Spoiler alert - 996 aerokit front lip spoiler project

Having recently explored the cost of replacement front lip spoilers for the 996 aerokit as per the below..... I saw myself coming backwards when I learned that a curved plastic moulding was now circa £500+ , which out of sheer principal, I couldn't justify for what is effectively an almost sacrificial part. I considered a nearly new one for sale which was still hundreds, but was too far away to collect, and not being particularly impressed with any of the aftermarket items, I thought it might be a fun project to see if I could build an exact replica myself. For a prototype, I chose polycarbonate as it it very tough, very flexible and easy to work with, so I bought a suitable sized sheet and laid it out over the (removed) front bumper so I could perfectly replicate the mounting holes. To ensure I found the perfect centre of the holes, I 3D printed little guide bosses that were a snug fit to enable accurate pilot holes to be drilled. That's what the little green bits are in the mounting holes. With the holes now in position, I could make the base plate. This took a very long time to scan all the multiple images on line of factory parts to work out the correct dimensions of width, depth, thickness and profile, which other than the thickness, none were uniform. Much to my delight, my measurements were very close, confirmed by very slight witness marks in the paint where the original had been, permitting a perfect dimensional copy. Next up was to create the vertical piece, which is a tricky piece to get right as whilst it appears to be at a right angle to the mounting surface, it isn't. When mounted, the mating surface slopes upwards as it goes forwards toward the front of the bumper, yet the front face is in the perfect vertical plane, making the angle between the two surfaces one of constantly varying acuteness as it curves round toward the ends. This took a lot of messing around with jigs to get right, but I got there in the end. Following this was then the usual hours or fit, refine, refit, refine etc, etc until I was happy it fitted correctly. I also wanted to make sure that the internal blend between the two surface planes was the correct radius and uniform along its length as per the original. Once I was happy with the final level of fit and prep, I applied primer and paint to leave me with a master prototype which in itself is perfectly serviceable, however my initial goal was to take a master silicone mould from this so I can then produce (cast) many more in the correct polyurethane material as the closest replica part I am capable of. Not sure when I'll do this as it's been an investment of many days work to get to this stage, but the option remains if I get the urge. All in all I'm satisfied with the outcome.

Fantastic work - looks great!

Bravo, it looks amazing. I used half a pack of ‘All fit lip’ and finished off the ends with a belt sander to blend them in!

Absolutely outstanding work!

Great attention to detail and a satisfying project. Looks brilliant.

Get some made, I will buy one

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Noted, thank you. I want to get the bumper refitted to thoroughly assess how it looks and fits when mounted to the car, as the flexible nature of the polyurethane bumper could induce torsional and dimensional shift on the mounting surface necessitating some further refinement. Once I'm happy all is good and correct when mounted in the operational position, I can then look at making a master mould. From then, I want to experiment with a few different blends of polyurethane to find the best combination of flexibility, strength, wear and impact resistance - mostly dictated by the Shore D hardness rating. I've done lots of research into this area and have three potential blends to try, but until I actually produce a finished item and have tested it, I wouldn't like to commit to anything just yet. By all means, if I can produce something that is at least as good or better than OEM, I'll set about making a few for anyone interested.

Great stuff! I am certainly interested in a buy when ready

...and me sir.... great work indeed....!!!!!

A good friend of mine is currently setting up a bespoke carbon fibre car accessories business from home aimed at the motorsport market.... these would be terrific in CF.

Thats awesome, well done! Just need you to do the same for the gen 2 lip now

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Yes, I can imagine they'd look great!

Nice job !!! That looks really good...

Great work

Wow! .......Just Wow!

Keeping a keen eye on this thread in anticipation of the pending " group buy " with extra terms for the 1st order.......!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, count me in for a group order. Looks like you've done a great job!

