Can anyone explain windage as it applies to engines?

This is all I know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windage

I know this isn't F-body specific, but it didn't apply to any particular engine, and I don't think it qualifies for advanced tech. If it should be somewhere else, I apologize.

Thanks!

 

Wind is a force acting against the car, causing more pressure and friction against the car. Inturn makes the engine work a little harder. More aerodynamic the shape of the car is, the less the engine has to work.

Is that what you wanted to know?

If nothing else, think of it like riding a bike with the wind, then against the wind.

 

Not wind. Windage. Engines have windage trays. I think it has something to do with the friction of turning the crankshaft amidst all of the oil.

 

It is, oil wraps all up on the crank and flies everywhere and at high rpm's it flings it off and causing it to splash back up on the crank

 

Okay, so what is the function of a windage tray?

 

To keep the oil off the crank, and to keep the "wind" from the crank from working the oil up into a froth.

 

The strict definition of windage is the power loss caused by the friction of the oil in the engine coming into non-lubrication contact with the moving parts inside the engine. For the most part, this is oil splashing against the counterweights of the crank as it spins. If there is poor oil control inside a race engine, windage can cause some pretty significant power loss. First, as rpm increases, the amount of power loss for a given amount of windage increases dramatically. As a liquid, it's the same concept as water in a swimming pool providing little resistance if you slowly dip your hand into it. The feeling of resistance becomes much different if you do a belly flop off the high dive into that same pool.






good info here
http://www.circletrack.com/techartic..._pans_windage/

 

Perfect! Thanks.