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GT86Jay

R35 GTR Spoiler on GT86 Build

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I’ve been on the hunt for a spoiler / wing for the last few months and been looking around. Part of me wanted something small, effective and discrete. And other parts of me wanted to go all out and hang a massive carbon wing off the back of it.

 

Knowing I didn’t have 400-500bhp to warrant a massive wing. I decided to go somewhere in the middle. And try find a high rise spoiler to sit off the boot lid but one that wasn’t to big.

 

I’d always had my eye on the Aero spoiler but part of me thinks once they come down in price it won’t be so special and they’ll be common. And the easy option to just bolt it on. I felt anything that was nice or easy was just being done. The TRD ducktail seems to be a common one because its easy to fit, solves the solution to the holes in the spoiler and cheaper to get painted.

 

There were a couple of other options but nothing really caught my eye. They all had an element I didn’t like, or the mounts looks bulky and horrible. Or the cost of getting them prepped and painted was ridiculous.

 

Whilst looking around on ebay a GTR R35 spoiler came up and got me thinking. Knowing it probably wouldn’t fit I didn’t get too excited but I knew this was the sort of spoiler and height that I wanted. Fensport actually had a GT86 specific GTR style wing. But the mounts were quite bulky and it was too rounded for my liking. The GTR wing looks very well built and angular. Which works very well.

 

So I decided i’d buy the GTR Spoiler. The guy on ebay took £80 including shipping for a carbon wrapped 2010 R35 Spoiler. So I took the plunge and went for it.

 

It arrived and I set out working out how to fit it. It sat on the boot lid perfectly. It lined up with the car perfectly. But the mount didn’t sit flush on the boot lid, as expected. The first bit of the mount sat flush but the GT86 boot lid curves downwards towards the edge and front.

So decided I would need to make some custom brackets to fit it.

 

First up was to make a  Fibreglass Mould of the boot lid….

 

Taped up the boot lid so that I could remove the mould and it didn’t stick to the paint work…

 

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Then time to apply the fibreglass resin and glass cloth….

 

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To get a rough idea of the size and shape I made some styrofoam templates to get a rough idea.

 

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Obviously one issue that needed to be resolved was the holes in the front of the boot lid which were used to hold the original stock spoiler on.

 

From the inside I applied a layer of fibreglass to block the hole up. Then added filler of this and smoothed it all out. Once dry I then rubbed it all down and smoothed it over.

 

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At this point I had a boot with no holes, two fibreglass moulds, a very dusty bedroom and a car without a boot.

 

Next up I placed the fibreglass moulds onto the boot lid and taped them down so they were in place. Added some insulation tape over the whole lot and lined the spoiler up in its perfect position to where it needed to sit on the boot lid. By adding the insulation tape it allowed me to press the spoiler down and create a mark on it ready for drilling.

 

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The spoiler has bolts built in to it which made it easier to line up and lock the spoiler in place. Concentrating on just one bolt for now I removed the other two. Marked the position this bolt needed to go and then drilled through the fibreglass and boot lid.

 

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With the spoiler now lined up on the boot lid and in position with the nut and bolt in the correction location it was time to stick the fibreglass to the GTR mount.

 

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Bolted it up tight and left it to dry.

 

Filled in the gaps with styrofoam to give the fibre glass some support and a little more shape.

 

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Once all was dry unbolted the spoiler from the boot lid and removed the mounts from the top part of the GTR spoiler. The GTR spoiler is in 3 parts. The two side mounts and the top edge. Which can be taken apart.

 

I then cut off the excess fibreglass to the rough shape of the existing mount.

Filled all gaps and smoothed with Body Filler.

 

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Next up was hours and hours of smoothing, sanding, filling, rubbing, priming, filling and more sanding. Some sanding done with an electric sander. Sand paper and wet and dry. It was difficult to get both mounts perfect and identical whilst keeping a perfect shape and smooth.

 

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At this point I drilled through the entire mount and added the bolts back in to all 3 locations. With extended bolts. This works well as its then using the original mount as the mounting point and not relying on my new fibreglass mount. My fibre glass mount almost becomes a sandwiched bit between the bootlid and original spoiler mount.

 

After lots of sanding. lots of concentration, lots of dust and patience I finally had something which looks like it would be acceptable to fit to my car!

 

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Also added in a single cable to make it easy to thread the brake light cable through the mount.

 

Bit more sanding for good luck..

 

Next up gave the mounts a good thick spray of filler primer. This showed up all the imperfections and indents and small marks.

