REAR WING

I decided to fit the centre section to the wing first. The odd thing that I found with the this, and I've never seen it on other spoilers before, is that the wing seems to pivot on the trailing edge, rather then the leading. This to me would suggest that it would act as a far more effective air brake than a downforce-producing aerofoil. Of course, I may have mounted it wrong (UPDATE: I haven't after seeing Parallels car) but if I tried mounting it the other way it just didn't seem to fit at all right. Seeing as the end result to me is only really of cosmetic appearance I went for what looked better rather than what might actually work better. I am hardly likely to notch up 180mph+ in the car.

rearwing.jpg (45353 bytes) rearwing2.jpg (44148 bytes)

I drilled and tapped two 6mm holes directly into the fibreglass either side of the wing and mounted it using a spacer washer each side to take up the gap. I'm not sure if this will hold the correct angle at speed but it seems to be on there pretty tightly. If it does move I'll have to try and peg the leading edge somehow but seeing as I want the least amount of fixings to be seen I'll leave it until the car is up and running. Please note that I'll be using some proper countersunk stainless allen bolts instead of the nasty black bolts in the pics!

In terms of mounting the wing, you need to make sure that your rear deck lid is very firmly attached as the wing is bolted directly to it, not the chassis. Admittedly, the wing will generate more downforce than 'upforce' but either way it will be a fair bit of strain on it at speed, so a well-attached deck lid is essential.

You will not be able to mount the wing until the deck lid is how you want it, both in terms of fit and as mentioned above, in strength. Once OK, screw 6 short 8mm bolts into the wing mounting holes (I had to clean up the pre-tapped holes with a tap) and then place the wing where you want it to be on top of the rear deck panel . You will be able to see where the bolt-heads touch the deck panel then use your judgement to guess where the centre of the bolt would be and mark the deck. Once all 6 points have been marked, remove the deck lid and drill through using a 9mm drill. Now mount the wing to the deck. You will probably find the deck panel needs a bit of pulling about to meet the bolt holes. My deck needed pulling apart quite a bit to fit the car properly, so once off the car it springs back to where it wants to be until you bolt the wing to it.

Hopefully, if your judgement is good you should now have a wing firmly affixed to the deck panel that once offered up to the car fits just right in terms of the deck bolt-hole alignment. Mine was pretty close, and was only a few mm out, which was fine. Fit the deck lid firmly and carry out some measurements. Check alignment of the wing both in height (at either end) and that it isn't too far up/down the deck on one side. Mine was very close in height (about 2 mm out) and fore/aft placement was equal. All I needed to do was trim the mounting faces as you could see they were uneven and light was showing underneath. However, after removing it and trimming a little all is fine.


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