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After many a track day my Z07 front splitter is all chewed up. I've got the new replacement splitter ready in the garage, but contrary to what the dealer told me it's mostly rivets with a few screws.
I've never used rivets. How hard of a job is it to drill out the 10 that hold the current one in, and put the new one on without risking cracking a $2,000 front splitter and/or making the hole too large in the bumper? I'm in a bit of a rush to get this done before a track weekend this weekend, or else I'd consider taking this into the dealer to get installed.
I had to replace mine because I hit a curb. I looked under the splitter and decided to let the dealer do it so if they messed it up they have to pay for a new one. It might not be that hard to do but to me it was worth letting them do it. I honestly can't remember what they charged me to do it. I don't think it was much though. Do you have the carbon flash or the exposed carbon fiber??
I had to replace mine because I hit a curb. I looked under the splitter and decided to let the dealer do it so if they messed it up they have to pay for a new one. It might not be that hard to do but to me it was worth letting them do it. I honestly can't remember what they charged me to do it. I don't think it was much though. Do you have the carbon flash or the exposed carbon fiber??
Thanks, exposed carbon. Couple youtube videos it looks like it's a pretty simple process. Guess I'll give it a whirl
Very easy. Just drill out the old rivets. I am assuming you have used/own a rivet gun. I put mine on in about 15 minutes as the dealer did not have it on when I picked up the car.
The stage 3 comes with 3/16" rivets. Did you use a 3/16" drill bit to remove the stage 1 rivets? Any tips?
Go 1 size smaller all you trying to do is remove the center of the rivet.since your splitter is already damaged a little tug here and there wont hurt its better than opening the hole to much
Mine was installed at the dealer but We own an HVAC co and do a lot of custom metal work
Use a 3/16" drill bit. Drill right down the hole in the center of the old rivet. The head should come loose first and you should be able to use a punch or even the drill bit to push the rest of the rivet thru the hole. That way you don't need to worry about drilling into something on the other side. The holes in your new splitter should line up with the holes in the car so no drilling required. I put all of the screws in first leaving them all loose until they are all started. I did the rivets last. Good luck.
Super easy...just use a drill bit the size of the center section of the rivet. Go at slow enough speed until it grabs the rivet and it will likely end up on the end of the drill bit. They are just aluminum, so it doesn't take a whole lot. If the the whole rivet starts to spin, just grab the edge with a needle-nose and hold it while you drill. You may have some loose rivets up in there, but you will likely be able to get them out or they will fall out themselves. Get an inexpensive rivet gun at harbor freight, for example, and once you get the new splitter up there, insert the rivet into the gun, put the rivet in the hole, and squeeze the handle until it pops. Make sure the straight, left over piece of rivet is removed from the gun in order to place the next rivet. That's all there is to it!
Last edited by sdtoothdoc; Jan 20, 2016 at 04:36 PM.
The stage 3 comes with 3/16" rivets. Did you use a 3/16" drill bit to remove the stage 1 rivets? Any tips?
I know your probably elbow deep regarding your splitter install. I know this guy/Company was looking for Stage three car to model a new splitter guard. Think very thin rub strip to protect the bottom leading edges virtually undetectable just a thought I believe he's near you. sales@protektskidplates.com
Drilling out the rivets is a PITA, was the part that took me most of the time when installing stage 3 aero.
If you are lucky they will snap right away when drilling... if not they start to spin and its annoying as hell.
I made the mistake of using rivets on the CF splitter and skirts, but if I will ever have to change them I will use rivet nuts or something similar to avoid the pain of removing rivets in the future.
Drilling out the rivets is a PITA, was the part that took me most of the time when installing stage 3 aero.
If you are lucky they will snap right away when drilling... if not they start to spin and its annoying as hell.
I made the mistake of using rivets on the CF splitter and skirts, but if I will ever have to change them I will use rivet nuts or something similar to avoid the pain of removing rivets in the future.
These work well - just make certain the diameter of the retainer is the size you need - several different options. Easily removable in the future, but very strong. Hope this helps.
You think push clips are good for the amount of downforce that splitter encounters? They might well be, I'm not be facetious, but I think it's worth remembering this is real aero part, not a Mitsubishi gee gaw, so it takes a genuine load.
Then again there are a dozen or so of them...
If you are lucky they will snap right away when drilling... if not they start to spin and its annoying as hell.
Is it possible you had the wrong size drillbit? I found them trivial to drill out. 2 seconds with the drill and they'd pretty much come out on the bit without a fight at all.
[QUOTE=DAVE396LT1;1591368181]You think push clips are good for the amount of downforce that splitter encounters? They might well be, I'm not be facetious, but I think it's worth remembering this is real aero part, not a Mitsubishi gee gaw, so it takes a genuine load.
Then again there are a dozen or so of them...
It's a really good point, and I have to say I don't know how they would really stand up to sustained track use. And my splitter is a stage 1, not the highest downforce of the options. I've taken mine on a couple of very high speed runs (160 plus) and put 5k miles on with probably 3/4 of that at 70 plus and they're still tight as they were when I installed them. But that still isn't equivalent to a lot of tracking. That said, they work just like a regular pop rivet by expanding, and they fit very tight with the right size.
Job done! Super simple. LOTS of screws, (50?) and 10 rivets in order to take everything out and put it back in. I'd never held a river gun before let alone used one, but it was really simple and all went well.
I can't imagine anyone not being able to so this its very straight forward and you can do it with no experience.
Help replacing carbon splitter
