We Gotta "Split"

Over the last few months I've been working with a Vacuum Former who just so happens to be an avid car customizer and has experience building custom vehicle parts.

I'm working on some designs for a bumper splitter that may be adapted on the E-Crosser but for the time being this front splitter will be used for the upcoming Autocross season, specifically for PITL(Push it to the Limit)race series.  I say specifically because the rules for the Provincials state that no aerodynamic aids can be used in my class(DSP), and I do not want to be pushed up a class because I will be seriously outgunned.  In the PITL series I can use these aero-aids without being bumped up.  If I race in a Provincial race, I will not be using it.

There is a story behind this splitter.  It is a bit long of a story but if all you like are pictures scroll down to the picture of the the first concept of this bumper splitter.  To spoil the story, the first concept was a bit too mild, and the mould only survived the test pull on the vacuum-former.  Here is a link for anyone who has no idea what vacuum forming is.-VAC-FORMING-  

After a fairly successful race last season, I believe it was race#5, I went out to do some fun runs.  Fun runs are basically just unofficial untimed runs of the autocross track.  These runs are ones that I like to go out to try and fix areas where I screwed up or just couldn't get right during the race.  However, this time wasn't a good time for anyone in the Sentra, or the Sentra for that matter.

I had been having some severe over-steer throughout the day and I was trying to correct it with small mechanical changes such as tire pressures and adjusting the shocks.  It ended up that my rear R888's were done as dinner and were hard like lego blocks.  Nothing was working but I was determined to get a section down right that had been plaguing me the entire day.  It was a left-right chicane at the end of a short straight-of-way which then made a left hairpin turn.  Well, long story short, I took the chicane but I oversteered and then over corrected straight into a post.  It wasn't a terrible crash, and I can't remember if I had mentioned it before on this blog, but better this happen on the track rather the street.  The damage was to the bumper some brackets and the front grill.  Nothing that wasn't fixable, and nothing a few zip-ties didn't temporarily fix for the drive home.  Just so you know, everything was fixed within a week.

Since I had purchased a new bumper from a race team that races in the Ontario GT-Sprints, for a great price, I had this spare bumper that was going to get fixed anyways, so I decided it gave me an excuse to design a front splitter.  Plus since I was upping the front spring rates by a bit I needed to compensate for the increase in understeer.  A front splitter was my solution, plus it looks really really awesome cool!  OK, so it actually doesn't look that cool,  Maybe to the "Fast and Furious crowd" so I'm designing this splitter to be able to be installed and un-installed at the track.  I can say right now, this thing is going to be pretty extreme and it has to be large to be some-what functional at Autocross speeds.

Here is concept 1.  This was the test pull using 1/8" styrene.  These test pulls are specifically done to see how the the mould performs and to see if there needs to be any revisions.  The final productuction piece will be using 1/8" ABS (ABS is much more resilient than styrene), with a .060" thick aluminum undertray that will extend back to the front lower tie bar.  The alluminum undertray is going to be custom made by my friend Wayne Yeates of Way's Performance Services who I have had a long and excellent association with in developing this car.

As you can see the top was pretty rough.  The mould actually imploded in the vac-former when it was under pressure.  Concept 2 that I am working on will survive many, many pulls so if one gets damaged in a race, I will have the mould to create another one easily.

Also, I am deleting the reinforcing ribs and just leaving the new one straight.  Support rods that are attached to the front of the splitter to the bumper frame will keep it stiff and level.  It will also be 6" deep (2" deeper than the one you see here).  This revised version is going to be big...I mean really BIG.  It will also be about 1" shorter in height just to avoid hitting the ground on the uneven pavement.

So that is the progress so far on things and it's somewhat relevant to the E-Crosser.  The second revised mould will be complete within a week, so wish me luck on that one.

Happy Family Day in Ontario, President's Day in the States, and any other day you may be celebrating with a day off.