I agree John.

 

Hahahah and he builds/repairs carbon fiber parts so none of his stuff is a wrap or anything. I believe it is a real carbon fiber piece. He has come out to car shows in the Illinois area so that is how the Chicago community knows about him so just putting it out there!

 

CF, not wrap, huh? Wow. I wonder if he'd consider a different, more simple design here? Something that connects the two sides, instead of just fills the boxes/fins in the back. I'm really enamored with the idea of using a single-piece trim seal all the way across, and not just because I already dished out money for the project.

And thanks for the info, ram. Just so we're on the same page, you know I was laughing in amazement, not ridicule, right?

 

I've been making steady progress on my third panel hack, with intentions (so far) that this could be the final piece. It's cut about 1/4" wider to better fill the gap. And it's cut along the bottom so that the "line" in the bottom goes all the way accross. And the bottom is cut in a 45 degree underneath, to ease fitment and eliminate the awkward look of the bottom trim.

On the backside, I'm using a single piece of 1" aluminum, attached with 1" wide 3M indoor/outdoor mounting tape, with the surfaces prepared with adhesion promoter. It's not going anywhere, and it gives the plastic that needed structural rigidity.

Note the two plastic retaining push clips, that I originally thought could be in play. Actually, they get in the way of the bottom edge of the panel. However, if I grind a 1/8" flat edge on each, that's all I need for clearance and a flat fitment on the bottom. In doing this, I discovered both clips were missing tines, so I ordered a bag of 20-count replacements. I believe these are the same push clips used inthe wheel well, and the underside engine panel, so it's good to have extras.

Soon I'm going to be drilling a hole on each wing into the plastic on the back. Working up the courage to do that, LOL. I have to disassemble the engine cover for access, which means removing the FSTB first, and it's freaking freezing out this morning, so maybe not today.

And then some painting.

Anyway... progress.

 

The push-clips I bought were the identical part... which is nice. Sometimes that doesn't really work out like intended.

Anyway, you can see here in this pic, if I grind a flat edge into the top collars, I can give the project an extra 1/8" of space that was otherwise compromised by these clips.

[edit]

This did the trick! Just the little added clearance I was looking for.

 

Really nice work so far. I'm curious to know if that piece would cut down on dust in the engine bay?

 

I genuinely don't see how. It's wide open on the underside.

Then again, 12" of trim seal is getting introduced to the middle where there was none before, so...



I painted over the last couple of days, and was test-fitting again this afternoon. That made me shave off a couple mm on one end, which means painting again. (Sigh) Rinse, repeat.

And now I understand the reason for the last-minute session on the grinding wheel. That "line" in the lower lip... I want that line to extend all the way across, to make that visual connection with the OEM pieces. Problem is that my container lid material has a slight curvature to it. That means the cut-out over the push clip on one side needs to be an a slight angle to the line above it.

Blah blah blah. In the end, I think it will look OK, because the overall effect will be better than any small detail. I just want the details to be as good as I can get them, and I'm limited by skills, tools and raw materials.

 

Might have been just wishful thinking on my part.
Keep up the good work.It's really looking good.

 

Thanks! Fishing for encouragement helps inspire me to keep going with this little arts & crafts project.

I mentioned a few times how flimsy (and thereby brittle) this plastic is. I can't change that without using different materials, and at the moment this is what I'm using. In the back of my head, I'm wondering about heat and cold (winter), and what impact that will have long-term.

To address that a little bit, I've been thinking for some time about reinforcing the backside of the piece. I tried it first on my second hack with 1/2" strips of aluminum. It kind of worked, but I had the sense that over time the double-sided mounting tape I was using would fail.

So this time around I used a full 1" wide strip of aluminum, with the strongest 1" indoor/outdoor mounting tape I could find. And then I painted over it. This really seems strong, and I'm pretty sure it will do what I want, which is to safeguard against warping.



And obviously, I painted it this weekend. First I roughed up the surface, going for a uniform grain with various grade sandpapers. Then I used adhesion promoter, which is essentially a clear primer. Then I painted multiple coats with a satin black for plastics, from Krylon Paints.

It actually turned out pretty good, IMO. Has the same kind of look and texture as some of the OEM plastics around it.



As you can see in those pics, I haven't drilled holes yet. I'm waffling back and forth on which push rivets to use. I have a really small set of push rivits, with a 8mm top (no collar, just a feathered shaft), and the 13mm collar Phillips head rivet a few posts back. I think I'll start with the smaller ones and see what happens. Assuming the drill holes are OK and centered, I can enlarge them.

So... baby steps. Last night I removed my GT-Spec FSTB and engine cover, so I could better access the back area.

 

OK, it's on the car now, secured in place with two feathered push-tabs. There's pretty good fitment overall, and it's topped with that 5-foot section of aftermarket trim seal. I need to clean things up somewhat, put the cover and FSTB back on, and take some pics for closure.

The rivets I ended up using look like this, one on each side:



Is it perfect? Haha, no, nothing is perfect, particularly a hack like this. But I'm looking at it with some curious satisfaction, so I think it's a keeper.

 

Looking forward to some pics.

 

Tomorrow, for sure.

My 18 year old wouldn't even look at it. My wife humored me and clearly doesn't understand why I wasted so much time on this silly project. And my 14 year old genuinely thinks it looks great. She's awesome.

Wish I had a 3D printer... would have been so much easier.

 

 

Looks like OEM. Nice work.

 

Very impressive, its a huge difference I must say. Definitely worth the effort.