Aero Mod Pics

A couple of you had asked me to post pics of the recent aero upgrades that I have added to my car. Following pics and text may assist you with your own projects.

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp355/NZGTRA/HeadersandAeroMods10Feb09021.jpg

I used 3mm commercial grade aluminium for the 'airdam' section and also for the splitter 'tray'. All joints are rivetted with aluminium 'tucker pop' rivets. I have used a 75mm projection on the front of the splitter and this tapers off around the sides to blend in with the intersection with the airdam.
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp355/NZGTRA/HeadersandAeroMods10Feb09020.jpg

You need to taper the airdam depth as it wraps around the corners of the nose cone to ensure the splitter tray has the correct angle of attack. I have set my splitter tray up 'neutral' (level with the ground). To achieve this I used an airdam depth of 120mm (you may need to vary the depth to suit your cars ride height) in the center of the dam and tapered this down to approx 100mm at the end (corners). The taper is progressive as it wraps around the corner.
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp355/NZGTRA/HeadersandAeroMods10Feb09017.jpg

In this shot you can see the right angle extrusion used to attach the splitter tray to the airdam. You will need to get this curved on a stretching shrinking machine to replicate what I have done. Alternatively you may chose to put a series of cuts in the extrusion so that you can curve it but this will not be as strong.

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp355/NZGTRA/HeadersandAeroMods10Feb09018.jpg

In this shot you can see the stiffening members that I have added to the splitter tray to stop it vibrating under the car. You may chose to leave these out. I added them as I have experienced losing a splitter tray at speed due to unforseen vibration......... Note that the rear member is relieved in the center. This is to stop it fouling on the rear section of the towing strap.

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp355/NZGTRA/HeadersandAeroMods10Feb09019.jpg

Angle view of the finished product.

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp355/NZGTRA/HeadersandAeroMods10Feb09022.jpg

New rear wing support was made using 5mm thick hard commercial grade aluminium. The position of the wing is 620mm high from the center of the lower rear support/chassis attachment bolt to the fwd upper wing/support attachment bolt. The setback is 125mm when measured back from the vertical rear face of the wing support. You will note that I have eliminated the body to wing support angle brackets and have used aluminium tube supports for the wing instead. I have used these supports in a number of places around the car to provide extra support to the bodywork.

You may consider using thinner sheet than the 3mm that I used for the front dam and splitter. I used this as I wanted a strong unit for endurance racing. The end result is a little heavier than I would use for other forms of racing. Up to you.

Regards the rear wing uprights, I would not go any thinner than 5mm and would absolutely always use some form of bracing to assist with reducing lateral movement. Again up to you.

Have fun.

Did you see a big difference in how the car handled?

Did you see a big difference in how the car handled?

With no other changes made other than the aero's, lap times reduced by 1 second over previous. Car was terrific through fast sweepers and had a touch of understeer in slow corners. We will dial out the understeer with alignment for our next meeting.

our splitter is VERY similar. We ran it further back on the chassis but otherwise the same. We kept the kydex peice and riveted the splitter to that.

our splitter is VERY similar. We ran it further back on the chassis but otherwise the same. We kept the kydex peice and riveted the splitter to that.

Brian, yes is very similar as I based the design around the pics you had shared of your splitter earlier. My 'Kydex' dam was a little the worse for wear and I could not (easily) find the material here so went for ally. Will keep my eyes open though as the Kydex is certainly lighter.

Very nice! Good to see the improvement in lap times. If you didn't get faster, why make the mod?

I like the one piece rear wing support. I went the less material route, and bolted on a smaller piece to the existing support structure. I did remove a lot of material from the upper section of the rear wing support, leaving one triangular cross brace. It looks like the picture of the 350Z (#333) in the upper right hand side of this web page.

I pushed my splitter further under the car. The splitter stops at the first cross brace of the frame. THere were several holes already drilled into the cross member, and so I used them to rivet to. Having thee splitter go that deep under the car does make access to the heim joint for camber alignment much more difficult. I used lexan for the material. We'll see how well it holds up. As you said, it's a bit heavy, but it's built to take some hits and scrapes.

Jerry

As always, very nice workmanship. I hope you don't do what I did last week. I pulled out of my parking spot (forward) to hit the track. I didn't see a tool bag in front of me. I felt I touched something. My mistake was backing up, being in a rush to get going. I broke a 12" section my Kydex off the right corner. At least its cheap. I bought 2 lengths for around $20. Thanks to the forums source. Your splitter tray would have survived the backup error as its flat bottomed. I know it wouldn't survive a couple of the off tracks I have made.

http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq359/wessbecher/d2cae95e.jpg?t=1234394903

This would be a bummer. :banghead:

[quote=Wess-RA;5914592] I know it wouldn't survive a couple of the off tracks I have made.

Thanks Uwe. Thats a great action shot, love it. I expect you are right, the splitter would be the worse for wear in this situation. I went a little conservative on the depth for this reason. I did have a couple of off track excursions in my 1 hour race but thankfully the curbing on my local track is a little kinder than in your picture (never mind the elevation as well)!!

Another benefit of the design that I have used (and perhaps Brian as well) is that the whole splitter assembly comes off with the nosecone as one piece. There are no other stays / attachements / parts permanenetly attached to the car, this makes trailering the car much easier as well as any maintenance activity around the front of the car.

I was wondering why you decided not to carry it further back. Maintenance access is a great reason. Thanks for sharing your nice work with all of us. Did you make 2 sets as a backup "just in case". As we all know you can make two for nearly the same effort as one. Please tell me you formed at least 2 of the angle extrusions while you were "borrowing" the Kraftformer.:bigthumb:

I was wondering why you decided not to carry it further back. Maintenance access is a great reason. Thanks for sharing your nice work with all of us. Did you make 2 sets as a backup "just in case". As we all know you can make two for nearly the same effort as one. Please tell me you formed at least 2 of the angle extrusions while you were "borrowing" the Kraftformer.:bigthumb:

Yes, I used a similar arrangement on my last car as well for may years so wanted to again keep it simple.

No I am afraid I didnt make another splitter at the same time Uwe, however I do have the materials cut out to do this if required. I have always found it to be unlucky to have a spare splitter, as if I do I immediately wreck the good one.............!! Proved this a couple of times with my last car.

I got a little distracted when doing the Kraftforming as the friends workshop (Pioneer Aero Restorations, Auckland, New Zealand www.pioneeraero.co.nz (http://www.pioneeraero.co.nz)) that I did this in does vintage aero restoration. They had a nearly complete P-40 Kittyhawk that we spent some time looking over as well. The guys at Pioneer do an amazing job on these old aircraft which are better than new when they leave, so we just had to spend some time admiring their craftmenship. I know I can always go back again!!

A couple of you had asked me to post pics of the recent aero upgrades that I have added to my car. Following pics and text may assist you with your own projects. That's some nice work NZGTRA17, you must have a very well equipped shop.

I know I can always go back again!!

After seeing their work on the website I am convinced you were looking for an excuse to go back. I get it!!:bananasmi