So though I had considered doing something like this before, I was not ready to take the plunge until I saw Handy_Man's installation on this thread...

https://www.miataturbo.net/race-prep-75/home-made-splitter-air-dam-ducting-60291/

I really like the way his turned out so I decided right there to use the same approach to remake the splitter and air dam for my car. The splitter is made from 3/8" birch plywood, which I had left over from the first splitter I had made. The front air dam is made from 1/8" black ABS purchased from my usual supplier, a local sign shop. The ducting is made from black coroplast, also from the same sign shop.

Here is the finished result...


The new splitter with a hammer shown for scale.



Front view



Ducting is visible on the sides inside of the dam, and around the oil cooler



Small holes on the sides are for the brake ducts



Inside the right side wheel well



The splitter from underneath



Miataturboz needs moar dogz, fast onez.



Canards and kitties to be added later.

 

Dude, I love it! That's gonna work wonders for the front aero. May have to give that a try over the winter months

 

Very nice!! Moar pics

 

looks great. i may have to search for some of that abs around here. wasn't able to find any last time, may dig a little deeper.

 

Thanks I am happy with how it turned out. With canards it should look better still. When I get it back on the ground I'll take some more pictures.

Spoolin, keep trying. There should be some places where you are at that sell it, like the sign shops. They might not know WTF ABS is since it is not something they would normally use, but if you talk them through it I'll bet they can order it from their normal plastics supplier. I went through this the first time.

If not, let me know and I can buy you a sheet and bring it to TWS. It is about $75 for a 1/8" x 4' x 8' sheet.

 

I've looked at alot of these front splitter threads, and no one that saw mentions what the turnbunkles are mounted to on the car? Are you drilling and taping a hole, welding a nut on, or is it a pre-existing threaded hole?

 

In my case the upper end of the turnbuckles are attached to an existing hole in the bumper via the same carabiner hooks you can see at the splitter end of the turnbuckle.

 

This is happening to my car this winter too - thanks for starting another thread. What did you use for the little 'L' brackets mounted to the splitter in the first picture? I was going to just slice up pieces of aluminum angle but what you did looks better/easier/lighter.
-h

 

It is garden edging from Lowe's 'Racing Supply'. Cheap and effective FTMFW

 

That looks super effective, very similar to Spoolins. Get ready to tune the rear grip because you just increased the front a butt load

This year the flat front is the new hottness, next year...

 

Looks even better in person!

 

This is exactly what I have planned for my car.

 

Was your main goal drag and lift reduction vs. downforce?

 

When you understand this equation you will get it.

L > <

 

Lift reduction = net downforce. That's what splitters and diffusers do with negligible drag. Wings and canards make downforce but add drag in proportion to downforce.

 

Yep what Spoolin said.

 

Positive pressure on the top side of the splitter that sticks out forward of the airdam will also make downforce.

 

[IMG][/IMG]

The testing at the race track was successful. Here it is in action at Texas World Speedway on the NASCAR banking in Turns 3 and 4. I set my personal best lap time, about 1.5 seconds faster. There were a lot of other variables so I cannot attribute all of the speed to the new splitter and air dam. But they were definitely working. The aero balance of the car was great everywhere.

 

That turn 3-4 session was crazy.

 

Stupid fast! We all had a good time trying it out.