Whale Tail Woes
 

So I received my WW short turbo whale tail from VB for my wide body. It’s heavy as hell & came w/ a dozen smallish screws & no instructions. Now, I'm thinking this thing needs to be bolted on if it’s not going to fall off. Anyone install this spoiler? Your opinions are most appreciated. BTW: the curves of it are more attractive close up than in photos.

Yes, they bolt on. Easy for a body shop after they paint it. However, you will see that the horizontal angle ( from a side perspective ) changes as you move it up down the slope after the hatch lip. In other words, they have a little room to move, so make sure they put it where you want it. I did.

So what do you recomend? A few degrees upward? Or just flat to ground? I love the details. Should I forget the screws & have them bolt it on?

Mine is flat ( horizontal ). It has bolts with washers going up through the inside of the hatch deck into the bases of the tail.

If by chance you get some movement ( shaking ) at speed ( 90 and over ), look first to the tires/wheels/hubcentric, etc. A small radial harmonic can be amplified through the whale tail.

It can be pretty funny right before it ain't funny again !

Bolts with washers are what I thought it needs instead of those flimsy screws. What were they thinking? I'm going to make sure the angle is at least parallel to ground. If I had my way & $ I would cut like 5 inches off the top surface & mould a mount a few inches higher. Similar to the IMSA factory wing. But I’m done spending excess $ on custom work now. Thank you for your advise.

I don't know if we have the same type of whale tail, but the leading edge of mine is secured to the rear hatch 'trough' with pop rivits, then drilled from the bottom up at the trailing edge to mount flat-head wood screws through the body work and up into the fiberglass. This secures the rear of the wing which is likely to get a lot of buffeting at speed.

Take a look at my signature and let me know if your attaches somewhat similarly,

I have the Mariah whaletail like you ( and hatch as well ), but yours looks lower and closer to the trough ( although equally level as mine ) !?

Mine is bolted ( not wood screws ) from below only ( two each side ). Very rigid.

This post is great timing since i'm in the process of installing mine in the next week or to.
I've got the Instuctions for this Tail (Same One That LongDuck Has).
If you need it give me a Fax# and I'll send it off to you.
sgieldon
steve

I have both styles of whale tails, the flush mount and the pedistal type. I'm putting the pedistal one on my widebody kit. I don't like how the flush mount, mounts.

If you have the pedistal type, the more angle up and back will give more down force. But you probably wont get to use much of it under 80 mph.

When I mounted mine, I had 2 requirements. 1. Clear the hatch, 2. Keep it faily level,so when I open the hatch, I can set things on it.

The flush mount one that I have, has no bottom to it and the front edge goes onto the drip tray for the hatch. Makes it almost impossible to get my fingers in there to open the hatch. When I get around to mounting it on another car, I will trim back the front edge and make a bottom for it so I can secure it from inside the car.

That explains it. I have the Mariah pedestal type and I like how it mounts and looks. Never knew there was a flush mount twin.

The flush mount I have is the CP Racing pos, which i'll guess is a copy of the Mariah. I prefer the pedistal.

I believe the Mariah one is called a "flying" whale tail because of the pedestals. Mine fits flush w/ the hatch. I wish I could have found a factory race tail (not lip) or a combo of the 2 below. BTW: I'm pretty sure this thing I bought creates more drag than down force & is cosmetic only. Oh, maybe a fuctional bar for block parties.

http://www.mariahmotorsports.com/

http://www.wingswest.com/products_de...page=1&id=1327

You are correct. I had forgotten that, but it is listed that way on the 1995 price list I have as well. "flying whale tail" is what I have. I prefer the flying whale tails over beached whale tails.

I prefer the beached whale because it flounders w/ less obnoxious dead waves in the flow of the car’s lines. Just MO. Neither looks close to the sweet IMSA tail.

Beached whale tails are okay at first, but let me warn you: They start stinking after a few days.