speedj

I am repairing bodywork on my NB miata and wish to make either the bumpercover, or at least the splitter detachable. The splitter seems to always be in the way of my trailer tiedowns and/or a trip hazard when packing the trailer.

I have gutted the bumper substructure and have fabbed up air ducting and a simple nerf bar. I need to get the car to the paint booth soon, but I'm on the fence about how to attach the nose and whether or not to make the splitter detachable, or to just make the entire nose removable.

Has anyone done this on their miata? What ideas do you have? thx sj

cyotani

iTrader: (8)

Interested in this info too. I remember researching this a while back and finding a few examples of people doing it. Here is one.

Removable splitter.. - MX-5 Miata Forum

extremely expensive hardware splitter mount kit:
http://miataroadster.com/kazespec-en...i-1680573.aspx

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

car side



Splitter side connected to car side outside of car, its upside down from how its mounted in the car.



Front mounting, those are "adjustable fender braces" with the set screws replaced with thumb screws, and in the shadow in the middle there is a quik latch mini holding the air dam to the bumper cover.



And an example of whats a bad idea. Thats 6061 telescoping tubing that is designed to slide inside one another. It bent at the top where it was bolted to the chassis, the inside of the frame rails are not parallel, the outsides are. And as the mounting slowly got destroyed it went from slipping in like a glove to being an annoying 2 person bitch fest that too 10 minutes of wiggling.



The current setup goes on and off the car in under 5 minutes and can be done by 1 person. The sides of the air dam still dont seal all that well so I end up duct taping it there, and I need to add a pair of dzus fasteners for holding the tire spats to the bumper.

speedj

Thank you for the links and pics. It looks like there is a significant amount of structure that supports the splitter. Do you have any giveway to your attachment pionts? Have you had any problems with bottoming/bending the support? I'm known to go agricultural on occasion...

Savington

iTrader: (31)

I wouldn't attach the splitter with that much structure. You'll cause a significant amount of damage if you go off track and tear it off. I use a structure similar to the telescope setup, but I use steel tubes going down (aluminum does break eventually) and aluminum box at the splitter. In the event of a large impact, the 1/4" hardware will break through the aluminum instead of tearing up the front of the car.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Mine's designed to break off at the splitter, the angle is only glued to the plywood with construction adhesive, shear strength isnt too high there it should just tear off there if I hit anything that could damage the mounts. and then I dont end up with point metal things sticking off mu splitters to ruin a $400 tire. Not sure how the front mounts would break off they might not, there's an absurd amount of bendability in there. I dont really expect to have that drastic of an off at an auto-x. Its that tough so it can hit a shitload of cones without bending or breaking.

njn63

iTrader: (4)

I posted some pictures of my removable bumper setup in here:
https://www.miataturbo.net/race-prep...per-cap-57402/

I added aluminum brackets to the bottom edges (in front of the wheel) that attach to the frame with a single 6mm bolt since those pictures.

speedj

Thanks for all of your input. I did get the nose attached to the nerf bar and will be off to the paint shop shortly. The 2015 race season starts in March... and I'll be ready! Miata Turbo Forum - Turbo Kitten is watching you test compression. - speedj's Album: front bumper/ nose mount - Picture