Wing thoughts for my pickup...

I have a 14" wing hanging off the back of the tailgate right now. It wasn't wide enough, so I added 4" to each side to make it the full width of the truck. After I got it mounted, I didn't like it. It makes the truck look even longer. The truck is a 1974 F100 with a 3" chopped top and about 4" off the ground. It looks looong. The wing made it look that much longer. I am thinking right now of adding a dragster style wing in the bed or possibly a carbon fiber promod wing if Chuck Ford can find me a used one, lol. He seems to think I don't need one. What do you guys think? I guess pics would help, huh? I think a dragster wing in the bed would make the truck look shorter.

Good post David... I'm kinda in the same boat, looking for one that'll look good and be functional too... I'm starting work on one right now for mine, as I get closer I'll post up some pics... I'm mocking it up with cardboard, and then when I'm happy with it, I'll take it to the tin shop and have it done up...





Doug...

Dman I think i see the tire sticking out the top of the bed

Hey NW outlaw, can you move that wing onto the bed, in front of the tailgate? That is where I'm thinking it may go.

I didnt do that pic i just copty it for the old fourm D.I.L.L.I.G.A.S did the photoshop on it but i did see the post and made me think of the pic.

How about something like this David. Maybe let the spill plates drape over the sides a little bit with short struts to have some adjust ability.

That looks better, but I would still like to see a wing higher up. Maybe Dave will come on here and draw me one up. Truck goes to the chassis shop next week!!!!

Going to the chassis shop? I thought you were the chassis shop?

Throw some spill plates on the bed sides and a wicker bill across the top of the tailgate. I think the bed cover is enough "wing" for it.

Doug Rahn wrote:How about something like this David. Maybe let the spill plates drape over the sides a little bit with short struts to have some adjust ability.

I like Doug's Idea..

There are good & bad points to using a dragster style wing (say 48" x 15") on a door car...........

Good: You can gain more & more increased down force with less & less angle of attack (and thus less air drag) the further behind the rear axle centerline the wing is hung. This is because the further behind the rear axle you mount the wing the greater the leverage will be. And a dragster wing will still create some amount of down force even while sitting at zero angle of attack without using any additional "helpers" (such as a wicker bill/blade) because of the Bernoulli Effect.

Bad: This means that to create the most down force possible while generating the least air drag with the lowest angle of attack the wing might still need to sit behind the bed like in my shopped pic of Doug's truck. So you still end up with a long looking truck. It will really depend on how long the distance from the axle C/L to the back of the bed is.

An alternative might be to use a dragster style wing designed more for door car use like the stuff Tim McAmis sells. His P/M style dragster/door car wings look to be a little wider (side to side) but not as deep (front to back) than the true "dragster" style wings I have used from The Chassis Shop http://secure.chassisshop.com/. I'm guessing McAmis's design is why he can mount his wings so that they don't have to hang off the back of the car as far.

As far as effectiveness goes, either a simple flat deck wing or a dragster style wing should both be able to get the job done. The old Pro Stock Trucks looked real long too with just a simple flat deck wing so the "look" shouldn't be too much longer on a bigger truck.

If I get a chance this weekend I will shop a Chassis Shop wing onto your truck at a few different placements.

I had a hard time making myself build a wing for my56 Tbird ,but i had the trunk lid come off one night. It convinced me it needed some down force . It's a great addition to the top end charge, it keeps it's butt planted at high speeds

Forgive my ignorance... Not a drag racer.
I like to fly low in the Desert, with an open bed, airflow is turbulent though predominately flowing towards the cab at speeds from about 60 to 125. Above that point air flow reversed, however the bed area was low pressure. The only laminar air I found was about 10 inches higher then the cab above the tail gate. Sheetmetal was mid 70's, low pressure in the bed area would start unloading the rear tires at about 130 and nobody wanted to go over 140. You might not notice the unload on pavement but in dirt, the rear tires would spin, you could see it in the Tach almost before you could feel it.
Do you actually get enough air flow, in the right direction at bed height to do anything? Is it the bed cover that you feel is necessary?

I don't think there is any air at the bed cover level, thus I feel like a wing that works will have to be up higher than the bed. The bed cover is a must to cover up all the suspension, as there isn't any sheetmetal back there except wheel tubs. This truck should run 145 mph in the 1/8 mile and around 170-175 in the 1/4 naturally aspirated. If put one of my blowers on there or nitrous, it could get real scary!

Whats you got under the hood, 175 N/A thats gettiner done.

641" BBF, C heads by Bennett Performance and tweaked even more by Charlie Evans, Ti valves, Lem Evans custom roller, 16.5 CR, EFI methanol, 5-stage drysump, Star machine vp, sheetmetal intake, Enderle birdcatcher, Alan Dudley MFI system w/EFI, Ignition (individual coil packs), and Datalogging all in one box. PG trans, 4.30 gears, should weigh around 2500 lbs. We scaled it out a few years ago and it weighed 2100 lbs. I expect I'll add another 400 lbs to that with stuff I haven't thought of yet. It has a steel body, but it is butchered big time. We are using aluminum bolts and screws everywhere we can.

OH I see another one if them moonshinner cams.

that sounds like badass engine, nice

we need more pics and a video when its running

Old blue Racin Team wrote:Dman I think i see the tire sticking out the top of the bed

Nah, just enough room so small road kill wont get stuck between the slick & the tub .........

First shop done is with the wing behind the bed at different heights.



The Chassis Shop has a bunch of different spill plate shape/designes to choose from, not just the retro looking one pictured.

Second shop is with the wing in the bed at different heights.

Hey, David: Yer gonna put yer eye out with that wing (LOL)! Why not move the wing into the pick up bed just a couple of inches behind the center line of the differential, and high enough to keep it above the wind coming over the roof of the truck ???? Just seems right to me!

Wayne (SAWDOFF) Pearce

Wayne Pearce wrote:Why not move the wing into the pick up bed just a couple of inches behind the center line of the differential

Because the farther behind axle center line you mount the wing, the greater the down force numbers will be for a set wing angle of attack because the leverage increases. As you move the wing closer & closer to the axle centerline, more & more wing angle of attack has to be adjusted in (and thus more & more air drag) just to generate the same down force numbers the wing would if mounted farther back.

I'm thinking top right is where you are going to find the air that you are looking for.

I'm going to remove the rear spoiler and install chassis tabs on the top frame rail behind the rear axle. If I feel I need a wing, I'm going to come off those tabs with a dragster wing 48" wide with the back of it even with the tailgate and the top will be even with the cab or maybe a little taller. I don't like the looks of anything hanging off past the tailgate.