Thanks all for your kind and encouraging comments. I refitted the bumper to asses how things look in the operational position. It looks 'fine', but there's a few areas I think I can improve, so will make a second prototype in the next few days to address these. Nothing anyone would really notice, but I know I can do better so that's how it goes. The first prototype in service.... I do now feel like a fully paid up member of the club, as on my short drive out, I only ground it out three times. M30 + Aero lip = wince face. The eagle eyed amongst you may notice I removed the mesh grills from the radiator air duct intakes in the bumper as I prefer the stock look. Each to their own I guess.

Fantastic efforts you've gone to with this. It looks great. Any shots of your (entire) car?

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Thanks, as requested....

Cracking! Not many in that hue. Very special!

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Thanks, Zanzibar Red.

Fabulous work, not just the lip but the images and text also. I would 100% be a definite buyer if you do produce them. Top of the class that man, brilliant effort

Latest update. As I mentioned previously, whilst its perfectly 'fine' to the passing eye, I know there are some geometric asymmetries (caused by hand/eye prototyping) and also some straightness idiosyncrasies that are caused by the bumper mount surface plane having a conical profile to it, which when the spoiler is pulled taught against the bumper, assumes this conical shape and induces a slight curve in the plane of the lip bottom edge. To check, measure and illustrate this, I made a rough and ready jig that I carefully positioned so it just about touched without any pressure, the two end corners and the front lowest centre line.... The curved front edge of the jig makes it look like it isn't flat in a couple of shots, so I have included the image below by way of reassurance. I also checked with a long steel rule, but I couldn't hold that and photograph at the same time! And here we can see the main issue that I want to correct, the conical mounting surface forces this gap to appear, which when flat on the bench and off the car is not present. The asymmetry is evidenced by the other side being not quite as pronounced, probably a combination of human error and perhaps that the bumper is a flexible polypropylene moulding, not a CNC metal piece. But fear not, I'll get it right on the second prototype as I now have the exact measurements and template to design in the required conical compensation. I appreciate every bumper will be slightly different so I will ensure that the correction is an average of the two and symmetrical both sides to avoid this just being a 'my car only' fitment. Watch this space.....

Now we know what to look for, you can see it when you really bend down to have a look....

Given some of you appear to like the detail, forgive the indulgence but I thought I'd show a few more of the steps involved in making the second prototype. Before I removed the first one from the car, I thought it might prove useful to scribe an (offset) witness mark in the face to highlight how the twist looks when away from the car and in it's fully flat state. I was then able to start in a far better position than from scratch, as I now had a perfectly shaped template to work from, at least in plan format. I was getting pretty close to the wire before using the last of the polycarbonate sheet, so whilst still in a larger, uncut and therefore more stable size, I clamped it to the original spoiler to transfer the scribe line to the sheet. This may or may not prove useful later, but I wanted to capitalise on the opportunity whilst I had it. Which once laid flat again and highlighted with lining tape, illustrates the impact the cone form has as the spoiler curve tightens toward the ends. My green location pegs keep on giving, once again permitting accurate transfer of positioning pilot holes. Which then gave me the chance double sided tape it into position and drill the holes. Then open them up to the correct size for the plastic rivets which then hold the copy and the original perfectly in place to permit final refinement of the edges to ensure the correct size. I then had to crouch down and very carefully creep up on the original edge without going too far, leaving just enough for final hand finishing. I'm always mindful of the advice my father taught me, "Don't worry Son, if you file too much off, just file some back on again....". It was a lesson I learned well. With the rear now fully profiled, I had to mark and cut the front edge making sure I left the correct recess gap to compensate for the thickess of the vertical piece. I made a small jig to help mark the position to give me something to cut to. This is the first fit up but looks fairly close. I'll refine it next time out in the garage before moving on the the front face. And that's all we have time for today, I just hope this hasn't been boring for you....

Amazing work, and really enjoying the detail. Fantastic to see such attention to the tiny areas too. Given my experience of aftermarket parts over the years, it looks far better even in the current state.

