Hood use for storage?

Dan Grec

Expedition Leader
I've seen a solar panel fitted into a bonnet (hood) which was a very neat installation, I think it was on this forum.

I was thinking about that the other day, and I wonder if it's possible to get nasty glare and reflections off a solar panel on the hood.. ?

-Dan
 

Gren_T

Adventurer
Hi Chaps,
I used to carry all kinds of crap in the well of my spare wheel on the bonnet of my LR S3, it was just the right size to coil a rope into, dump shackles, boxes of fence staples, small tools and loads of bits of orange bailing twine that used to unravel and pull out into the wind like hippy streamers - not so much fun untangling a melted orange ball from a UJ:(

The 110 is a wolf variant with a pintle mount, the baskets were a common fitment for the bonnet, sides & rear you see them come up often on Ebay, sadly the same cannot be said for the seats.
That 110 has the Exmoor trim mesh seats - very comfy, love to get my grubbys on those.

regards all

Gren
 

greenmeanie

Adventurer
The 110 is a wolf variant with a pintle mount, the baskets were a common fitment for the bonnet, sides & rear you see them come up often on Ebay, sadly the same cannot be said for the seats.
That 110 has the Exmoor trim mesh seats - very comfy, love to get my grubbys on those.

regards all

Gren

That's a defender wearing a WMIK kit not a WOLF. Its mising too many of the basic details to be a Wolf. I've only ever seen one unit dressed like that and it was a LR demo vehicle.
 

ShinySideUp

New member
I dont know exactly what a Wolf is, but unless the guy building that truck also built a replica of VBC, it looks to be a legit service truck to me...
 

Dan Grec

Expedition Leader
I'm thinking this must be a nasty hit for gas mileage.

The energy to move a vehicle goes up with only the square of weight, but with the cube of aerodynamic drag...

So messing with your aerodynamics will significantly hurt your mileage.
(This is why even an empty roof rack can really hurt mileage).

The base of the windscreen/base of the hood is actually the highest pressure point for the vast majority of cars, and is critical in minimizing overall aerodynamic drag.

By putting something on the hood, like a tire, the air hitting the base of the hood will be very turbulent, and I suspect will greatly increase overall drag.

I wonder if I can find wind tunnel tests for this....

-Dan
 

libarata

Expedition Leader
I'm thinking this must be a nasty hit for gas mileage.

The energy to move a vehicle goes up with only the square of weight, but with the cube of aerodynamic drag...

So messing with your aerodynamics will significantly hurt your mileage.
(This is why even an empty roof rack can really hurt mileage).

The base of the windscreen/base of the hood is actually the highest pressure point for the vast majority of cars, and is critical in minimizing overall aerodynamic drag.

By putting something on the hood, like a tire, the air hitting the base of the hood will be very turbulent, and I suspect will greatly increase overall drag.

I wonder if I can find wind tunnel tests for this....

-Dan

Well, offroad speed is not too affected by this, which is what those vehicles were manufactured for.
 

newhue

Adventurer
I'm thinking this must be a nasty hit for gas mileage.

Fair point grecy as I know a roof top tent will put 1lt per 100 on your usage. But I'm thinking speed has more to do with economy.
6 of us in Defenders did a 8000klm trip. Some with stuff on the roof like jerry cans, some with tires on bonnets, some with both, and some as aerodynamic as a box can be. 4 different types of motors spending over 25 years of build and gear boxes from 4 to 6 speed. We all did similar economy when we all cruised at the same speed. Faster one went the faster the fuel gauge needle went down. That magic figure for economy of 90km/h or 55m/h proved best. Over 100 up to 120kmh or 75M/h proved worst.
 
Last edited:

Dan Grec

Expedition Leader
But I'm thinking speed has more to do with economy.
6 of us in Defenders did a 8000klm trip. Some with stuff on the roof like jerry cans, some with tires on bonnets, some with both, and some as aerodynamic as a box can be. 4 different types of motors spending over 25 years of build and gear boxes from 4 to 6 speed. We all did similar economy when we all cruised at the same speed. Faster one went the faster the fuel gauge needle went down. That magic figure for economy of 90km/h or 55m/h proved best. Over 100 up to 120kmh or 75M/h proved worst.

Yup, speed impacts economy because wind resistance goes up with the square of speed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)

So while you noticed a difference in economy because of speed, the speed was not the property that caused the economy hit, it was merely an easily observable symptom.

It was the increase in wind resistance that was causing it.

-Dan
 

Sean H

New member
Yup, speed impacts economy because wind resistance goes up with the square of speed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)

So while you noticed a difference in economy because of speed, the speed was not the property that caused the economy hit, it was merely an easily observable symptom.

It was the increase in wind resistance that was causing it.

-Dan

And the increase in rpm. A vehicle in neutral will burn more fuel at 3000 rpm vs 2000 rpm obviously.
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
On my old '90 Wrangler, I used to strap the solar shower to my hood to get the most exposure to the sun, but also add the engine heat to help heat it. Always thought about building a "little" basket/rack for the hood and using it for light weight stuff would be handy.

Jack
 

Dan Grec

Expedition Leader
And the increase in rpm. A vehicle in neutral will burn more fuel at 3000 rpm vs 2000 rpm obviously.

Though you can't always say that.

A vehicle driving at 2000rpm will not always get better mileage that when it drives at 3000rpm
(depending on a million factors).

Think about riding a bicycle - put it in the very highest gear and ride up a steep hill... you'll be doing very low rpm on the peddles, but your legs will be on fire and you'll be exhausted in no time (crappy mileage.)
Now go up the same hill in 1st gear. You'll be doing high rpm on the peddles, but there will be little resistance so it won't be hard work and you won't get exhausted for a very long time (better mileage).

Mileage is all about load, not rpm.

-Dan
 

newhue

Adventurer
Professor grecy has shot us all down with his expertise lol. Have to agree and can see his point. So if it comes to shape, speed, and wind resistance here is a novel idea that I plan on doing. A Defender yet again lends itself to quirky modification, not sure about other marc's but it may suit. Certainly has no effect on wind drag at all. But great for light items that clutter other storage places.


 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
185,529
Messages
2,875,555
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top