Front Spoilers for P6?

I can see how spoilers help with straightline stability, but I am at a loss as to how they can improve handling in a cross wind.

I am also willing to bet that a fair proportion of handling issues at speed are down to poor geometry settings, I would be inclined to eliminate any steering play, check caster, camber, toe and tyre pressures, and optimise all these first, then if the car is still wandering bolt on spoilers as a last in line measure. Also if a car has any amount of nose up attitude due to saggy rear springs, then that is almost certainly going to give issues.
 
so where do we get these spoilers from.

Classeparts sometimes have them.

People keep complaining about the cost of them - usually around the £200-250 mark - saying that they're not worth that, but two people that I know of have both tried to make them for peanuts lately, and failed.
 
I can see how spoilers help with straightline stability, but I am at a loss as to how they can improve handling in a cross wind.

I am also willing to bet that a fair proportion of handling issues at speed are down to poor geometry settings, I would be inclined to eliminate any steering play, check caster, camber, toe and tyre pressures, and optimise all these first, then if the car is still wandering bolt on spoilers as a last in line measure. Also if a car has any amount of nose up attitude due to saggy rear springs, then that is almost certainly going to give issues.

I think you're on to something with a "nose up" sagging rear. Mine was better at 130kph after fixing that.
 
Classeparts sometimes have them.

People keep complaining about the cost of them - usually around the £200-250 mark - saying that they're not worth that, but two people that I know of have both tried to make them for peanuts lately, and failed.
Blimey, I paid a shade over two thirds of that for the car, and then to ship them to me in SA....:oops:
 
Here is the way I am fitting mine.
Used some 20-30 thou plastic sheet, fairly stiff. Made one bolt hole in roughly correct position for outermost bolt. Laid the flat part of the spoiler on the plastic sheet, ran the bolt in firm; rotated plastic and with some experimentation located the second bolt hole, fitted the bolt. Held the rest of the plastic firmly into the curved part - marked the inner 2 bolt holes, dismantled, pounched the 2 holes, reassembled . marked the outer shape on the plastic sheet, dismantled and cut the template outer edge. The units came with 2 1/4" sponge gaskets - marked LH and RH, hich is nonsense, since one is a mirror image of the other. Laid the template on one gasket, marked the bolt holes, punched them out and assembled as below.
Trimmed the gasket to fit as well as I could - you need a VERY sharp blade to cut this stuff neatly. Dismantled again. Placed the spoiler on the car- its a pretty good fit, falls into place quite readily. Marked its upper on the valance as below.
I had some trouble with lighting here - suggest that anybody with dark paint might have same issue. After a few attemps to line up template on the valance with the 2 first holes marked, I remarked them with glitter nail polish. Placed the template on the valance with the 2 marked holes visible, and the top edge line just visible at the edge, clamped the template in place, marked the next 2 holes.
Pardon the upside down image. Those little plastic clamps can be VERY useful in many jobs, highly recommended. Next job is drill the holes and mount the spoiler.
 
Will be a few days yet. No current plan to paint the black - dont have anyway to apply Mexico Brown anyway. Might leave them black.
 
Oh dear :hmm:

I did (with the help of another forumite) have 20 sets made up a few years ago, and ours were the same size, left to right.

Are you sending them back?

Richard
 
I have a NOS pair that I purchased from a Rover parts specialist some 31 years ago. They didn't come with gaskets, fairly rough and ready in terms of quality. Not identical either, one is black, the other white and from memory one is longer than the other also. When I find them, I'll post some photos.

Ron.
 
No chance they are going back! Alan at Classepart said the originals were like that - not symmetrical at all. Anybody who picks out the difference will get a prize - a clip under the ear. Different length is a bit subtle, but different bolt spacings is poor QC IMHO. I think the porous foam gaskets are not the best idea, I would prefer something thinner and not porous. SS bolts wont rust, but the holes in the valance will need something tp prevent corrosion. The surface finish on these is pretty good - smooth and dense.
 
There are many instances in the hand built car world of bodies being longer down one side, wings being out of level, lights in different places. It all depends on final finish, if a car looks a million dollars no one will ever notice the discrepancies.
 
If it’s a case of getting aero advantage from the spoilers and not originality you can make them out of sheet alloy. I was thinking of scanning a 3500 front end and modeling some myself as I can make them at a pretty reasonable price I reckon. Would that interest anyone?
 
Alan at Classepart said the originals were like that - not symmetrical at all.

Isn't the V8 valance asymmetrical? :hmm: IIRC it has a pressing at one side of the 'chin', but then again that may be high enough up not to make a difference to spoiler fitment...
 
So I got one set of holes drilled. Thinking to fit the 2 bolts into captives first to make sure the other 2 hole marks are correct, I thought I would use the longer bolts supplied with nuts (for the innermost holes) to make it easier to get them started....no chance. Even with some tapers ground on the end. In the end I checked, and the 2 sets of bolts are different pitches! Bolts into captives are 1/4-26, bolts with nuts are 1/4-28. WTF? So now going looking for longer 1/4-26 SS bolts so they will start through the valance with spring washer, small flat and large flat washers, then the gasket, then find the slightly depressed captive nut. Still looking around for something to make a thinner gasket with....
 
The 1/4 - 26 are BSF the 1/4 28 are UNF . There is a mob in Adelaide that will do the BSF in small quantities I think. you can order online. You could try underfloor rubber sheet (used under bathrooms) I recall they make a really thin one.

I think I bought the last of Scott's front spoilers, it is modelled like the Torana A9X front with two big brake ducts in the front. They look very cool but I haven't put it on as its one piece and goes right across all three panels and I haven't finished playing with the front yet.
 
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