Anybody make their own splitter for the front valance?

[Bentworker]

Anyone make a front splitter?  I like the idea of the front spoiler but I don’t like the angle of the stock one.  I’d rather have one that is more parallel to the ground.

 

[detritusmaximus]

Have you done fiberglass work before?

If so, that pink or blue insulation foam panel you get at HD or Lowe's is really easy to shape and sand. Once you've got the shape you want, seal it and lay up fiberglass cloth or mat. Then remove all the foam from behind it.

 

[Bentworker]

Cardboard splitter version 1.0

 

[MKSpeedlab]

I had a drawing done of my car over the winter, and told him to take some "creative liberties" to make it look a little meaner. And the one thing he did was sketch out a new front splitter that I really like. So I am slowly working on finding someone to create it in real life.  

 

[detritusmaximus]

Bentworker,

Probably need a little angle to avoid inadvertently creating lift.

 

[Q1SVT]

Chip Foose Designs... just a very small one lol

 

[Bentworker]

Chip Foose vs me...

 

[droptop73]

Cardboard splitter version 1.0

View attachment 52324

View attachment 52325

Is that a CAD model??

 

[Bentworker]

Cardboard aided design- Yes

 

[droptop73]

Just a couple of thoughts... I think replacing the lower valance and bolting it to the bottom of the fender would look good. Maybe skinny up the sides in front of the tire. 

Free advice... EXACTLY what it's worth! LOL

What wheels are those? 

 

[Fabrice]

I like Foose's one..  that'd be the only one that would allow me to enter my driveway without touching.

 

[Bentworker]

View attachment FullSizeRender.mov

Careful CAD work has ensured it will clear the driveway.  I’m hoping to make some more versions after Father’s Day.




Wheels are Method 308’s.  They are not offered in the correct bolt pattern…


View attachment IMG_0493.MOV

 

[Horsin' Around]

Another CAD option (Crayola Aided Design)

 

[Lazarus]

Horsin’ Around, that looks cool!

I like it a lot but perhaps the crease between the scoop and the valence could be a little higher? Maybe it’s just that the extended (forward and downward) meatiness of the valence makes the bumper look a tad small to my eye. Then again, the valence may seem more retracted once the fender extensions are on. 
 

I really, really like the continuity of the fender flare into the scoop. I think if you drew the vertical cardboard piece back a tad it would be perfect. That said, I know that it’s just a sketch over the mockup and actually making the piece would probably draw that crease up as you make the scoop sweep upward. 
 

Cool idea on the flow from wheel opening to the scoop. Makes my stock scoop look disjointed now!

 

[detritusmaximus]

A couple ideas from the Australian Falcons.  The XC Cobra has a heavier front bumper with more of an airdam that sort of blends into the wheel opening. The XBoss is a full custom design., but is more 71-73 Mustang like with a thinner blade type bumper.

The XBoss is an amazing amount of custom fab...

https://www.whichcar.com.au/features/xboss-xb-falcon-build-part-1

 

[MeanMachine]

A couple ideas from the Australian Falcons....

View attachment 52458

I really like the design and ram air vents, yet the front end is shorter than our year Mustangs. 

 

[detritusmaximus]

I really like the design and ram air vents, yet the front end is shorter than our year Mustangs. 

Slightly shorter in the front. The white XC Falcon is about as wide as our 66-69 Fairlanes. They are based on the 66 and later US Falcon/Fairlane structure. The XB Falcon front end looks more like the 71-73 Mustang, the XC's above have a flatter grille/bumper design.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

The front spoilers we hare are spoilers to redirect air and produce some down force. Some say they do nothing but put your hand out the window at 120 and see how much force there is on one and then multiply that 50 times.
For the splitter to work it has to be very close to the ground. It is to keep so much air flow from going under the car and direct it to each side or to brake ducts to cool. If going to a brake duct the highest pressure is near the center of the car and even today they still use the NASA designed intake area for brake ducts.
Using the cardboard and foam does work pretty good and you can also go to a taxidermy supply and get the clay they use. Same as what they use in the Ford design centers. Easy to shape and change shape and once it dries has some body to it. My current gal friend worked at Ford Prototype Engineering for years will ask her where to get the clay they use.
We did a stream liner Bonneville car at the local Technical College a few years back. The nose of the car was really long. I was given the part of sculpting the foam and then laying up the fiberglass. I hate that crap even with hazmat suit and tapped rubber gloves you itch forever. It took lots of bondo to make it smooth.
The clay will yield you the best surface to pull a fiberglass from or even make your own mold. Once you have a mold find someone that has a fiberglass chopper sprayer and they can spray the gel coat and then the chopped glass and maybe figure out where your mounting brackets will be and mold / cast them into the splitter. Check out boat shops that do repairs. Don't go crazy on the brackets in the splitter just something that you can bolt up to and figure out the brackets later. Have to have good locations for sure with a way to hook to chassis.
When we raced Karts the front nose was always getting busted. So we cast or glassed in a piece of 1/2" conduit bent to fit in the nose. Did not break anymore but crushed some others.
Even in the lawn mower business we used clay inside the mower decks. We had a glass table that mower would sit on and a smoke generator so we could watch the air flow. Would add clay to change shape and once we had it working they laser scanned. John Deere even copied our mower deck because it worked so good.
You will not have a wind tunnel but you can tape pieces of yarn to your prototype and drive down the road and have someone take photos or video the yard follows the air flow. They did that years ago on the drag strip and tracks when they did not have big money for the wind tunnel testing.
You can actually use a model of our cars and do some really quick designs just to see if eye appealing or not. My son did a science fair exhibit using an electronic scale and made modifications to car models and you could measure increase or decrease in down force with the model car and the scale. He used electric leaf blower for wind source.
You have to think outside the box and it will just happen. I need to find some pictures of the Bonneville car we built. After they ran it the school required it be cut up so nobody could ever run it again. On about the third pass on the short course he hit a wet spot in salt and spun. If anything goes wrong on the short course you cannot run any more. Pissed off the Tech School bosses. Probably thousands of hours put into it. I think half of the body split down the middle hangs on the shop wall. It was front wheel drive rear steer like most of the faster cars.