Well at least the parts to make one.



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Fiberglassing after shaping...Sanding

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Painting and mounting hardware.

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front

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back



KT

3/8" plywood?

Installed!!

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KT


3/8" plywood, yes.

Oh, and the whole thing weighs 22#'s.


KT

I think you could have done the same thing using a sheet of aluminum. You could have fiberglassed over it or left it raw. It looks great but I'll bet it weighs a lot? Now that you know how to fiberglass, come down to L.A. and help me fix my rear end! I have ideas for some customizing.

Looks good. I have a small side business that makes splitters for Honda's called Road Race Gear. I have plans to build one for my 914 at some point. Here is a picture of one for a Miata. My splitters will be made from polypropalene plastic.

Drive slow in the paddock. That thing will cut someone off at the ankles.
Sure is low.

Sure looks like a skim board to me. I made one in woodshop at Aptos High that looked very similar. LOL!!

Trek, hope you plan on hopping up that little six over the winter....
That thing is going to catch a lot of air
now instead of going under the car, all that air is going to pile up in front of your car and create more drag.
And if you add a big wing or make your ducktail taller....you will add even more drag.

I will be interested to hear your comments after you go to the big track with it in place.

Are you planning on running it for AX also?

Might be a little beat up after an event at Schultz or the Stick.

By the way....you did a very nice job on the fab and mounting.

Watch your temps now that no air will be getting under the car and to the engine.
Advice from someone that has done the same.

Interesting point Paul.
I am finding something defferent comparing the "cowcatcher" air dam compared to an 2.0L LE dam that I have mounted now.

The engine ran cooler with the lower dam , however it is nowhere near as low as yours and Trek that is TOO low in my opinion.

If it was on my car, I'd probably rip it off on my trailer.
You have motivated me, however, I might get off my lazy butt and make something now.

Trekkor...22# is a lot. Your supposed to finish off the wood & put mold release on the wood and then remove it when the glass cures! Aren't you worried about termites and dry rot? the finished product looks great though. If that is as low as it looks you may end up with splinters in your tires.

It was another quick and fun project and I enjoyed the comments...thanks.

Grant, I was thinking the same about the skimboard. I figure if doesn't suit my needs I'll wax it and ride it out by Bodega Bay.

Drew, tells us more about your ideas.

Yeah, Dan. I will leave this one home for a/x's other than Alameda and Marina.

I *may* run at TH this Friday, we shall see.
Maybe Laguna next month wuth LF would be a better choice.
No plans for a bigger motor ( as of yet ). If I can still run 2:00's or better at Sears with a "better feel", I'll keep it on the car.

I'm not so sure about the cooling as the SIX has the monster fan high in the engine compartment. I'll be watching believe me!

I wonder if I can now shear cones in half instead of knocking them down?
Dan, I'm going to need an official ruling on this:
If the base of the cone is still left in the box, does it count against me?


KT

Trek, sounds like a clean run to me

Before:
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After: ( mock up )
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LE: notice how low it looks in my yard.
Those rocks make it look low.
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I believe the splitter is at the same level as the Sweeper™ before I cut the bottom off and added the splitter. It's kinda hard to tell for sure.
I plan on doing a test drive tomorrow afternoon and will take a better picture on level pavement. ( Or a pile of debris in a ditch )

I hope to add bigger air inlets for the brake cooling before my next track day.
Maybe some fins to force the air into the oil cooler inlet, too.

I'm having too much fun.


KT

I'm going to hold you to that.


KT

Do you have the duck tail on the rear Trek? Did you set this up so you can move it back if it is to much on the front?

You may also need to raise the ride height and re-set the toe. 22#'s is a lot of weight + the downforce = raise the front end. Cause and effect.


B

How high would you recommend raising the front end?
Can I lower the rear?

I still have the ducktail on the car, but it is unmodified.

Thanks,


KT

I did a quick little test drive. Not too fast.

It felt great, but it does scrape the bolt heads underneath a tiny bit when hard braking.

I'm very curious to see how it feels at top speed.

I know the 22#'s sounds heavy, but putting it in perspective, that's the weight of less than three gallons of gas.

( trying to justify )


KT

Recomended height varies from track to track, track temperature, spring rate, etc.

However i'd recomend basing the initial height on your current sweeper dam. If it doesn't ground out then set it there.

Two suggestions
1. Make it height adjustable by slotting the mounting holes, or just drill another set of holes.
2. If you need it ultra low you can get good benefits from a sweeper lip at the leading edge of the splitter. Flexible rubber (so long as its 0.5"-0.75" shouldn't deform to much) or harder plastic would suffice.

Keep an eye on temp gauges. Some folks have warned of higher temps due to less airflow under car. Maybe we'll all need snorkels in the future

I'm thinking about the car moving down when at speed. You have to compensate. Raise it 10mm's in the front. You can lower the rear also. I notice in one of the other pics the rear seemed high. Good corner weights start with the body 1inch above the top of the rear rim at rest.

B

OK...Good.

I'll try some adjustment tomorrow afternoon when I have some time.

As far as setting the rear, is that the rear fender lip 1" above the top of the rim? I'm not totally clear on that.

thanks...


Trev, I can't adjust the height of the splitter on the car with slots.
I'd have to cut material off the lower edge of the rubber skirt.
then there is no going back.

Yes I've seen that lower sweeper off the splitter treatment.
My Mustang racer friend has that on his car.

KT

That's pretty low you driving that on the street at all?

I can see it now car starts draging the ground when ya get going over 120!!!

Also I thought the car got air from above and pushed it towards the ground. Also may want to consider removing the rear valance and muffler to get more air moving out from under the car.

