designfreak

So as most of you guys were chiming in and helping me out in the last splitter thread I wanted to post up some pics of the final piece now that it was completed. I had the car out at Homestead last weekend, and needless to say IT WORKED! ....TOO WELL!

it really was helping out ALOT in many areas of the car. The car ran cooler than I had ever seen, and the braking in short was amazing. Where I used to brake just over the 300 point in certain corners I was able to push it back to around the 100!.

On the other hand the splitter was generating so much downforce in the front that in one of the early sessions before getting the car rebalanced with the wing and swaybar we wound up getting the rear loose and having a little off track incident .
Should have tested the cars handeling abit more thoroughlly before getting up to speed.

After adding a bit more rear wing and tightening the front swaybar the car handeled like a champ and ran well for the rest of the weekend.

The whole splitter is removable so that we can put it on the trailer. it slides in to s steel strap I welded to the subframe (it slides in between this strap bar and the subframe itself) and then clips in with dzus clips along the front. The holes cut into it are to allow the oil cooler to vent underneath the car (all the baffeling is permanently attached to the oil cooler and mates to the splitter when it is in place). I think its strong enough to stand on, and took the first off road trip with little more than some grass along the top edge and a small nick on the drivers side.

Thanks for the input guys!..hard to believe the difference!











here is the old airdam setup




..and the car without the splitter installed


and the ensuing damage from the tirewall.....

designfreak

here is one more of the car without the splitter installed

TurboIILover

iTrader: (2)

hey there just wondering are u still running your car in ITS or another class?

designfreak

The car is no longer running in ITS. Im running with NASA

SCCAITS

iTrader: (3)

Nicely done. That's got to rack up quite a few PT aero points!

designfreak

yeah...but next up is side skirts and a rear diffuser. Before this last event I also lexaned the passenger window, and made a window skirt for the drivers side effectively closing most of the huge stock window space.

My philosophy right now is to build the car I want to drive/ can afford, and then figure out how to place it competitively in a class. Where I started off at was simply not enough fun.

Gene

iTrader: (1)

Wow, slick work!

silverTRD

iTrader: (37)

did you end up making it out of 1/4" plywood and then fiberglasss over it? it looks like thats the case. a+ work by the way!

designfreak

No its alumacore, or alumalite as some people call it. Basically two thin sheets of aluminum honeycombed together. Its very strong as can be attested to by our off-roading. It got dinged up a bit in the drivers side corner coming back on track, but its easy enough to straighten out. for $100 at a local sign store I got enough to make two splitters so whenever I need to replace it it should be easy.

thetech

iTrader: (1)

Looks fantastic! I want to do something similar, can you show some shots of how you created the mounting point on the car itself? I imagine the dzus fastener area is supported somehow?

wrankin

That's a beautiful piece of work. I'm definitely gonna keep it in mind when it comes time to replace my current setup.

Just a quck aside since I know TurboIILover is building a car:
There are many many things on that car which are not ITS legal and you should remember these during your build. Here is the short list:
1) Splitter - sticks out from under the nose too far
2) Rear Wing - only OEM wings allowed in ITS.
3) Front bumper - must keep FTP and turn-signal lenses in. Cannot enlarge front opening by removing center section in the bottom.
4) Hood - cutting vents not allowed.

Just trying to be helpful.

designfreak

Absolutelly,..Since leaving ITS I there has been some illegal gutting of the car you need to watch out for..doors and such as well as the hatch and front window have been replaced with lexan pieces. Im not sure if the side window is illegal in ITS. I remember years ago they used to make us run with the pass glass window up down here, but later changed it to allow people to remove them and gut the passenger door if nascar bars protruded into the door.

Keep these things in mind when looking for ideas in pics.

designfreak

I will get some pics today to show you, but it basically just bolts to the bumper itself. Basically the stock lip mounting points (and a few new ones as well) with nuts and bolts with lock washers running through them with an alluminum doubler plate on top.

The key on both side on the splitter brackets was to reinforce it with Home depot steel "L" brackets (90 deg angles) so that both sides retain their shape.

thetech

iTrader: (1)

Interesting, I'm surprised the bumper is strong enough to support it firmly; my OEM bumper seems really flexible and I didn't get the feeling it would keep the splitter firmly in place at speed.

TurboIILover

iTrader: (2)

oh ok i figured but since the car still has ITS on the door it confused me lol thought maybe there was exceptions or something in other regions
thanks for clarifying

Black91n/a

I'd be weary of mounting it to the bumper. One good off track excursion forwards and you could be faced with replacing the whole nose, vs. just replacing the splitter. It's happened before and it will happen again.

Food for thought.

SCCAITS

iTrader: (3)

Yep. I used to have a Flatout splitter that mounted to the front bumper. Every time I went off it would fold the bumper back and buckle the front fenders. I replaced the bumpers and fenders once, the second time it happened I left the splitter at the track. My splitter design now bolts to the frame, I have had a good off with it and while I destroyed the splitter, the bumper and fenders were untouched.

This was the Flatout splitter:

Gregory Casimir

iTrader: (8)

Damn I really wished the pictures worked on this thread as I'm running the same track next weekend but need to finish my splitter