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Lexan Rear Window - Vent holes: Yes or No?


notbob

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Put a rear window in Shad. The side quarters also are in.

Side exhaust, so shouldn't have issues with fumes in cabin.

Debating whether to put in 2 vent holes in the rear window or not.

Have read various articles.

Some people say not to do it, some say to do it. 

Then there is location - some say towards the bottom because of the air that rolls over the top of the car, down the window, some say towards the top because it will pull the air from the car as opposed to hitting the low pressure air at the bottom?

I thought about taping a handful of strings at various spots and drive around to see where they end up before cutting them out, but would like to hear your thoughts?

 

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Was just pondering the same thing..........

 

We have not previously run lexan on side and rear windows.  Does rear lexan tend to fog in humid situations like rain etc.  We have a blower for front defrost, but no provisions for rear.

 

 

 

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We've always run lexan (except when it was banned in side windows in 2014) and never had an issue with fogging, and we've run some soggy races.  

We don't have holes, it just lets the rain in.  

 

The side windows create enough vacuum to keep air moving through the cabin.  

Edited by skierman64
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Huggy, For a true hatch back like a civic, where the fire can come straight up the back and get sucked in,  I agree with no holes there... but not necessarily for other cars.

I know alot of E30, E36 and others have multiple holes in theirs. Right, wrong, whatever, but within the rules.

As always, I do appreciate the safety aspect and you can never bring too much attention to it!

I think for now, I am going to run some strings and put a camera there, do some laps at track day and see what the strings and camera tell me on whether the window stays put, bows in or out and go from there.

 

 

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2 hours ago, TiredBirds said:

We are going to hang a Lexan "hatch" on our Firebird, no holes. once the cabin fills up with air (pressurizes) you shouldn't have an issue.

 

Unless a Firebird has way different aero that most other cars, I think the pressure in the cabin of the car with no side door windows but installed rear side windows and a rear window is less than the ambient outside air pressure not greater.  In other words the cabin of the car doesn't "pressurize" 

 

Edited by skierman64
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58 minutes ago, skierman64 said:

 

Unless a Firebird has way different aero that most other cars, I think the pressure in the cabin of the car with no side door windows but installed rear side windows and a rear window is less than the ambient outside air pressure not greater.  In other words the cabin of the car doesn't "pressurize" 

 

bad choice of words... the cabin will be full of air, thus create a barrier. You wouldn't need "vents" out back.

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Even with no back window the Camaro was never bad about sucking in outside air (due to the shape and lack of back doors I'd assume), but with the a-pillar lexan and a back window, there was virtually no air movement inside the car and definitely no fumes. It was quite nice.

 

Surprisingly I did not find it any hotter or more uncomfortable than normal, I guess “hot is hot” at that point so unless you have a hose directly pointed at you, you probably don’t notice much interior cabin cooling with or without a back window.

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5 minutes ago, theblue said:

I was hoping for more science :)

Holes in the bumper are like the Blipshift     "+5 HP"   stickers that I put on my ECU cover :)

 

And for the science.... it depends 'bigly' on the shape of your bumper and what the air is doing underneath your car. For the e30 design, cutting holes in the rear bumper won't affect the airflow. I don't know about other cars though.

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10 hours ago, enginerd said:

What if I told you.... having a perfect 14 hours and pondering aero aren't mutually exclusive?

 

Indeed. Pondering is one thing. But your time is a limited resource. If you have 8 hours to spend on a Saturday working on the car, 8 hours invested in preventative maintenance and race strategy might yield better dividends than spending 8 hours on aero :)

 

But then again, 8 hours spent on a completely different activity could be more productive than all listed above :lol:

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On 4/15/2017 at 0:10 AM, dogtired said:

This one time at band camp..... I fell out a E36... as I couldn't no longer stand....   fumes, dem fumes...  but, I got some A1 treatment from the EMTs at VIR...

 

The trunk and air outlets (inlets) need to be sealed to keep exhaust fumes out of the cabin.  

 

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