After a little work I got the fender/brace bolts in and tight and I was planning on using self tappers on the top of the spoiler to go in the bottom of the core support since I don't have a baffle, but there is a HUGE gap in between the core support and the top of the spoiler. Am I just SOL and need to break down and get the baffle for it? Will the baffle help me at all since this isn't one of Duane spoilers?
the fendor bolts where the last ones I put in when i installed mine,and you may have to loosen up the braces. I think you may need to drill holes for the core support attachment then secure the fendor attachment. I removed the radiator drilled holes and used nut and bolt combo to secure. I have one of Duane's and don't run a baffle and its sits very flush
You have the fender holes in the wrong place. Like said above,measure and place the spoiler under the radiator support. You should at mimimum take the upper radiator cover off and move the radiator out of the car or lift up so you wont hit it when you drill it. I would advise against self tapping screws as they may hit the radiator when all is installed. Use 1/4 inch bolts 1 inch long instead. After getting it squared right,then drill holes in the lower fender lip. It will look a lot better..
So this isn't how this goes, eh? Now I feel dumb. You don't want to know how long it took me to get that old broken square nut off there so I could put the new hardware on. I'll give it another shot tomorrow. And yes Pat, I was planning on taking the upper cover off and putting a piece of wood underneath it while I installed those bolts.
It looks like you have the spoiler bolted to the same bolts as the fender braces, which is not correct. Like previously mentioned here, line up the spoiler where it should be and drill your holes in the bottom of the fenders last. Bill
Okay, I've got it installed with the new holes in the fenders and one center support so far. I've done everything by myself so far using some 2x4s and a set of vice grips to help me hold it in place, not to mention I don't have a jack or stands so it is at ride height still. I have the corner fender mounts butted right up to the fender and the one center support has got a 1" rubber spacer in it and even with that I feel like it has an akward rake to it where the nose of the spoiler is up higher and the bottom of the back is down and forward to much. Take a look and tell me what you think. If I took the 1" spacer out of the center it would look horrible because there is still such a huge gap between the core support and the top of the spoiler.
I need to get some shorter bolts for the fender mounts- I had to use the rubber spacers just so I could tighten the bolts.
Is that the poston ram air setup? If so I have the same one and never installed it because no matter how I held it up it always looked like I was missing something. I wonder if it is that baffle you mentioned before?
I didn't have much trouble with mine...other than not having enough hands, which I took care of by using a bunch of racheting small woodworking clamps. Marked centerline on bottom of core support, aligned spoiler center hole to line and then marked core support/fenders thru remaining spoiler holes. Drilled holes per GS Assembly Manual and installed bolts. I think I had to "adjust" one fender bottom in or out some, but otherwise everything aligned within spoiler holes and on same plane. Not the case for the baffle. It was a royal PITA. Most of the bolt cutouts didn't align and had to be modified. Probably poor quality repro. Someday, I may buy Duane's baffle and redo it... If you're having to shim vertically, you may have sheet metal/bumper/frame alignment issues, or maybe some bad body bushings...
With the corner fender bolts in- the center of the spoiler and core support had almost a 3 inch gap and in the middle of the center and corner pieces there is about a 2 inch gap.
Wow! That is a huge gap. When I installed my Poston front spoiler, there was a gap at the very center of the core support connection of about 1". I could push it up but then didn't have enough hands to install the hardware and hold it tight. I had to use some wood blocks and two bottle jacks to push it up in place before I could get the bolt in. I was worried about cracking it by pushing it up but nothing happened. I have the baffle on mine which helps to seal up the gap between the front of the spoiler and bottom of the front bumper. It's only flat plastic and very flexible. It had no effect on the spoiler gap or installation in my case.
This is the same picture from up top, this is when I had the spoiler bolted to the fender brace locations mistakenly. Even with the spoiler bolted to the new holes I made in the fenders it still sits almost this low. Compared to how it's installed with a 1" rubber spacer inbetween the spoiler and core support. Like I said, it has an akward rake to it where it is nose up ass down. The vents aren't going to be very functional that way. I'm going to pick up a bigger spacer tonight and give it another shot... something is still not right though and it's pissing me off. By the way- no one really mentioned if I installed the fender mounts for it in the correct spot. Are they supposed to go behind the fender brace (like how I did it) or were they supposed to go in front of the fender brace?
Per GS Assembly Manual, holes in spoiler/fender to be at rear corners. Where were they on your spoiler? Instead of starting at fenders, have you tried starting at center? Use clamps (beg,borrow,...) to test fit. This should tell you if you have a sheet metal alignment problem, and where...
They're in the back of the fenders. I'll put a bigger rubber spacer in the middle and a couple flanking it and that will be good enough. If theres a sheet metal alighnment issue somewhere that problem is over my head.
I was beginning to suspect a bad spoiler, until I saw your donor car pic. Good fit. Again...start at the center. Possibly the weight of the glass spoiler hanging from the fender bolts is aggrevating the gap. From your pics, looks like the spoiler lower lip should be rotated up higher.. When you get it on, stay away from curbs...
If I try to start at the center out with no spacers it is just plain wrong. The guy I got it from said he even used spacers in it fo his install.
Cullen, You obviously have a big problem. Either your spoiler is messed up badly or the alignment of the front of the car is wrong or another problem. I have 2 Poston front spoilers(not ram air style) and have used them on several cars and I have this one mounted to the Maggot. I am even using glass fenders as well as front bumper and I had very minimal trouble mounting it. I even have the spoiler front bracket installed and it lined perfectly. It fits like a glove and looks terrific if I should say.
I don't know. Turbo455 had enough alignment problems with his he didn't even bother to put his on. Maybe I'm just bodywork stupid and have no business putting on exterior accesories like this. I'll pull the radiator cover off this weekend, shim the radiator up, pull the bracket off the middle of the spoiler and take some pictures of how it looks with zero rubber spacers in there. Then I'll clamp the spoiler to the core support in the middle and remove the fender bolts to show you how it would look if I started to work from the middle out, it's not going to be pretty though.
