Rear Diffuser Repair with Steel reinforcement


BlackICE

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
1. Cut off damaged area.
2. Drill small holes with a very small drill bit and Dremel tool to accept steel wire.
3. Roughen the wire with sandpaper and epoxy the wire into the holes.
4. Make a mold with some thin boards and cover the sides with a releasing agent (kid's crayon) and clamp around the damaged area.
5. Fill the void with epoxy. I used black epoxy for a better base color.
6. When dry remove mold and file and sand to match previous contour.
7. Paint satin black to finish the process.

I was thinking of buying the Stillen's diffuser, but I thought drilling out all of the rivets, aligning and drilling the new diffuser and then finally riveting the new one in place was more work than doing this small repair.
 

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Now that was a lot of work with results that support it; looks great

Thank you for sharing the project and your process

Takes care

Shadowman
 
Great post. I did the Stillen defuser install and it was a lot of work.

Now I have real concerns about the effectiveness of the defuser at wot. Ford engineers spent many hours in the wind tunnel making sure our car was properly balanced. By changing the spliter, defuser and wicker one can alter this balance. I received a heads up for a top Ford engineer who worked on the team.

I will reinstall the stock defuser if I should ever have the urge to run WOT.
 
Nice job... I love a little home-made engineering from time to time.

mardyn
 
B O N Y said:
Great post. I did the Stillen defuser install and it was a lot of work.

Now I have real concerns about the effectiveness of the defuser at wot. Ford engineers spent many hours in the wind tunnel making sure our car was properly balanced. By changing the spliter, defuser and wicker one can alter this balance. I received a heads up for a top Ford engineer who worked on the team.

I will reinstall the stock defuser if I should ever have the urge to run WOT.
Click to expand...

Stillen now makes a diffuser in the stock dimensions as well. I don't have any concerns about the shape of either of diffuser from Stillen. My opinion is both shapes should provide equal, or more downforce to the rear of the car.

My concern, is that the material being more pliable. may distort at high speeds changing the diffuser's shape, air flow and thus may decrease downforce. Does anyone have a video of what the diffuser looks like at 200 MPH?

In any case, if I needed a new diffuser I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Stillen's. Since I always obey the laws of man and nature, for me, a diffuser is merely an aesthetic non-functional item at the speeds I travel at.

If I was entering unlimited class in the Silver State Classic, I would have second thoughts about using any non-stock parts without testing and verification!

In any case, GT owners have another alternative to buying stock or Stillen's diffuser. The diffusers can be repaired to look and perform like new. Note for a larger repair area I would use some fine steel mesh in addition to the wires to add more strength and support.
 
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very nice :thumbsup
 
Well done@ :thumbsup
Thanks for sharing....so far I have not bunged up my rear diffuser, but I figure the day is coming.
 
Daniel,
Are you saying you are not certain if the Stillen rear diffuser is built and designed for 200 mph?
 
B O N Y said:
Great post. I did the Stillen defuser install and it was a lot of work.

Now I have real concerns about the effectiveness of the defuser at wot. Ford engineers spent many hours in the wind tunnel making sure our car was properly balanced. By changing the splitter, defuser and wicker one can alter this balance. I received a heads up for a top Ford engineer who worked on the team.

I will reinstall the stock defuser if I should ever have the urge to run WOT.
Click to expand...

Did they relay something to the effect, that a larger defuser would create more down force and thereby negatively effect the balance? or was more that the Stillen defuser is untested and therefor questionable?
 
Fubar said:
Did they relay something to the effect, that a larger defuser would create more down force and thereby negatively effect the balance? or was more that the Stillen defuser is untested and therefor questionable?
Click to expand...

Yes Mark,
The balance of the FGT was designed in wind tunnel tests plus on the track. The question about the Stillen defuser is distortion at high speed, and also balance of the car, everything on the car is designed to work together, the spliter, the wicker and defuser, change one and you need to consider changing all.
If you are just running on the roads, I would suspect you will have NO issues or concerns. However, if you plan to explore the capabilities of the FGT be very careful about modifications that have not been carefully tested.
My source is from the original design and engineering team. There was a good reason why things where done in a certain way.
Cheers,
daniel
 
Now we have two who always obeys the laws of man and nature! :skep :wink

Incidentally, very nice work BlackICE.
 
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