The recent trip to the weighbridge and HDDP's wing exploits have had me thinking back to the various weight saving plans I have had in the back of my mind for some time. So this weekend I decided to get stuck in to a project I have had on the back burner for a while; a lightweight CF replacement for the stock rear wing. Hardly very radical or much of a weight saving in itself but it is just one small part of a bigger project I have in mind.

The finished wing will be constructed from an upper and lower half bonded together and foam filled, with aluminum mounting plates bonded in. Just for information the stock wing weighs in at 1.85 KG (4.1 lbs), so far the rough lower moulding is 132g (0.3 lbs).
Anyway, I now have a two part mould and one lower wing half complete. Here are some pics:

Prepping the wing

Laying up

Fresh out the mould ready for trimming


I'm still in two mind whether to paint the finished item or stick with the natural carbon look, so I did some photoshops to try and visualize it...but I'm still not sure!

Here's the first:


More in next post (only allowed 4 pics per post!)

 

Here's another two photoshops:

 

I like the carbon fiber look...

 

I have to add... +1

 

THAT IS SUCH A GREAT LOOK... I love that the window looks extended and the way the emblem looks on the rear... I will take one of the carbon wings and a triangular exhaust tip. Lol how much longer...

 

Great Job!!!

 

I'm not sure if the carbon wing was worth the effort, but I do like the wing colored black instead of the factory paint color.

I would like to see a photoshop of an Alabaster crossfire with the rear wing painted black. Can someone do that as an experiment?

 

If you are only going to save less than 4 lbs I would leave the wing natural carbon fiber.
Why add the weight of the paint...

 

Looks awesome.

 

I love this look also...especially with all my black accents i have over the car..this addition would look Greattt! (IMO)

 

I have to admit - that does look way cool...

 

That looks great. I've been searching online myself for a shop that i can get a custom CF SRT6 wing replacement with the same stock shape.

Could you possible point me to the right direction? Thanks.

 

Thanks for all the input guys, it sounds like the carbon look is in this year.
I'm still not entirely convinced but I think I'll try fitting it up int the raw CF first and see how it looks. I should get it done by the weekend, work commitments permitting.

I suppose for those that just want the 'look' you could just paint the wing black, or dare I day cover it with that faux cf film - done properly of course using the high quality stuff applied with a heat gun to get it to follow the contours properly.

Stryfox: This has reminded me... I seem to recall someone, I'm sure it was you, painting your roof a high gloss black to blend into the glass area, did you keep it that way?

Thanks jonny, I'm going as fast as I, should have news on the exhaust soon.

Srt_crossfire: I've not even seen an SRT in the UK yet, they are RARE! In terms of getting a CF spoiler I have hand laid mine in a GRP mould using epoxy and raw matting, vacuum bagged while it cures. The pro's would make an aluminum tool and lay it up with pre-preg mat and set it in an autoclave. I can only suggest you try a local outfit that produces CF mouldings for race cars etc, or alternatively try a local boat builder - they use all the same materials but you tend not to get charged the 'motorsport' prices! Either way it will probably be prohibitively expensive and you may have to sacrifice your stock wing in the process. I quite like these sort of 'why would you bother' projects though because by definition you end up with a lot of cool stuff that no one else has.

 

Now Woody...that's all well and good, but don't you need some sort of folding endplates on this thing to finish the effect...hehe.

Looks great bud...I'm half and half about the color thing. For a racer I'd say don't paint it. For my daily, I'd paint it. (Any color) since the design (IMO) gets disrupted with the pattern in CF. Don't know much about the CF molding process, where'd ya get the Kiln (or whatever) to cook it?

Waiting for the CF hood next bud.

 

Great idea Woody, do you want me to send you the OEM wing that I just removed so you can use it as a plug so you don't mess-up yours ? I don't think it made it to the trash bin yet !!!

 

I really like the look, and on my black xfire, it would blend nicely.

 

Don't think I hadn't considered the endplates, I can feel another photoshop coming on.

Yeah, im still not sure about the paint/no paint, but most seem to think the CF look is the way to go.

I didn't use a kiln/autoclave as I was using hand-laid raw CF mat and epoxy resin, rather than prepreg mat which requires the resin to be activated with heat whilst in the mould. I just laid it up in the mould, vacuum bagged it and heated it with an infra red heater.
I've just finished the top section, but am not really happy with the finish, so I will be doing another when I am in less of a rush (I was juggling the moulding with welding and gearbox rebuilding activities on my VW.) I needed an initial set to mock up the mountings with anyway and I guess it can end up being the a painted one!

I need to clear some garage space before I can attack the bigger panels, hence the activity on the VW!

More pics soon...

 

Thanks Derek that would be great! I've already made a 'plug' from mine but I could do with a spare to finish off the bonding jig and mounting points. In return I'll send you a CF cover to finish off the hole where yours used to be, if you can live with the extra 150 grammes. I've got some other bits an bobs you can have too.

 

Ahhh woody, no luck on that Startech rear spoiler I guess.

Would you fabricate a spoiler for me if I designed it?

 

PM me with your mailing address... No need for the cover... I like the way mine looks right now...