Splitter development, part 2

[Jack Olsen]

Well, here's my chin splitter assembly, roughed in with masking tape as a fastener. The new ducts are for the front brakes.



Any thoughts on what its weak points are going to be? I'm planning on running some supports from the leading edge of the lip up to the bumper.

Also, anyone have suggestions for a good adhesive for bonding fiberglass to fiberglass?

[cstreit]

Jack,

Well I'd say the weakest link will be where the pieces are attached with tape. You'll have to use a lot of duct-tape to hold 'er together on the track.. Seriously though, I assumeyou are going to cut the lip off the upper splitter peice and just bond the verticals to the horizontal lip?

If so, this corner joint will be the weakest piece. Consider laminating some aluminim "L" brackets underneat to help it from deforming at speed. Untill I did this, mine would flex downward at high-speeds.

What's the deal, are you fabricating your own?

I personnaly use Polyester resin and a medium weave fiberglass cloth (I find that large auto weaves are to chunky and thin weaves just aren't strong enough).

With those two ducts in the original spoiler (upper) why two more in the lower one?

[Chuck Moreland]

It looks like it will be very effective.

You might try using long bolts that extend from the (aluminum?) splitter through the white piece and into the lower lip of the original valance. That way the whole thing is held like a sandwich and the original valance will bear the downforce load.

I'd attach the white and black peices with epoxy between them, then fiberglass on the back side.

You may have a problem securing those downspouts. They are plastic and don't stick to anything real well. I used them on my brake coolers too.

You might do better to make a fiberglass equivelant. Maybe you can use the plastic ones as a mold.

Jack,
Looks like you have a good start. JB Weld may be a good bonding product for glass to glass if you don't want to go glass cloth and resin.
Mark

[Fishcop]

Jack, when you get it to the stage where you are happy with it, you should have a plug (mold) made so that you can reproduce it in one piece out of fibreglass. This will save you having to bond anything, and you can replace the unit when necessary (or share with Pelican friends!).

[pbs911]

To help Jack along, and in my own self interest, what is the best material to make a mold from in the event Jack wanted to construct his own brake ducts out of F/G?

[Fishcop]

Paul, the common way to make a mold is to use fibreglass to create a "negative" to lay a replacement "positive" in. You simply cover the part you are replicating with a release agent and lay fibreglass strips over it until you have your plug.

[TimT]

West Systems offer a series of fiberglass fillers, resins, bonding agents etc. They cater to the marine industry, but obviously fiberglass is well.... fiberglass... If you have a marine supply house near you check them out. It just happens that Aircraft Spruce carries some of West Systems products.

You could also check out auto body supply houses... look for panel bonding agents. The are used to glue saturns together, and have many other automotive uses..

I think you should glass all the parts you have illustrated in the picture together. Then use DZUS fasteners to secure it to the car. That way its just a few turns of a screwdriver to install or remove, depending on if your street driving or track driving.

I take my splitter off to get my car on the trailer. Re-install it after the car is ready to roll

[Don Plumley]

Jack - nice looking!

Just wondering out loud - in case you have an off-road excursion, wouldn't it be beneficial to have the valence/splitter mounted in a way that it could breakaway instead of ripping your bumper off? Don't know if this is a consideration...

Don

[Zeke]

Jack, you may have read on other threads that I have had considerable experience with 'glass. Is there a particular concern about your assembly? If everything is made out of 'glass, then, yes, resin and mat/cloth should do the job. The part will start to get heavy, so the advice to eventually make it into a plug and then make a mold is good thinking. If your components are not all 'glass, say there is plastic in your assembly, then that's a bit more of a problem. However, commercial two-part epoxy will stick to 'glass and most roughed up plastics. You can use epoxy with mat/cloth.

As far as molds go, real good ones are made up of many layers of mat and cloth/resin built up over a period of days to minimize distortion. They are then reinforced with wood or metal bracing. A down and dirty method is to cast molds from casting plaster. http://www.lagunaclay.com/ is a good place to start on that endeavor. Send me a PM if you really want to get into this subject.

[makaio]

For fiberglass to fiberglass bonding, use Marine-Tex. It's available at any boating supply store. When I used to race Jet-Ski's, this is what I used for almost all my repairs. Great stuff.

[Argo]

Marine Tex is good - sandable, easy to work with and strong. If you want brute strength West Marine's West System epoxy is the way to go. More fluid than Marine Tex, so it's a little harder to work with, but you can add a variety of fillers if need be to change this characteristic. Once it sets up, its strength is ungodly. Watch any over runs; it'll take a month of sanding to get rid of them. I've used it for years for high stress applications on a lot of boats and it has never let me down. Be sure to use the pre-measuring pump to get the ratio right for best results. More info is here:

http://www.westmarine.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=201&prrfnbr=2636&store_num=4&store_name=Maintenance&subdept_num=196&subdept_name=Resins%20Epoxy%20%26%20Fiberglass&class_num=197&class_name=Epoxy%20Resin

No relation to West Marine - just a satisfied customer.

Argo
88 Targa

[john_colasante]

Jack,
Over the years you've posted so many photos of parts laying around your yard and house that I think I have the whole layout reconstructed. If I ever visit you don't need to give me the tour of the Olsen castle.

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, everybody. I'm hoping to avoid making fiberglass duplicates, although it's a safe bet that I'm going to tear this thing off on a regular basis (ask anyone who's seen me on the track). If I can make it simple enough, it will probably be cheaper to keep getting the piece from GT Racing, chopping it into three sections, and riveting it all together.

Either way is labor intenive, though. Either I spend the time making a mold (or having one made), or I spend the time making a new splitter every time I go off track.

My next step is to try and simplify it a little, possibly removing the fiberglass splitter extension (the black piece) and using aluminum sheeting to bridge the gaps in the splitter where the ducts are. This will mean less lip to the splitter, but I'd rather keep adding more downforce than start out with too much and have the thing tear itself apart. If I go this route, there won't be much adhering to do, since the aluminum will get riveted to the fiberglass, and the plastic duct (yes, Chuck, it's a gutter downspout) can get riveted to it as well.

Over the years you've posted so many photos of parts laying around your yard and house that I think I have the whole layout reconstructed.

And my wife will be happy to point out that the parts never get photographed in the garage, where they belong. It's so overstuffed and unorganized that I inevitably end up spreading out on the kitchen table, living room floor, or the deck. She's very tolerant.

[Bob Goding]

Jack, if you want to use the ABS ducts the adhesive to use is Uralane 5774 A/B by Vantico Inc.5121 San Fernando Rd ,West
Los Angeles CA90039 [818]247 6210.
Believe me ,the interior of a 747 is made out of it !!
Stick just about anything to anything.
Just use it as an adhesive or for extra strength lay some glass cloth on it.

Bob