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Old 11-28-2012, 06:54 PM   #31 (permalink)
aerohead
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C-pillar

Quote:
Originally Posted by brucepick View Post
It took a while but I'm making plans now. Hope will be in the driveway cutting and gluing tomorrow, based on what aerohead wrote above.

My plan is for a spoiler that's also a false raised trunk lid, starting at a line about half way up the rear glass, going to a level meeting the template, as far back as the rear bumper. I plan to also extend the C-pillars rearward, and taper the extensions inwards slightly.

The C-pillar extensions will use mount brackets that will be silicone-glued to the window glass, or will attach those brackets with heavy duty double stick foam tape. That should get me out of gluing, duct-taping or screwing to the sheet metal.

A question to aerohead:
Re. the max height of the C-pillar extension panels.
Do you prefer Option 1 or 2 below?

Option 1:
Start the forward end of the vertical panels at the full height of the C-pillar, measured at the point where the extension panel begins. It would taper down to the rear, ultimately to the level of where the spoiler/false trunk lid meets the template curve. This leaves a sort of chamber between the two extended side panels, above the spoiler.

Option 2: Have the side panels only go as high as the level of the spoiler/false trunk lid, wherever that turns out to be. Something like 6" above the trunk lid. So, no chamber between them, at least not above the horizontal spoiler panel.

Visibility: one more "feature" to the design:
The forward edge of the spoiler at the rear glass, will be at a height so that the whole spoiler should appear only as a horizontal line when viewed via the rear view mirror. So I hope to keep good rear visibility that way. Likely this will mean the forward edge will be raised a few inches vs. its rear edge. However I won't know exactly where it will end up until I put it together and look in the mirror.

Aerohead, you already mentioned that I'll get a bit of a blind spot from the side panels. I'm considering eventually making them from Lexan, but they will be coroplast or even cardboard for starters.
Wow! very late on this,or did we sort this out in a PM?
I would go with Option -1

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