[wild man]

[QUOTE=951 Scott;5951146]

"were do people come up with these names ? if you ever called porsche part and asked for some thing like a bat wing they would tell you to call the bat cave ! that part is called a lower bumper cover ! the thing that is under the motor is called a splash shield . the pieces of plastic that are inside the fenders are called fender liners or skirts . all splash shields on the 944 body cars have some kind of cut outs . the reason there there is to cause a vacuum . as the air passes under the car and across the splash shield it causes a vacuum and pulls air thru the radiator ."[QUOTE]



I'm not so sure about the others, but I first saw the term used on THIS very site, and it wasn't actually all that long ago. But I will wager a guess that those who did come up with it did so by examining the shape of it (of the 944 turbo ones anyways), and concluding that it looked very similar in appearance to the spread out wings of a bat (or is it the bat "signal" that it so closely resembles?). But I do agree that it is 100% PURE slang, and in some situations, it's use should probably be avoided. But on a car forum such as this, I don't see the problem. There are also 2 other panels under the engine (on a 944 turbo). I simply call them the "underpanels". But only 1 of them is shaped like a bat wing, so that does kinda helps describe which one you are referring to. That's all I am going to say on this subject.

Oh, and the panels don't really need to be there to get "cooling vacuum" for the engine - it will run cool without them. The reason they are there is to maintain the laminarity of the air that is flowing under the car - same reason that lower spoilers are used.

EDIT: Before I get reamed, let me state that I was referring to the lower REAR spoiler, in particular. The lower front spoiler is in deed there for creating vacuum underneath the car. But NOT for engine cooling purposes. It is to counteract the "lift" that is created by the upper surface of the car.