top of page

52. Rear Wings

The Rear Wings required a lot of work (in comparison to my expectations). The first task was to open up the spacing for the Radius Arm. A hacksaw and Dremel were used but it required many cycles of fitting, inspecting and then removing a little more material.


Then the rubber trim was cut - slightly longer than required and clamped in position around the wheel arch. Using a white marker, the bolt hole areas and other features on the side skins were marked for removal. Each clamp was removed, one at a time, to allow access to cut out the material. Then segments were removed to allow the trim to lie flat on the wheel arch and finally the ends were cut by following the exact line of the lower edges.



Enlarging the Radius arm hole, clamping and cutting the trim


The carbon Stone Guards were delivered pre-formed and pre-drilled. When they were offered up to the wheel arch they matched each others exact curve radius implying the Stone Guards should not buckle when fitted. However, the recommendation is to rivet the guards onto the wheel arch which causes them to dimple around the rivet area. Secondly, I want to get the car covered in Paint Protection Film (PPF) which will require the Stone Guards to be removed again. Consequently I decided to substitute rivets for black stainless steel 3mm hex socket button head machine screws with washers and nyloc nuts. At any rate, the challenge is to fit the trim to three sides of the Stone Guards and then drill the Rear Wings to accept the fixings in the correct location. This is one of those tasks which could really influence the final look of the car in my opinion, and so I approached it very carefully.


The trim was cut to length (slightly longer than required) and held in position on the rear of the Stone Guard with multiple clamps. I checked regularly to make sure the edge of the trim was correctly aligned with the edge of the Stone Guard. The a white marker was used to mark the hole positions through the Stone Guard pre-drilled holes. The trim was removed and a hole such used to create the bolt holes before re-clamping it back in position on the Stone Guard again. Notches were cut in the trim in the two corner areas to ensure it would lie flat - care was required here because there are bolt holes in the corners too and it's necessary to leave trim material around the hole so that it will sit at a height consistent with the rest of the area.


Fitting the trim to the Stone Guard


At this point, I decided that there was no reason that trim could not be glue into position onto the Stone Guard. It should make fitting the Guard to the Wheel Arch easier and consistent. Therefore, each clamp was lifted in turn and the area underneath was spot glued in position.



Trim corners cut, re-clamped and glue in position


When the glue was dry the Stone Guard was offered up to the Wheel Arch - masking tape was then applied to the Arch under the location of the pre-drilled holes in the Stone Guard. It was held in position carefully and drill points were pencilled through the holes in the Guard. The Wheel Arch was then drilled.





Before fitting the Stone Guard, I gave the underside of the Wheel Arch a healthy coat of Hammerite Underbody Sealant in the hope that it would prevent spider cracks from stones being kicked up.

230 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page