bullbar LED light mounts and a few custom made spacers to attach the sheet to the truck.
After fitting the splash guard I took the truck for another run on the same stretch of road at the same speed. Much to my delight, the airflow numbers went up between 20% and 30% over five runs.
So... my conclusion is that the splash guard, as well as fulfilling it's intended purpose of protecting the intercooler and radiator, is acting as a very beneficial air scoop.
More pics of this modification on my website.
Not wishing to do nothing truck related during this period I have turned my attention to other tasks.
Anyone that knows these trucks would understand the potential issue of damage or blocking of the intercooler/radiator fins, as there is little to no protection. Also, if mud were to go between the intercooler and radiator, it would be difficult to remove.
Adding a splash guard under my intercooler and radiator has always been on my "to do list", but it was not high on the list so remained undone, until now.
My biggest concern about adding a big plate under the truck was the potential of reducing airflow to the radiator and intercooler, as the FG84 (FG140 equivalent) has a bit of a reputation for overheating. Personally, I have never experienced overheating issues with my truck, but I have heard from numerous others that have.
Anyway... not wishing to assume anything, I decided that a bit of before and after testing was required for this modification. To that end I bought a relatively cheap anemometer (a device that measures airflow) off eBay and built a small bracket to hold it in front of the intercooler. I then did some before testing, taking readings over a 3km distance @ 80 kph (six runs) to get my baseline measurement. I was happy to see that all runs yielded similar numbers.
My splash guard is a very simple, boring design, consisting of a 3mm thick aluminium sheet, with a lip bent on two sides for a bit more strength. Mounting the sheet under my truck was very simple too, as the coil suspension setup gives me some perfect attachment points. I used common bullbar LED light mounts and a few custom made spacers to attach the sheet to the truck.
After fitting the splash guard I took the truck for another run on the same stretch of road at the same speed. Much to my delight, the airflow numbers went up between 20% and 30% over five runs.
So... my conclusion is that the splash guard, as well as fulfilling it's intended purpose of protecting the intercooler and radiator, is acting as a very beneficial air scoop.
More pics of this modification on my website.