 

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So more filling, sanding smoothing and dusty bedroom.

 

At all times test fitting it on the boot lid to ensure it still fitted and the shape of the mount was correct.

 

Next up I made the commitment and drilled the other two holes in the boot lid. Added in the bolts, put the spoiler back together and for the first time sat the spoiler with the new mounts on the boot lid..

 

And it fits! Almost perfect! Couple of 1mm gaps!

 

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So bit more sanding, little filler and a wet and dry sand.

 

Also in this time I had the boot lid sent off to the body shop to have a full sand fill and respray to ensure the holes were filled. paint was brand new and looked amazing.

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Next up you have to drop the drill with your sharpest steel drill piece onto your new full can of primer spray paint. So that it immediately starts pissing out primer all over the place which you try and grab and get outside asap, but fail.

 

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For now I’ve had to wrap the Spoiler as i’ve not had a chance to get it into the body shop for respray and haven't yet added the centre mount to it.

 

Got it fitted onto the car again and wired in the brake light. Done this by removing the old brake light cable and extending it to the original GTR brake light.

 

This means i’ll be able to get rid of the after thought 3rd brake light on the rear parcel shelf.

 

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It probably took me around 50 hours to get this on the car. it was 3 solid weekends and a few nights. Hours of sanding, hours of filling and hours of waiting for things to dry. Sore fingers, spray paint everywhere, cut fingers and some stressful / ‘Oh Bugger’ moments. But obviously like everything the first one would always be hardest.

 

I’ve not driven it much since having it fitted or hard enough to notice a difference. It does feel a bit more planted on the back and can actually feel a slightly different steering feel.

Not sure how much it really says but without the centre mount the middle flexes a fair bit. Looking in the rear view mirror at higher speeds the spoiler is actually flexing in the centre. I reference it with the rear brake light and it probably drops around 10 - 15mm once getting up to speed. So I believe it is actually generating some downforce. Being off a genuine GTR they've’ probably done some research into it having some aero benefits. Probably not enough to notice. But I done this mod more for looks and the appearance. I’ll add the centre mount in soon and see how that changes things.

 

But next up is to just extend the centre mount a few mm to make it fit better. This will stop the spoile flexing in the centre and stop some ressination you can hear under low RPM high engine load accelerations.  

 

For those of you who are super worried about weights and adding weight you'll be surprised to know the stock GTR spoiler is very well built and only weighs 3kg. The stock spoiler weighs in at 1.8kg. The GTR spoiler with my custom brackets brake light and bolts is 3kg. I can also remove the brake light from the back of the car. So for the added looks, better brake light and maybe extra downforce I don't mind adding 1kg. 

 

Will also be getting it all sprayed in a High Gloss Black to match my wheels and TRD accents.

 

I might make it red in due course if I feel the black is a little too outgoing and in your face.

 

Total cost to do this was around £350

 

  • £80 for the spoiler (From ebay)

  • £20 for the Brake Light (From and GTR Owners Club member)

  • £200 in respray / smoothing of the boot lid. (Local body shop)

  • £50 in filler, sandpaper and bits etc.

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Yep - it looked good at the GPRM Day.... well done to Jay. I agree the centre support will make a big difference, both in looks and I reckon in aero performance - if it's flexing downwards in the middle it has to be doing something...

 

Jay - I reckon a ducktail would add a little more to the overall visual effect. Might even improve the aero as well...

 

 

Spec K

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A mega amount of work, Jay, well done! 

 

Think you need that support in the middle as there's a lot of flex. You'd think there'd be some aerodynamic benefit perhaps, more preventing lift than generating downfarce though I would suspect. I guess it depends upon how it translates to the airflow on an 86 in comparison to a GTR. 

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Yeah, I've always intended to put the centre mount in. I just ran out of time before GPRM. And actually it was nice to see how the wing was affected with speeds without the centre mount. 

 

I reckon the rest of the GTR lines and body help to direct more air flow onto the wing and it has maximum effect when on a GTR. I won't be getting quite so much of this designed airflow on the 86. 

 

I was watching this morning how the water was coming off it at around 60mph. Frozen particles that were melting were actually getting flung upwards off the top edge of the spoiler. As if there is some sort of vortex / air circulation on the edge of the spoiler. 

 

If only there was an easy way to test the flow? I guess borrowing a wind tunnel for the day with smoke will be mega expensive! 

