Friday, April 23, 2010

Active Spoiler Modification Take 2

I couldn't wait to get this project finished. Spent a few hours down in the garage today to get it finished up.

Here is a shot with both struts and mounts in place. Almost ready for the spoiler.
Once I had them both lined up it was time for a test fitting. When I had the spoiler mocked up. I was able to see that the spoiler mounts needed a slight modification.

To the grinding wheel I went. Once I had it roughly were I wanted it with the grinder I leveled them with a file.
Once I had the mounts leveled It was a lot easier to attach them to the spoiler.
Here they are securely mounted to the underside of the spoiler.
Now it was time to make the final adjustments on the transmission cables and sleeves, one of the steel sleeves had to be curved a wee bit to get it to work freely.


Time for a manual test.

Flush mounted, this will be the ride height under 45-50mph
And fully raised.

The fully raised position is where it will be when the spoiler ECU sees that my Accord is going over 45-50mph. With the flip of a switch I will be able to manually raise and lower it to any height in between.

A few more shots of it in the down position.


I will finish welding in the side panels for the drops another day.

Hope to have a video up as soon as I get the welding complete and all of the wiring hooked up.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Active Spoiler Modification Take 1!

Today I got a chance to start on my active spoiler modification. This spoiler is speed activated. It will change it's pitch depending on the speed of the vehicle. this should create a larger down force on the back of the car. Exactly how much down force it will create on my Accord is unknown. It may end up creating drag and be completely useless. I'm not really concerned with the aerodynamic properties right now.  I saw it and figured that I had to give it a try myself.

Pictured below is the Volkswagen Corrado active spoiler motor and transmission assembly. Along with the fiberglass spoiler that I will be using.
Fist thing was to mark and cut the trunk. I quickly realized that if I want the spoiler to lay flush with the trunk surface while it is in the down position. I have to create a drop/step in the OEM trunk.
After everything was marked out and lined up. It was time to cut and bend the steps into the trunk lid.

Here is a look from the underside of the trunk lid.
I had already removed a lot of the cross bracing from the underside when I shaved the license plate recess. The picture shows how the OEM down brace on the trunk is in the way of fitting the spoiler motor mount.  That was easily remedied by cutting a section out or the brace and welding the spoiler motor mount directly to the remaining bracing.
After having the spoiler motor mount securely welded into position. It was time to mount the spoiler transmissions and struts.

Had to make a template of the transmissions in order to drill the mounting holes and strut opening. Once the templates were on and lined up it was just a matter of drilling everything out.
Then it was time to check everything out and make sure it all fit and operated properly without any obstructions. Everything bolted up rather nicely.
and the struts and spoiler mounts moved up and down without any dragging or obstructions.

With the one side pretty much completed the other side shouldn't take quite as long to finish. I should be able to get started on mounting the struts to the spoiler very soon. The only thing left to do on the trunk lid is to weld in a couple of side panels on the step-down. I'm going to leave that until the very end. That way I will have an access hole to see the mount under the spoiler when it is flush to the trunks surface.

Cheers!