Small update... I built a jig to ensure the front vertical face was kept perfectly vertical as it was adhered to the mounting plate. The mounting plate was fixed flat to the jig at the exact angle of the mounting surface of the bumper, verified with both my original 'gap check jig', digital angle finder and some old fashioned trigonometry to triple check correct alignment and that everything was flat, straight and true. The steel milling fixture was used to slide left and right around the circumference of the jig ensuring that as it pressed against the front face, it kept it perfectly vertical - the base plate mount set at the exact correct angle. The makeshift spacers each end could also be moved and were just to make sure the front face was kept parallel to the base plate as it was afixed to ensure no shenanigans occured as the glue dries, which it is doing now. More progress as it happens....

Hugely impressive level of detail and cross checks, loving your work sir!

Made a good step forward this evening, so if you want to save this update until your next bout of insomnia strikes, I won't be offended. With the front face now firmly (and messily) adhered, which I deliberately left excessively deep to permit trimming, I offered up to the car. Not a million miles away, but still has the curve toward the ends as the conical mounting surface pulls it slightly away from the dead flat reference plane. This was expected and reassuringly repeated. Despite taking a template of the 'in situ' outer bows, I felt this still permitted too much opportunity for human error, so decided to take a slightly more scientific and accurate approach. If in doubt, get the laser out. Which even in self leveling mode, gave me a very satisfying nod that everything was at least level and even side to side.... It was especially rewarding to see the laser perfectly intersecting the outer most ends, whilst the front and centre was bang on at the desired total depth (I'm looking at you Mr Pythagoras). Next it was really time to let my hair down and party, with an adrenaline pumping game of join the dots.... Permitting me to to then spend some precious quality time with the belt sander to slowly creep up on the lower edge of the dots. Which once sanded to within the final few thou', gave the all clear for a high jeopardy jig test. Ignore what looks like a gap, its an older black Sharpie line on the very edge. Needless to say I'm delighted with the result. Leaving me with a roughly finished Mk2 prototype that I'm much closer to considering something I'd put my name to. Next job is to complete the rather long and laborious task of final finessing to the perfect shape, edge profiles and contours, then apply a finish that will take a mould well and leave the desired smooth, yet matte finish on the polyurethane production version. More updates as and when. And no, I don't have a life, and to quote my wife "The bins go out more than me".

Today's update is one of paint and prep. Whilst this will not be put into service, it will be the master that the mold is taken from so has to be finished to the standard required of the finished item. Just standard body work procedure - sanding, fine filler, high build primers, sanding, imperfection fills, more primer, wet sanding then paint. I used a series of various pieces of tubing to wrap the abrasives around that were flexible enough to follow the internal curves, yet rigid enough in profile to leave a uniform internal radius between the vertical and mounting planes. High build... I always thought the fully squared off end of the Porsche item looked a little unfinished, so decided to put a radius on the inner corners to finish it off nicely and make it my own. Nice crisp front edge.... And in paint. I paid a lot more attention to the ends and where the vertical face blends into the mounting plane to ensure a smooth and cohesive join. There's a couple of imperfections that I'll need to finesse before casting the mold but it's 95% there now.

With the paint dry enough to offer up to the car, I took a deep breath and hoped that the last week's effort was worth it.... And with the 'gap jig'.... all looks good. I might* have even polished the underside of the bumper whilst it was off the car. *Absolutely definitely did.

I'm in complete awe of your skills and the outcome. I love that 996 owners are out there doing this kind of thing

Mighty impressive indeed...!!! When can I expect delivery?

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That's kind of you, thank you. I don't have any specific skill set, I just enjoy a challenge and see these endoeavours as more of a journey than a destination.