No driving on the street with this one. I'll switch to the LE for what limited street driving I do.


I have no rear valence and I am running dual glasspack/megaphones so the air moves well back there.

Also, I may have to modify my approach to pounding the track berms.
My curb surfing may need to be controlled...


KT

BTW Trek i think this is a brilliant solution.

Let us all know how it goes.

Great job,

Looks good. I tried a type of splitter like this, and found problems with handling. Youwill have the best luck if you have something else on the back to balance it out.

I could not get it to work. Push here, oversteer there. No balance.


Erik

I'm going to try my best to make this work for me.

If it's a bust, that's OK, too. I had a good time foolin' around in the backyard.

One more point of interest regarding wieght:
A 200# passenger costs me 1-2 seconds on the big track or a 1 minute a/x run.

I'm not too worried about this 22#'s if it yields "perceived" better handling...ha ha.

KT

It is weight that is not supported between the axle centerlines. It is a "little" different than weight between the axles.

I'm not concerned about the weight.


B

I was able to make my ride height adjustments.

I'm now at 4.5" at the front doughnuts from 4".

In the rear, it's 1.5" from the top of the rims to the fender wells.
That's the lowest I can go with my 10" springs on "Ground Control" adjustable perches.

I won't likely have time for another road test.
I'm 95% likely going to TH on Friday for a full day DE followed by the GGR a/x at Alameda on Saturday.

I should know something by then, huh?

I'll have the spare LE dam along, too, just in case.


KT

trek, don't waste your time on ride height adjustments until you get your car on scales. do it once, do it right...

I'm trailed up and packed for TH.

I added the turnbuckle supports to the splitter.


KT

Surfing is OK, but strongly suggest you inspect your suspension ears and surrounding suspension areas after each outing.

I broke mine at TH surfing.

He called me from Sears..

Was glad he raised the car 1/2 inch in the front. The splittler is dragging the hardware in several places and it would have been REAL bad if he hadnt raised the car

I gave him a good starting point. These cars really dont differ that much when it comes to cross weights. I had NO idea his car hadnt been cornered until I saw the Laguna pics. I thought you had helped him with that way back.. then he calld me a week or so ago and told me he had my scales..LOL



B

actually, I was at TH.

I got my 2:15 fast lap time with turn five, "over the top".

I few of the bolt heads on the underside of the Sweeper Splitter™ are completely worn away. Other than that, no problems. All the fasteners held tight and the car felt very stable and tight to the ground.


I'll countersink the underside fasteners when I have some free time.


KT

You need some titanium skid blocks under the splitter. (Call alpha for titanium.)The Formula 1 teams used to use them in the old days to reduce wear on the under-bodies. The make big sprays of sparks when they drag on the pavement. Very intertaining.

PM sent...


KT

To save weight why not make it out of foam board and a little thicker glass?

You just made a composite beam. That has got to be tough as nails. Most of the strength is probably comming from the f-glass anyway.

Just an idea for rev. 2.

I still have the template


KT

Sparks and a 914. ....Now that sounds like a good combo.

Yep that'll work for lightness. but you loose out in strength.

Wrapping FG around any core increases its strength upto 6 fold. However the core material is prone to taking damage.
If the core material fails the entire structure is more likely to break apart.

Wood is a great core just heavy. A great solution is aluminium honeycomb sheet available through various places or www.mcmaster.com

Have fun

My front spoiler has a fiberglass splinter that is about 1 1/2" at the center to about 2 1/2" at the ends. It's all fiberglass maybe 3/16" thick. It will rub the ground when I really hit the brakes and there is a bump in the surface of the track.

I like it because its not build like a cast iron cow catcher. When I hit something it cracks and I can fix it easily. It doesn't transfer that energy to the car and crack the bodywork and paint.

You also need to think about when you go off track and that thing digs into the ground at 50-80 mph and rips off and takes half your front end with it.

Good posts.

The "device" is secured with 7 Dzus fasteners.
If I go off, it should tear away cleanly.
If it were bolted directly to the chassis, now that would be trouble.


KT

Don't take this wrong, but if it ever did come loose, for whatever reason, 20lbs is a huge amount of weight to be flying around. Especially with sharp edges.

If you don't want to intimidate other drivers on the track I'd find a way to make it lighter. Isn't that the Trekkor way?

I don't and I thank you.

After near 2 hrs of lapping with three sections coming up to 100 mph-plus.
Not to mention uphill, downhill, off camber and curb surfing not one Dzus fastener came loose.

If I had an "off", I would hope the speeds would be greatly reduced and the splitter would tuck under the car or only partly come off if at all.


KT

You've got to apply Murphy's law to the splitter configuration, otherwise your argument isn't valid.

I don't understand...


KT

You’re adding a lot of weight in an area where there is a strong possibility it could be knocked off.

Murphy's law says when something can go wrong it will.

So the exercise we all have to mentally noodle, in order to be totally safe in building any modification, is thinking about what is the worst thing that can happen.

In other words you could hit a curb hard and the entire splitter goes flying off onto the track and hits the car following you, or another car looses a wheel and you hit the wheel square-on at high speed and it knocks the splitter totally off.

Now you can argue that this will never happen, but again you have to go through the mental exercise that it could - and then make adjustments to your plans.

So, in the end analysis 20lbs flying through the air with sharp edges is not a good thing.

So what do we do to eliminate the risk? Figure out a way to build it lighter.

I respectfully may have to retract my earlier statement on foam cores.

I just popped into the local home despot they've a ping foam material which is solid enough to make interior walls. Equates to a 15lb per sq ft crush force. Laminate some of that up with 3 layers FG i'm sure it'd be in the 5-8 lb range.