I'm going to fabricate my own fiberglass front diffuser/splitter for my '16 Impreza. Mostly for looks, but I'm also curious if it will help with MPGs by reducing/streamlining under car airflow. My main question is for people that have them, or have assisted in mounting them. How is it done? I already have a narrowed ebay WRX lip. I plan on getting a pair of those adjustable struts to mount them in the front, and I've seen the off-road bumper guards that look like they have 2 bolt mounts in the center at the rear (chassis mounts). Is that it typically, or do they mount to the lip/bumper near the sides? For maintenance reasons, would just cutting an access hole around the undertray, gaining access to the oil plug, be enough for routine service trips? TIA for any help. If you have photos, that'd be awesome.
This is the shape I'm going for. 3/4" thick with a drop in the center. So it will look similar to this: I hope to start on the buck tomorrow night.
If you're building in bulk, I am very interested. I currently have the Bayson R Lip on my '16 as well.
I don't plan on "bulk", but I will have the buck, and then probably screw/tape the different layers to it so I can modify or customize further versions.
I will be sure to do updates here as I go. I hope to have the first one done by mid September, as a father of a 6 and 2 year old, I don't tend to spend a few hours in the garage 3-4 nights a week like I used to. And because I know that sometimes people see these posts and picture cardboard and house gutter body kits, I will add a quick background on me. I did 8 years in the Navy as an Aviation Structural Mechanic, 4 of those years were working on F-14B Tomcats. 3 of my final 4 years were spent working as a composite repair technician. So I have experience with fiberglass, carbon fiber, and Kevlar panel repair and fabrication on super sonic aircraft. Here is a bad picture of a carbon fiber intake scoop I designed and made to match the center scoop of my '01 RS.
Didn't get quite as far as I was hoping tonight. My garage was a mess, and I had to build a big enough work surface for this job. Put my work truck to use. Cut out the better half of my template. Then tweaked that into a full template. And test fit the full template.
Got some more time today. Got the base layer in wood buck form, and started the template for the top layer. Routing profile. Top layer template.
Because I'm a nice guy. http://volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28656 It's the project I eluded to in my intro about not spending a few hours a night, 3-4 days a week. I slapped the Volkstruck together in a matter of 6 months. Haha
While the quality of craftsmanship looks excellent, the physical size of the splitter so far looks really, really large. Do you plan on keeping it that size?
Subscribing as this looks like it will be a cool thread to follow. Also for info on your aero hubcaps.
I've been thinking about this. I'm going to get the second layer on and then decide. It would just be a matter of sliding it aft just a bit and then chopping that off the rear. I've never actually seen one in person, so I'm working off of internet pictures, where some barely extend beyond the lip, and others seem to be 3 inches or so beyond.
Reminds me of this one! But yours has alot more attitude! Nicely done! Oh yeah, splitter is looking amazing as well! Hahaha. Between your Impreza and MilkyDaddy's, I'm getting a serious itch for one. They look so good lowered and "dressed up"!
Thank you. Yeah, I wasn't super into them at first. I had an identical 2012 before the '16. I basically got that one because I was tired of trying to find a low mile, reasonably priced, unmolested turbo Subaru. It fit all my criteria (except turbo) at cheap payments, and best of all, was a manual. It grew on me. As it was nearing time to trade it in, I started noticing guys like milkydaddy and a couple others that were really starting to make them look cool. So i just upgraded and swapped over all the cool parts I had on the '12 to the '16 and kept going.
I've also found it to be very reliable, and plus there is quite a market for parts too since a lot of it is compatible with the Crosstrek and so-so for the WRX. Join us
Little bit more progress tonight. Got the outer top layer sections in place. Going to have a lot of sanding and putty work ahead to get everything to flow smoothly. Unfortunately, the weather is keeping me from test fitting. Maybe Sunday for that.
At least was able to test fit this afternoon. I moved it back 1/2" so it doesn't stick out quite as much, and I think I like that better. I'm still going to do some sort of small "ribs" running down the center section that will line up with the vertical supports in the lower grill. I also was able to check out an APR diffuser at a car show today. It was A LOT thinner than I thought they were, and just plain flat. So I'm pretty sure my idea of the amount of material I'll need compared with how sturdy my version will be, has eased my worries of what it will take to mount this.
Snuck away while my wife was watching game of thrones and mocked up the center ribs. Going to have to think about these. I can't really make them smaller with the limited wood working tools I have. So my option there might be to find small trim pieces or something at Lowe's that would be thinner. Or, just go without them.
What do you have to work with? 1/2"? I'd probably go without them. Although they're like a little diffuser.
It's 11/32. They help to keep the gap between the splitter and the lip, and I'm thinking they'll help direct airflow under the car. So I kind of want to keep them. I think I need to take a trip to Lowe's and just see what they have in the way of half round, or small square/rectangle dowel, and hand sand that to a shape that fits better. Or maybe just move these back to just under the lip.
I like the idea of moving them back a little. So that you only see them when you stand back and look. They do look a little odd from above in the pic.
Well, this weekend has been a complete F-in disaster on this project. I got the buck ready, and prepped it for layup tonight. Got everything ready for vacuum bagging. Guesstimated way shy on the amount of resin to mix but got a decent coat over everything with some quick extra mixing. Then the gumtape I used to seal my bag was too dry and wouldn't stick, so I had basically no vacuum. Then my compressor wouldn't kick on to refill and at least give me the little vacuum I had. Decided to just try non-vacuum laying up the basic bottom layer just to have some sort of progress. Didn't do the math of how much resin I used, so now I have a very thin layer of resin curing on that now. So. Yeah. I just went backwards about 2 weeks. Cool. So this is where I'm at now.