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Lol, very expensive my friend, there aren't that many tunnels about now days as everyone tends to simulate airflow now by scanning and using computational fluid dynamic software's, but some things you just can't analyze or predict so there will be some about, but again at mega bucks. But awesome work Jay, wish I had the patience, time, finances or facilities to do stuff like that. A complete guess here but is the centre mount essential? Isn't flex sometimes a good thing in aerodynamics? E.g. the 458 has flexible front blades which flex as design to help with the aero of the car.

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Lol, very expensive my friend, there aren't that many tunnels about now days as everyone tends to simulate airflow now by scanning and using computational fluid dynamic software's, but some things you just can't analyze or predict so there will be some about, but again at mega bucks. But awesome work Jay, wish I had the patience, time, finances or facilities to do stuff like that. A complete guess here but is the centre mount essential? Isn't flex sometimes a good thing in aerodynamics? E.g. the 458 has flexible front blades which flex as design to help with the aero of the car.

 

Yeah I don't think i'll be getting any substantial evidence soon. Might experiment with water / GoPro videoing see if I can get any sort of idea how air is flowing over it. 

 

Flex might be good. But this is a little too much, and it resonates over bumps and low RPM. I think its been designed to have a centre mount so the side mounts don't take the entire weight so it flexes beyond a point i'm comfortable with. Also think it'll look a lot better.

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I can't imagine flex will trouble you if it's good enough for an R35!  Good price btw.

 

GTR has a centre mount to support the centre flex. Even on a stock GTR if you remove the centre mount its a bit flimsy. You can get stronger top sections if you want to run a higher mount or no centre mount at all.

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Looks very good Jay & £350 is a bargain !! Great your able to get rid of the cheap OEM brake light.

 

I was lucky to find a second hand GTR spoiler for only £80. Nissan quoted me £800 from their parts department. About right when you look at the cost of the Aero Spoiler from parts.

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Sorry wasn't clear, yes I know the GTR has a centre support but I didn't think the GT86 would get to 180 or so, perhaps I'm wrong! :)

 

Of course the GT86 will never put as much stress on it as the GTR. But currently without the centre mount its too flexible. Shutting hte boot for example it flexes and sounds quite lose. 

Over speed bumps and pot holes the centre flexes. I think putting the centre mount in will just make it feel much more solid. Quieter and feel more robust. Also taking some of the strain off the side mounts. 

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Shame because it looks great without.  (I think!)

 

It would probably be possible to reinforce the centre piece of the spoiler from inside and have some Aluminium bar made to strengthen it all up.

 

It's possible to split the spoiler so could get inside it and add support.

 

But as it'll be a lot easier to fit the centre mount to start with I'm going to do that.

 

I might even buy the Carbon Fibre top section which is available without centre mount. 

 

It's also worth noting that HKS do a high rise GTR spoiler kit which consists of two sandwich mounts that go between the side mounts and the top section to extend it. I could even compete with Richard then :P . 

 

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Yesterday I added the centre mount to support the spoiler. 

 

Without it the centre part flexes too much and it resonates at low RPM causing an awful vibration through the back parcel shelf! 

 

Also over bumps and speed bumps it bounces around and just looks a bit stuck on. 

 

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It required a fair bit of sanding and smoothing to get it to fit the shape of the GT86 spoiler! I'm tempted to make a new one thats moulded to the shape better. But it does the job amazingly well, surprised at how much difference having the centre mount makes to sound inside the car and feel on the car. 

 

I could get the reinforced Carbon top section if I didn't want to run the mount. Or possibly re-inforce this one but I don't mind the centre mount. In my opinion it makes it look less open and give more support.

 

With it in place all flex has gone. All vibration has gone. Shutting the boot is now nice again and not a big clunky job. 

 

Now I just need to decide to paint the whole spoiler Gloss Black to match my TRD Accents. Or spray it the C7P Red to match the car? 

 

Couple more photos from angles.... 

 

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I agree, The centre piece is only red because it was in the box to get sprayed with the boot lid so the body shop done it. 

 

Either way it'll all be going C7P Red or D4S Black. 

 

On the GTR the spoiler comes out the factory standard car colour. 

It seems some people do change them to gloss black for contrast on the GTR. 

 

Just to decide which one....

Few photos of different options see which one gets highest vote...

 

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This guy in the Japan has sort of done what i've done...

 

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Red base - Carbon Black Top...

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The same Japan guy also changed his colour after a while....

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And made it hydrolic! LOL....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inN9hjpiDek

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I think i'll be keeping the Red Roof. I do keep thinking it will look good with the black roof flowing into the black spoiler. 

 

But I don't want to end up with more black on the car than red.....  ;)

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