DIM (Do It Myself) Airdam/Splitter

[BlackWidow]

Hello everyone decided to start my Airdam & splitter with some aluminum i had from a previous job. Here is what i have done in the last few hours. I will most likely finish it up tomorrow and have it for the drive on Sunday. I am not sure about the sides where the bend meets up with the wheel well. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for looking.

[okayfine]

Not bad! My only suggestion would be to think about bracing it behind somehow. That's a pretty big airdam and a lot of air is going to hit it. Depending on the gauge of the sheet, it might get bent around the valence.

That said, it'll help a lot with crosswinds. We'll make sure to avoid speedbumps!

[BlackWidow]

I am only 1/3rd of the way done i plan on adding a splitter that goes back to at least the back portion of the engine cross member. There will be a lip that extends in front of the dam.

[two_68_510s]

I LOVE THIS STUFF! Nice work.
I like the way it is slowly conforming to the correct shape.

[okayfine]

I am only 1/3rd of the way done i plan on adding a splitter that goes back to at least the back portion of the engine cross member. There will be a lip that extends in front of the dam.

That would do it!

[bertvorgon]

This is similar to one of the first dams I built. For sure put some bracing behind, mostly in the middle, as this is the "unsupported" area. At 70 MPH it is amazing the force of the wind at that point, across that much surface area. As for the "splitter", 2" out front would do it, as you will not have that much serious top speed. I have 1" incorporated into the front of my airdam, and it has worked amazingly well, specially above 100 MPH. This is road race proven at the track.

The 'splitter" does NOT go back under the car..a splitter is the lip the protrudes from the bottom front of the air dam, and 'splits" the air at that point, allowing some downforce to be applied to the airdam, and hence the body of the car. Anything going under the car is deemed an under tray, which helps turbulence under the car. I have found, due to how low my car is, that the air dam/splitter works incredibly well for frontal downforce, and, the air flow through the radiator, and then down under the car, is perfect.

Please excuse the serious body roll....before we got right into the suspension..this is the Mulholland suspension, as i learned it's limitations on race tires.

[BlackWidow]

I LOVE THIS STUFF! Nice work.
I like the way it is slowly conforming to the correct shape.

Thank You!!

Bert, I have to admit that I was hoping you would comment on this project. I look at your red car all the time for inspiration. I am not good with FRP but know my way around metal so i chose to make my first attempt out of aluminum. Thank You for clarifying the splitter and under tray. After all the reading i have done on the subject I never picked up on that. I really want this to be functional and complement the car. I have no delusions that adding an air dam and splitter to my car is going to make it a Porsche killer If i saw even a little benefit from this i will be happy. And i am trying to make it so that if i don't like it later in life i can take it off with no real change to the original car. I will put the 2 inch lip up front I would also like to incorporate brake ducting into this design.

[bertvorgon]

My first two attempts were aluminum...The second try was a heavier gauge, but, I had no way to nicely form it, which is why it bent in the middle, as i totally underestimated the force of the wind...... Figure it's almost 6 - 8 square feet of area...try holding a sheet of plywood that size out the window at 70 MPH. Oh, well, it looked cool at a standstill.....

here is a refresher picture of my brake cooling plate, which is very easy to make, and very functional, as it really blows air into he middle of the rotor, where the natural pumping action gets it flowing out through the vanes. If you have non vented, then just make a piece to blow on as much rotor area as possible.

[BlackWidow]

Awesome pics Bert, thanks that will help me when i build mine.

Got a question for you Bert, how much ground clearance do you have between the bottom of your lip and the ground. Currently mine is sitting at about 3.5 inches. I think that is too low but this is my first time doing this so i don't know.

Here are some updated images. The lip is not going to be that thin when it is finished this is just a platform for the Alumalite to be bonded too. I stopped here to make sure the ground clearance was not too little.

[bertvorgon]

Actually, I think I have about 3.5- 4" too. Other than making sure you miss road kill and large rocks, I have had no issues with 99% of speed bumps, etc.. even on crazy fast bumpy roads, I have never touched. That being said, I have 300"/lb springs, so it takes a tremendous BUMP, to even start to go through my 2 3/4" of travel.

I do plan my entrances into some really angled driveways, or, just plain avoid them.

That's looking good!

[butters68]

that sure is looking good man.

[BlackWidow]

Good evening all

I raised the ground clearance to about 5 inches. I still plan on building a new set of 280 struts but this time 1 inch shorter and moving to a lower profile tire so I wanted to make sure when all of that happens I would not have to do allot of re work. I am 80% done I still need to cut out holes for the brake ducting and ruin the look by installing the state mandated front lic. plate. Overall the project was not to difficult. I think it turned out well and looks good to me. I thank you for the compliments.

[bertvorgon]

yah, that looks good.

wow, when you see the truck behind, you again realize how small our cars are now. When I drove back from our All Nissan Meet, down our Knight Street, which is a truck corridor, I felt like I was in a go-cart, most semi-truck tires are as high as my car.

That will be very strong with the backside bracing!

[BlackWidow]

LOL when i park the truck that close to the 510 I can barely see the whole car.

[510wizard]

I wonder if you could flush mount the license plate into the dam?