RSR rear whale tail questions

[Tspringer]

I am working on putting my '74 bodied RSR racecar back together and today tackled the whale tail. Of course it didnt fit right. Oh well.... neither has anything else! (frustrating.... when the guys at Dave White racing installed the rear flares, thats all they did. IE: they did nothing to ensure that the rear bumper, tail or doors fit in conjunction with the flares! Grrrrrrr)


So I am messing about with it planning on what kind of work I will have to do to it in order to make it fit right and it strikes me that the entire tail seems pretty dang flimsy. I have no idea who made this tail, it is the correct shape... a giant whale tail just like whats supposed to go on a '74 3.0 RSR.

My understanding is that this tail will generate a fair amount of downforce which would of course exert itself on the tail. Not hundreds of pounds of downforce.... but some.

Well, with the tail down if I push down on the rear portion of the tail as the wind would at speed, I get plenty of groaning and fiberglass creaking sounds. Im not talking about pushing very hard either! The sloped rear portion of the lid, below the tail and where it meets the rear trim piece above the bumper, actually can be seen to flex as any weight is applied to the back of the spoiler portion.

Im thinking this thing might not be so solid at 150mph and having it come apart wouldnt be the thrill I am looking for.

Anyone ever encountered this? Looking at the upside down tail, there are no structural baffles or gridding. The entire thing is pretty much hollow. It is lightweight, but it strikes me as just flimsy.

Anyhow, I am going to launch into glassing in a bunch of structural supports to beef the thing up and ensure it doesnt fall apart. Oh boy fun... I just love fiberglass work.

[TRE Cup]

you have stumbled on what IMSA found out in the 70's when the RSR was king. They required additional supports inside the tails to prevent 'glass failure. The factory RSR tail had an internal formed support frame that was glassed in as part of the tail. (wish i could find the pics)
NO one really duplicated this when making their clone tails (it meant yet another mold and extra operations). They usually beefed up the material and that took care of it.

Sounds like that is what you need to do to yours. We have a Getty tail- arguably one of the best molded ones out there - available for $750. We took the time and trouble to fit it to the car (nice straight iroc RSR clone), prep and paint it gloss black. It comes with a black aluminum grill already mounted

maybe that could help

[stevemfr]

I'd do exactly what you are planning and glass in supports. As long as the finish of the tail warrants the additional work- and it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than a new tail. (I'm a huge fan of low buck solutions that achieve the same results as throwing money at a problem)

You might want to ask for suggestions on the best way to do this if you've never done anything similar before.

[kycarguy 935]

I have some pics of the underside and support frame of my RSR tail. I need to locate them and will post them shortly.

[group911@aol.co]

Originally Posted by kycarguy 935

I have some pics of the underside and support frame of my RSR tail. I need to locate them and will post them shortly.

Any luck on the pictures of the backside of the tail? I have one that I think is a factory rubber lipped RS or RSR tail and I'm trying to see if it's real or modified.
Thanks