Matt_27

Some of you may have seen that Nine Lives Racing recently released a wing kit for C5/C6's that uses their popular aluminum wing (9.5" chord length, 71" wing span). It's quite a cost effective kit, coming in at <$1,000 for everything from chassis mounts to wing endplates. I liked the kit for the cost and since it uses 2-piece wing mounts that I can either mount a spoiler for CAM class autocross to, or the wing for track use. I believe the mounts are a GoodAero design which is a proven product.

Tools needed:
Drill and 3/8" or slightly larger drill bit
Angle grinder or air grinder with cutoff wheel
Measuring tape
Painters tape and sharpie
Centerpunch or sharp drill bit for marking hole centers
Assorted metric tools including torx bits to remove rear fascia
1/2" wrench and 3/16" hex key for wing mount and wing upright bolts.

The first step for installation is to remove the rear fascia. You can access all the bolts by removing the rear wheel well liners, the rear lights and license plate, and opening the trunk. You'll also have to remove the foam bumper from the steel bumper beam. My car had a bunch of dirt and junk on top of the foam bumper and between it and the beam, so I spent some time vacuuming it up and cleaning the general area.

The wing has mounts welded to it at 25.5" spacing, so you want to have the same 25.5" spacing between the chassis mounts the you bolt to the rear bumper beam. I measured the length of the rear bumper beam so I could get the center of it, and then placed painters tape on the beam under where the mounts will go and used a sharpie to mark where the edges of the mounts need to end up. I then held them in place and used a centerpunch to mark the hole centers for drilling the beam. The bolts are 3/8" diameter so I drilled them a bit oversize to allow me to tighten the mount down in the correct location.


Here you can see the chassis mounts bolted down in place.



You have to reach inside the bumper beam to get the nuts on the back side of the bolts and hold them while tightening. I recommend bolting the wing uprights and wing to these mounts as a check when you are at this step to make sure the spacing is correct, before calling it good.



You'll notice that the mounts have some slight interference with the fiberglass trunk flange that will keep you from tightening them down all the way, so you will have to notch the trunk flange to allow the mounts to sit flush. I recommend making this notch a decent amount wider than the mount itself to allow for some wiggle room and since there is no negative impact from doing so. A cutoff wheel on an angle grinder makes quick work of the fiberglass.



The next step is to notch your rear bumper foam to allow it to bolt back down over the new wing mounts.



Congrats, now you get to re-attach your rear fascia. Before we do that we need to make some room for the wing mounts to poke through though! Don't worry, the downforce is worth cutting up your bodywork.

I started by holding the rear fascia up to the mounts and putting some painters tape down so I can mark lines on the bodywork where I need to cut. You can then start the notches on the inner lip of the fascia, then re-check their positioning on the car by holding it in place against the wing mounts. You can also measure distance from nearby holes on the trunk flange and rear fascia to get more accurate dimensions for the cuts. I then finalized my lines on the painters tape and made the cuts. I recommend cutting the notches twice as wide as you need to account for things moving around as you tighten down the rear fascia. You can seal the gap back up with some trim rubber if you want. You have to cut all the way to the edge of the upper face:







Congrats! Now you can tighten down the rear fascia.

For me, the next step was to build a rear spoiler for autocross using the chassis mounts. I used sheet aluminum and aluminum angle, riveted together, and then bolted it to the wing mount holes. It worked really well and is only held on by four bolts so it's easy to remove. I can even bolt it on parallel to the trunk lid for low-drag transport, then stand it up at the autocross site.





Final results with the CAM spoiler bolted to the car. I really noticed a big difference with this spoiler at autocross speeds.



Installation of the wing itself is just bolting it up and selecting an angle of attack. My first event with the wing was a tracksprint at ViR Patriot course last weekend and I beat a bunch of cars on Hoosiers and some open-wheel things, just on my leftover Michelin PS4S tires. I highly recommend getting yourself some downforce!

RapidC84B

Looks like a nice setup for the $$$.

smitty2919

Any reason going aluminum for autocross and not lexan/polycarbonate? Makes for a better "door than a window" to see behind the car. (I know I know, you shouldn't be looking back at autocross) LOL

Matt_27

A 1' x 5' sheet of 0.063" aluminum was $40 from Online Metals, which was substantially cheaper than any clear plastic I found, and I don't have to worry about scratching it or UV damage. Side mirrors still work fine

smitty2919

^Touche!

Quickshift_C5

That's awesome, I like it. How does the balance feel without a front splitter?

I've seen a lot of people running autocross spoilers that are nearly straight up like that. You really notice a difference? What kind of speeds are you seeing at your autocross events? Our courses here are super short and relatively low speed. Would be pretty slick to attach that and do some of the events, but I wonder/doubt if it will actually do anything.

davidfarmer

I'm carrying the 9Lives wings also now. I'll add that the C6 version is exactly the same, except the C6 rear frame rail is much narrower and you cannot get nuts inside. You would install with Rivnuts, or at least that is what I have done. Very nice product, nothing close at this price point. Definitely other options if you want to spend 3x or 4x the money however

rbzo6

I did not like using rivnuts, I made this simple bracket, Welded Grade 8 bolts to .125 plate. Welded 1/4" nut to plate. Screwed a piece of all thread into the nut and locked with another nut. Used this to feed the bracket into the bumper tube.

Matt_27

I haven't run it at a high speed track without a splitter so I'm not sure how it would do. Balance felt fine at Patriot course with 50-70mph corners and 8 degrees AoA- I always run a square tire setup too so that helps. Hoping to finish my splitter soon anyways.

As long as there is air moving over the car your aero will be doing something. We have some fast courses where you can for sure feel it, but even if you are below 40 mph it's still helping and putting more load on the rear tires even if you can't feel it. It's not a switch that gets turned on at a certain speed.

c5racr1

The brackets are made of aluminum or steel?

AutoX-Z06

Matt_27

Powder coated Aluminum

Quickshift_C5

Thanks! It's a pretty slick setup and it would be great to move to using it for my first aero setup over next winter. Will keep an eye on it for sure.

FASTZ

Cool,Thanks for sharing

charger21

I wish everyone would do it the correct way the first time. I did this exact thing to my car using the GOODAero uprights. I can run their wing or my custom spoiler using the uprights. Frame mounted is always the best way to go, unless you like the look of 20 or so little rods holding your aero to the plastic bumpers.

Kubs

That seems like more work than necessary. The wing mounts will rest on the frame without any bolts/nuts. That is where all the load is applied. The rivnuts just keep the brackets from falling off the frame. I would have no issues holding it on with rivnuts.

LLINV

Im posting this in the face of everything I believe, but I want that huge wing on my c5z to remind me of my race cars. I have a large supercharger on an iron block and from my research it would be a mistake to put on a splitter on , as it would increase engine temps which I do not want to do. I would love to have this wing on as well. Is there any setting to essentially zero out the wing to a degree that it wont cause a dramatic imbalance without a front splitter?

Matt_27

Yes, you can run it at zero angle of attack so it only makes ~140lbs of downforce at 100mph. If used along with some Trackspec hood vents it should work well (would be a good idea anyways for you).

LLINV

I do have an extra hood I was going to experiment with. Are the C5s prone to lift in the front from under hood pressure. This car has been only a street car so I have zero experience in its high speed track characteristics

johnny c

poped in to steal some pictures for the new website. thanks for the install Matt. and congratulations on the One lap Of America Win.