Hercules Rockefeller

All,

On my C6 Z06 I have the Katech front splitter, complete with the front facing brake ducts and undertray. This setup generates a lot of downforce, but the problem is that it generates TOO MUCH downforce for the standard flexy front bumper. Even with the ZR1 bumper reinforcement, this setup has ripped itself off my car not once, but twice. Both times happened around 140 MPH on the track. Anyway, instead of just getting it to rip off a 3rd time, I had a custom 3 rod support made for the splitter which seemed to finally keep the thing in place, but it was really pricey and now that I've destroyed the front splitter in a sandtrap, I'm not looking on paying $4k again to have it reinstalled. So I'm wondering, has anyone else had to reinforce their front splitter using rods and heim joints, and if so, how did you do it? Any plans or lessons learned would be appreciated. I know I can't be the only one who's had this problem, especially you ST1 guys must have learned how to deal with this stuff!

Bad Karma

Do you have any pictures of the setup you purchased? $4k sounds quite steep. I like making stuff in my garage, I haven't seen a C6 splitter set up, but $4k, wow.

redtopz

You can get the splitter supports you need from LongAcre. Then remove your front bumper and weld or bolt in some angle iron supports to anchor the tops of the support rods. Drill a hole through your bumper and bolt them up. Probably $100-200 and you'll be good to go. You might need to do something similar for your undertray if you have one. This is how my front splitter is supported.

MySR71

These threads might be of interest:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...ng-fascia.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...-splitter.html

Painrace

H

Here is what we made and installed. It adds about 5#. It costs about $300 with professional welding.

Jim

Lawdogg

I have a LG splitter that came with the small undertray. Besides the ZR1 bumper reinforcement, I had Boos Performance in Minnesota fab a bracket. They bolted a small piece of angle aluminum to the front cross member with the bumper removed. Then ran a small piece of flat aluminum (1/8" x 1")from that bracket down to inside level of the splitter undertray. Then attached a piece of aluminum plate to that bracket. Reinstalled the bumper and splitter and used rivets to attach the undertray to the aluminum plate which resides on the top side of the undertray. About a 5 or so hour job, all hidden inside the bumper and just a few bucks worth of aluminum. The result is that the undertray of the splitter is directly attached to the front cross member.

VGLNTE1

How are they made stock to go 200mph?

Hercules Rockefeller

They aren't.

Hercules Rockefeller

Interesting. I see I am not the only one who's had this problem. But of course on the phone I was told that I was the only one that was having issues.

Anyway, lots of good suggestions here on how to get this part to actually work on the track, it's just a shame it didn't come this way from the factory, and that I had to destroy two of them at the track before anyone would believe that there was a problem. Bill, I'll look into the Longacre splitter supports, I've always had a good experience with those guys.

BTW here's my video of the splitter failing at 144 MPH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Su-E9aWPU

And here's a nice pic of what it looked like right before it ripped itself to bits:


And here's what it looked like at the end of the day:



Not exactly the safest day I've had at the track!

Gman57

Before you go and do the samething again look at this link. If you truly looking for track quality stuff....

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...areo-mods.html

VGLNTE1

So all the bumpers on zo6s and zr1s are tearing off?

Hercules Rockefeller

I would say that they all would, under the right circumstances. The problem is not many Z06/ZR1's regularly hit 150 MPH. Around 140-150 is where things start to be a problem... and from what I've been reading I'm not the only one that's had this problem.

Katech_Zach

Something is wrong here. The front grille should not be flexing that much with the front fascia reinforcement installed. We've been much faster than that with the combination and it doesn't do that. What reinforcement are you using? If the splitter was ripped off once before it could have damaged components and caused the second one to not have a firm foundation to mount on to. Can you get it into Katech so we can take a look at it?

Katech_Zach

That is not related to the problem he is having. The above threads are the same person referring to excessive gap below the headlights.

Hercules Rockefeller

It was the GM front fascia reinforcement used on the ZR1. After taking it apart, we found that the front fascia has been broken from the stress of the downforce. Do they make a stronger one? I was running a lowered car at the track, so the splitter was probably generating more downforce than you might expect. But I don't think reinforcing the bumper is the way to go, because you will still have to deal with the entire bumper pulling down from the car. The way to go is to have a few of those metal rods with the heim joints that you see on other cars... do you have a kit with these parts? I was just going to fab up some supports myself, but if you have something that's that's already figured out, let me know.

Katech_Zach

Yes, we make one that is much stronger. That explains why we've gone so much faster than you and have not had the problem. The bumper pulling down from the car i see as a cosmetic issue, not something that will hurt anything. The factory has a gap of about 1/4" there and the gap is increasing to about 1/2" under extreme conditions. However if you want to make something up you can. In one of those threads referred to earlier there was an explanation of how it was done. I made some drop brackets off the bumper, but he ended up doing something different using turnbuckles with hooks linked to an eye bolt at the reinforcement.

dvandentop

i think there is a market for this so make up some kits for a reasonable price and good install documentation and i would be interested, i can tell my front bumper is starting to sag from front splitter stress as well.

Hercules Rockefeller

Katech_Zach

What about just fixing the root of the problem and make a stronger front fascia out of carbon fiber that is reinforced in critical areas?

dvandentop

Yeah but what would the cost be $3k or so?

Alot of people dont want to spend that much when a more cost effective solution is available.