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Inexpensive wings/DIY setups

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Old 04-17-2010, 12:06 AM
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Default Inexpensive wings/DIY setups

I am in love with the APR wing, but can't justify the $650 right now, how many track guys have successfully used Ebay or other type wings? I know there have been a few that have gone this route, but can't find much on it right now.

I am thinking about getting a wing that looks halfway decent and making my own legs for it, but I am worried it will not be adjustable to be secured correctly.
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Old 04-17-2010, 09:57 PM
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i used basically an ebay wing and made my own legs for it out of aluminum.
i made 4-5 holes on the legs for adj. when combined with the 3-4 holes on the wing attachments, it makes for a lot of adj. angles. i then used the string method (yarn) with my gopro cam to see which setting yielded the most down force. you can even see what happens when you go too steep. especially with the 3d type wings, if you go too steep, the airflow stalls and basically at that point it becomes nothing but drag. main diff. between my wing and the apr is the "chord length?" not sure if thats what its called. basically the length from the leading edge to the trailing edge. i think the longer that is, the more surface area, the more downforce possible. this is all stuff i think i remember reading somewhere. where's emilio?
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Old 04-17-2010, 10:46 PM
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If you get lucky, you can find an inexpensive used aluminum wing. I found one on craigslist locally, an APR dual element with the tall risers. Got it for $60 IIRC.
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Old 04-18-2010, 01:13 AM
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Something like this with DIY legs. $75 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-A...item5191faea3d
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Old 04-18-2010, 01:15 AM
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Robert, here is the one I've been looking at.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVE...item5ad8961a7b

Found anything better? Cheaper?

Oops saw your link.

Last edited by jacob300zx; 04-18-2010 at 11:54 AM.
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Old 04-18-2010, 01:51 AM
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Originally Posted by jacob300zx
Robert, here is the one I've been looking at.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVE...item5ad8961a7b

Found anything better? Cheaper?
ive got one of these in plastic. looks decent. havent tried it though.
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Old 04-18-2010, 08:13 PM
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Enjoi

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Old 04-18-2010, 09:28 PM
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Here go one that I did myself. It's not all fancy like the APR one, but buy doing it myself, I paid a fraction of the cost of an APR.

DIY rear wing

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Old 04-19-2010, 12:06 AM
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How about a write up for whenever. I got a wing for free a while ago. Non adjustable.
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Old 04-19-2010, 12:51 AM
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I just ordered: 61" Ebay Wing and I will see how sturdy the legs are for it, but more than likely will be making my own setup to be at the edges of the trunk. I will post up how it goes.
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Old 04-19-2010, 12:53 AM
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You got the pink one, right?
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Old 04-19-2010, 01:10 AM
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Originally Posted by emilio700
That is pretty fun to play around with, if you set all the sliders all the way left you get 13,092LBS of downforce! I'm playing with the elementary version right now
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Old 04-19-2010, 01:11 AM
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Originally Posted by emilio700
Thank you, I will be the first to congratulate you for giving me a website to **** away the next 2 weeks on to find the perfect track wing that will never get installed.

But, by God, I will know how to.

Awesome post.
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Old 04-19-2010, 02:05 AM
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i knew what this threaded needed. emillio! now this thread is all win!
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Old 04-19-2010, 02:12 AM
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Originally Posted by rharris19
I just ordered: 61" Ebay Wing and I will see how sturdy the legs are for it, but more than likely will be making my own setup to be at the edges of the trunk. I will post up how it goes.
the legs are fine but your trunk will just cave in. jakes dad made me a reinforcement plate but i always wanted to weld tabs right to the rearmost edge of the trunk, and when not in use i would just remove the wing and not swap out entire trunks. i prolly will still do that at some point.
my carbon wing is actually an arospeed wing. we had those wings like you bought at our shop years ago. arospeed has been out of buisness for 3-4 years now. i actually have a wing that you might like a little more. it has a gurney flap on it, and the legs are pretty stout. i can send you a pic if you'd like. we could sell it for $69.99. normally sell for $149.00.
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Old 04-19-2010, 09:27 AM
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Yeah send me some pictures. We may try several out on a couple different cars to see what we can come up with and what we like.
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Old 04-19-2010, 09:45 AM
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I think the difference will be the drag of the apr style wings (less). I'm thinking the drag will be higher on the style Robert posted. Anyone know how to calculate drag? This will be important for us NA guys.
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Old 04-19-2010, 10:14 AM
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I ordered an apr duel element aluminum wing (for a friend) and a cheap ebay dual element aluminum wing (for me). The wing elements were very similar. The larger element on the ebay wing (7.5") was the same as the less cambered apr element. The supports were much stronger on the apr wing. I have added some stregth to the ebay supports, but have yet to test it. I also plan to add a gurney flap. The apr was about $400 and the ebay one was $100 shipped.
This one icludes a 7.5" low cambered element and a 5.5" high camber element.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ichib...Q5fAccessories
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Old 04-19-2010, 12:41 PM
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Originally Posted by rharris19
I am in love with the APR wing, but can't justify the $650 right now, how many track guys have successfully used Ebay or other type wings? I know there have been a few that have gone this route, but can't find much on it right now.

I am thinking about getting a wing that looks halfway decent and making my own legs for it, but I am worried it will not be adjustable to be secured correctly.

There's an interesting thread on NASIOC in the Motorsports forum. Phil from Element Tuning modified their wing (APR, IIRC). The wing came off prior to a series of esses at VIR. He went off the track at 148 mph.

Just be careful what you buy, how you install it, and using it per manufacturers instructions. In other words, eBay (i.e., little or no documentation regarding usage and setup), beware.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...t=Phil+Element
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Old 04-19-2010, 12:53 PM
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Everything will be redone on my wing to make it a rigid as possible. I just went to a local metal suplier and found some 1/4" aluminum that I will be using for the legs and will weld the scrap off of that to it for a base. At the wing, the adjuster will be welded directly to the wing as to minimize failure points. Basically, the only part that will be a possible failure point will be the spot directly below the wing where I adjust the angle.
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