My Shine RE Carbon Fiber Diffuser Install
story is a little bit different but ok. im that customer haha
I finally got mine yesterday and looking to get it installed soon.
hey CrispyRX7, did you use any 3M tape ? or just screws ? did you have to take the mud guards off or it fitx perfectly there?
thx
hey CrispyRX7, did you use any 3M tape ? or just screws ? did you have to take the mud guards off or it fitx perfectly there?
thx
I managed to keep the mudguards by trimming some material. They were reattached using the original hardware and I used to body and trim HD double sided tape for the rear edge of the mudgaurd where it affixes to the body.
HTH,
Crispy
HTH,
Crispy
I myself is looking into purchasing the diffuser but in frp.
Speaking of rocks...
Check out what Adam did adding a fender liner to the passenger side rear tire to help decrease/eliminate the rock collecting. I haven't done it yet but will eventually. The rocks eventually find their way out.
Pics somewhere in his thread...
https://www.rx7club.com/nw-rx-7-forum-33/fd-restoration-%24%24%24%24-damnit-525920/
Check out what Adam did adding a fender liner to the passenger side rear tire to help decrease/eliminate the rock collecting. I haven't done it yet but will eventually. The rocks eventually find their way out.
Pics somewhere in his thread...
https://www.rx7club.com/nw-rx-7-forum-33/fd-restoration-%24%24%24%24-damnit-525920/
some additional infos on my diffuser install, that may help others:
1) taking off the oem rear lip is not that easy as it looks like. there are several screws that need to be losen. 2 of them are kinda impossible to reach (one over the exhaust, one on the other side). Neither with a screwdriver, nor with a wrench. i had to bend down the lip and saw through them with a tiny saw blade. takes time, but works. i also cut the outher most plastic nipples, were the lip was attached to the bumper. I first tried to losen the screws but the was so much pressure on it, i couldn't pull it out without cracking anything. Since i do not need the oem piece anymore and i did not damage the bumper this is fine for me.
2) the shine auto street diffuser in frp i received wasn't perfect. it had scratches, little holes and so on. i also had to reinforce it with some fibreglass, in some areas it was so thin, you could see your hands behind. But This wasn't too difficult. placing the hole for the tow hook in the right place was way more annoying. i wanted it to look perfect so after cutting in the diffuser, i recognized the hole was to large. so i had to refill it with fibreglass. This is not easy because the diffuser is cambered. what i did and what worked perfectly is to glue some foil on the smooth side over the area i wanted to fill. afterwards i put some fibreglass from the back side. because the foil is smooth, it won't hold the frp and you get a perfect shaped smooth surface. Some sanding and it was done.
3) Installing the diffuser was spot on. the holes were you have to drill through are marked. fitment was good, i had no gab on the exhaust side. But on the other side i had a 4mm gap. i didn't like to just put them silicone there so that the gap is not so obvious. I ordered bodywork glue (Sikaflex 221, black) and glued this area on (putting pressure on it for 24h). now i have no gaps (not even 1mm) and the diffuser looks perfect.
putting on the rear spats wasn't a big deal. you have to cut them a bit (you will notice where when doing it) but this takes aprox 5 min.
good luck with your install. Btw i needed much more than 4 hours for everything, but i also reworked it, painted it, glued it and so on.
1) taking off the oem rear lip is not that easy as it looks like. there are several screws that need to be losen. 2 of them are kinda impossible to reach (one over the exhaust, one on the other side). Neither with a screwdriver, nor with a wrench. i had to bend down the lip and saw through them with a tiny saw blade. takes time, but works. i also cut the outher most plastic nipples, were the lip was attached to the bumper. I first tried to losen the screws but the was so much pressure on it, i couldn't pull it out without cracking anything. Since i do not need the oem piece anymore and i did not damage the bumper this is fine for me.
2) the shine auto street diffuser in frp i received wasn't perfect. it had scratches, little holes and so on. i also had to reinforce it with some fibreglass, in some areas it was so thin, you could see your hands behind. But This wasn't too difficult. placing the hole for the tow hook in the right place was way more annoying. i wanted it to look perfect so after cutting in the diffuser, i recognized the hole was to large. so i had to refill it with fibreglass. This is not easy because the diffuser is cambered. what i did and what worked perfectly is to glue some foil on the smooth side over the area i wanted to fill. afterwards i put some fibreglass from the back side. because the foil is smooth, it won't hold the frp and you get a perfect shaped smooth surface. Some sanding and it was done.
3) Installing the diffuser was spot on. the holes were you have to drill through are marked. fitment was good, i had no gab on the exhaust side. But on the other side i had a 4mm gap. i didn't like to just put them silicone there so that the gap is not so obvious. I ordered bodywork glue (Sikaflex 221, black) and glued this area on (putting pressure on it for 24h). now i have no gaps (not even 1mm) and the diffuser looks perfect.
putting on the rear spats wasn't a big deal. you have to cut them a bit (you will notice where when doing it) but this takes aprox 5 min.
good luck with your install. Btw i needed much more than 4 hours for everything, but i also reworked it, painted it, glued it and so on.
1) taking off the oem rear lip is not that easy as it looks like. there are several screws that need to be losen. 2 of them are kinda impossible to reach (one over the exhaust, one on the other side). Neither with a screwdriver, nor with a wrench. i had to bend down the lip and saw through them with a tiny saw blade. takes time, but works. i also cut the outher most plastic nipples, were the lip was attached to the bumper. I first tried to losen the screws but the was so much pressure on it, i couldn't pull it out without cracking anything. Since i do not need the oem piece anymore and i did not damage the bumper this is fine for me.
Everything you say here is true. But to make things easier for others and the impossible screws, I just used a phillips head that's typically used for a 'Multi Bit Screwdriver' and put a set of tiny vice grips on it. Worked like a glove! I also cut the outter plastic nipples.
3) Installing the diffuser was spot on. the holes were you have to drill through are marked. fitment was good, i had no gab on the exhaust side. But on the other side i had a 4mm gap. i didn't like to just put them silicone there so that the gap is not so obvious. I ordered bodywork glue (Sikaflex 221, black) and glued this area on (putting pressure on it for 24h). now i have no gaps (not even 1mm) and the diffuser looks perfect.
putting on the rear spats wasn't a big deal. you have to cut them a bit (you will notice where when doing it) but this takes aprox 5 min.
Do you ever plan on taking the rear diffuser off? Is the glue(silicone?) going to cause any hassle in that aspect?
Everything you say here is true. But to make things easier for others and the impossible screws, I just used a phillips head that's typically used for a 'Multi Bit Screwdriver' and put a set of tiny vice grips on it. Worked like a glove! I also cut the outter plastic nipples.
3) Installing the diffuser was spot on. the holes were you have to drill through are marked. fitment was good, i had no gab on the exhaust side. But on the other side i had a 4mm gap. i didn't like to just put them silicone there so that the gap is not so obvious. I ordered bodywork glue (Sikaflex 221, black) and glued this area on (putting pressure on it for 24h). now i have no gaps (not even 1mm) and the diffuser looks perfect.
putting on the rear spats wasn't a big deal. you have to cut them a bit (you will notice where when doing it) but this takes aprox 5 min.
Do you ever plan on taking the rear diffuser off? Is the glue(silicone?) going to cause any hassle in that aspect?
Good idea with the bit! didn't think about that.
The glue is silicone based and i used it for about 10cm only. Should be no problem to get the diffuser off again. The bumper would need some cleaning in this area though
The glue is silicone based and i used it for about 10cm only. Should be no problem to get the diffuser off again. The bumper would need some cleaning in this area though
