?????? my aluminum splitter will bend, not explode into radiator killing shards like glass? or what do you mean?

 

there will be a 3rd redesign.

 

I made the end plates for my wing from birch plywood laminated with 1/16" ABS on both sides (I laminated it myself) That way I get the best of both worlds: the lightness of the birch, and the durability of the ABS. 1/16" ABS sheet is a lot cheaper than 1/4" ABS. IIRC I bought a 1/16" x 4' x 8' sheet of black ABS locally for about $35, maybe less.

I will be making my next splitter with the same material.

 

did they use a "bend-n-break" for that? I'm not sure there's a measurable improvement from the first to the second given the force it's up against.

 

Yeah, I found that interesting.

I think they should of started off with a thicker splitter. Although I've seen cars at the track with like 6-8 Splitter rods in the front. If it still bends at speed add more rods.

 

You can see the supports and such there. One of the supports is kinked now, but only on one side because the car scrapes when I back it out of the driveway.

Priced out one of those rods recently? They aren't cheap.

 

i may be crazy but the "after" shot looks like the bracket's broken at the bend. wat.

 

ha, i saw that too.

 

some interesting ideas!

 

Interesting I found this write up that shows how to do the DIY plywood/fiberglass splitter almost exactly the way I was devising to do it myself. At least the layup part. they are using 3/8" plywood.

http://specialprojectsms.com/image/TECHNICAL-2.gif

FWIW we also have sheets of ¼” ABS at my work. comparing a small chunk of it to a small chunk of my plywood. The ABS is significantly heavier and not even close in stiffness.

Bob

 

Exactly. That is why I am doing the laminate. It is much lighter and much stiffer for about the same thickness.

 

If the splitter sees and scoops dirt, its coming off and either the radiator is going to break it or its going to break the radiator depending upon the design.

 

Sav: this is what you used?

 

It wasn't wood Andrew, it was "tie-dye carbon fiber", lol.

I know I'm late to the party here, but walking around the paddock at Daytona and LS you see a lot of wood splitters, and a lot of wooden scrape plates too under the front ends of some cars. The wear characteristics are something to consider with the material you choose, Sav was scraping the splitter every time around on the corkscrew, dunno what would've happened had it been something other than wood.

 

Now I know cost is some of the reason for using ply wood but why not laminate it with carbon fiber instead of fiberglass, I now it costs more but wouldn't it be stronger? and its the same proses, its not like it would cost that much to do on your own.

 

The "scrape plates" are usually made of jabrock, a very hard wood.

 

A thought just occurred to me.
Trees are carbon based life forms, therefor:
Wood = Carbon Fiber

XD

 

The raw carbon weave material would cost 3-4x what it cost me to build my entire splitter. Then you have to buy resin, peel-ply, own a vacuum pump, chromate tape, etc. Buy the plywood in 1/2", it's stiff enough to stand up to a lot of abuse, and you don't have to cover it in anything but black spray paint to protect your dignity.

 

Lolz.

Is this worth it without a rear wing Sav? I thought I remember you doing the wing before the splitter. I was considering going to Home Depot Motorsports for splitter plywood, and air dam siding. But if it'll make me too much over steer prone, I'll wait till I have money to blow on a wing, which will probably be never. Hopefully I'll get around to the air dam no matter what.

 

Here's a splitter Savington made for me for use with the oem bumper and r-lip.