h a l f b a k e r yThe leaning tower of Piezo
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Can it also be engineered to generate a uselessly tiny
amount of downforce, like those silly little canards I see on
the front valences of tuners? |
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How do you keep the vents from introducing as much rain as they remove? |
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First, have the scoops on the underside directing air
upwards to deflect falling rain before it hits the
mirror (although, I guess, mirrors don't get rained on
while you're moving). |
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Second, put a small slot in the curved air-channel,
on the outside of its radius. Incoming rain will be
thrown to the outside, and thence out of the slot,
whilst the majority of the air (now rain-free)
continues around and up to the mirror. |
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I think we should spurt a little gasoline into the intake
and light it so the air coming out is hot. It would dry the
mirror if it's wet. |
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//spurt a little gasoline into the intake and light it// - thus generating a uselessly tiny amount of thrust in addition to the downforce? |
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Maybe it could be marketed as some kind of "afterburner". |
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And then on a frigid winter morning watch in horror as the sudden blast of hot air we were hoping would defrost the mirror instead causes it to shatter into a zillion tiny shards... |
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No, because this will be controlled by the computers that run the fuel injection, and the climate sensors will not activate it when conditions exceed operating parameters. |
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There will probably have to be a warmup cycle, then gradual introduction of more and more heat |
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This shouldn't add more than a couple of thousand dollars to the cost of the automobile, and will probably greatly reduce the lifespan of the mirror, but what price fashion? |
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It crossed my mind to blow exhaust over the mirrors, but that causes some CO issues if you put your window down. |
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With some fairly simple ducting, air collected
from a jacket around the exhaust manifold
could be routed through into the mirror
shroud. |
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The ram effect from a front-mounted intake
scoop ahould provide enough flow. The heat
of the manifold will flash off any entrained
moisture. |
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No fans, no fuel injectors, no temperature
sensing, no hookup to the engine
management. Just "free" heated air passed
over the mirror by the effect of the vehicle's
motion. |
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I've always been a fan of small, extremely vain demons harnessed to the mirrors who keep rubbing them clean with their shirt sleeves so they can see themselves better. |
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// With some fairly simple ducting, air collected
from a jacket around the exhaust manifold could be routed
through into the mirror shroud. ... The ram effect from a
front-mounted intake scoop ahould provide enough flow.
// |
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No hood scoop required. This is how I heat the cab of my
Deuce in the winter. I was planning to blow air through the
manifold jacket using a small squirrel-cage fan, but I found
that blow-back from the big radiator fan in front of the
engine does the job nicely. I installed an air-actuated* gate
to turn the heater on and off, and in the summer I just
remove the whole jacket. |
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* I did this because my kitbashed air system runs just about
everything that's normally controlled by a solenoid or
mechanical switch, so adding one more outlet was easier
than running a cable into the cab. For those who aren't
systematically replacing every well-ordered electrical relay
in their vehicle with a psychotic rat's nest of unlabeled air
lines, I'd recommend a 78¢ solenoid switch from your local
NAPA. |
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My mirrors have defrosters in them and basically they also dry the raindrops.(not thoroughly, so OK- this sounds like a good idea.) [+] |
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"And on the afternoon of the Sixth Day, God created Audi, so he could have a good laugh at the people who'd bought VW's ..." |
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//basically they also dry the raindrops//
Its most irritating when my raindrops get wet, and I would like to have a device to keep them dry. |
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Actually, the thing to use would be a blast of compressed air. Suitably placed and profiled nozzles could be used to clear the mirror, with additional units to clear the side window. |
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Running a flexible high-pressure air line into the door presents no practical problem. However, the majority of passenger vehicles lack a ready source of high-pressure air. |
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An engine-driven pump and air receiver will be relatively expensive for the functionality delivered. |
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A small electrically powered compressor could be the basis of a useful aftermarket kit. It wouldn't need much capacity - enough to keep a one litre vessel topped up with 4 bar air. The air blast would only activate on command from the driver, for a few seconds at a time. |
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But, once you *have* said air reservoir, adding an air-horn is
so dead-simple it should be reflex. |
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