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Plenty of water needs to flow under the bridge before I'd dare ask anyone for money. Next steps are to plan and design the mold. I can either do a split mold which has the advantages of full 360 degree control of all surfaces, or an open pour mold which leaves one face to settle atmospherically. The disadvantage of a split mold is that it will leave a flashing line between the two mold halves which due to it having to be molded in a horizontal plane, would result in a flashing line on the front visible face - highly undesirable, no matter how small or subtle. To remove would require some sort of sanding and scraping, which effectively means the front face would need 'finishing'. This is not what I'm looking for. I want an item I can pull from the mold and fit. Closed, two part mold example... If I go for the open face mold, I'd cast it so the mounting flange face that contacts the bumper was the 'open face', casting it in the orientation it sits on the car, albeit with the mounting face perfectly level so the resin settles 'flat'. I can then just pull it from the mold when cured, ready for service. Open face mold example... Or at least that's the plan at this stage. The drawback with open faced molds are that I have to rely on the resin flowing out and settling flat and even like the surface of a pond, as that will ultimately be the surface that mounts to the car, which whilst not cosmetically critical, still needs to be dimensionally accurate. The tricky element is that the further you go toward achieving the ideal material characteristics of strength, wear resistance, hardness yet flexibility, ability to mix a pigment to make it black and UV stabilizers, the faster the pot life tends to be. The open face mold would be perfect if the pot life was say 30 mins plus, however the required physical properties above result in a resin that has a pot life of <5mins from when you start to mix it, so you need to mix, pour and walk away very very quickly and hope it all flows out and settles as required, leaving no time to float or refine the open surface as it cures as you might with concrete for example. This might take several attempts to get right, however I will of course share the journey if people are interested in that part?

I'm sure many of us are following unique threads that showcase a members ingenuity and skill. Options to water dip would be worth looking into too, on the finishing side of things. Good luck and keep up the excellent development..!!

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Lots of finishing options indeed, however my aim with this is to provide an alternative to £550+ worth of nonsensery, at a sensible, realistic price, but matching or improving on the OEM quality. A finish would still require a perfect surface which, with any kind of flashing, would result in 'bodywork' or other manual labour to prepare. Lets see how it pans out.

You should assure your wife that once this project is done that you are going to spoil her......... and then present her with the polyurethane production version...... I am sure she will see the funny side!

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I am in full support of this strategy, aiding my policy of "Happy wife, happy life" (and broke husband). Just by way of update, when I applied a gloss coat to the spoiler as a final prep check, it uncovered a fair few surface flaws that I know I can improve on, so I've effectively stripped it back again and I'm in the middle of re-finishing it, but with further attention to the tiniest details. It's long, slow and boring so no pics, but I know that at least this way I won't be full or regrets if the production version comes out the mold with visible flaws. I'm trying to prevent the "If only I'd...." scenario.

Today I finally got the master prototype in a condition I'm happy with, ready to begin taking a mold from it. There's not been may pics lately because, quite frankly it's excessively dull and has seen me in the last week take it back to bare plastic twice before building up the surface to the required standard. Not very exciting, but here is the final finished item. That's the limits of my capabilities and as good as I can do, so happy to move on to the next stage, stay tuned.

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I have to say I saw the prototype in person yesterday and was very impressed!

Fantastic work, very, very impressive.

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Thank you. A large box of materials arrived today to begin the mold making phase.... hopefully I'll make some progress at the weekend.

Really impressed by the attention to detail here which a credit to you. You will certainly have us queuing for these as soon as the product is launched…. Sign me up!!

I'm super impressed! hard work and dedication but very rewarding now you see those results. Nice one

Fantastic work - I know there are quite a number of Mk1 GT3 owners who would be very interested in one of these. Replacement front lips are a fairly regular discussion topic !

my hat is well and truly off to you sir - i dont even have a 996 but found the level of conviction and detail engrossing. Best of luck with the mould and pouring processes.

Following with much interest

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This weekend was thwarted by exhaust shenanigans, but hopefully I'll be able to get started on the mould this weekend.

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Excuses excuses

...any further updates....?

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Yes and no. Work has seen me hugely busy and I've also focussed on getting the new exhaust fitted, which now complete, permits me to focus on the spoiler project. All the materials have arrived and I've purchased some MDF to construct the mold box halves. I've decided to go with a 360 degree split mould rather than open face, as whilst harder to do, should give a better overall finished product, even if we're just talking about the mounting face. I want this to be as good as I can possibly create, without compromise. I have been busy in the background through in that whilst I 'should' be able to pour the silicone mould without degassing to remove bubbles, based on the data sheet and vendors guidance, there is still the risk of bubbles which would ruin the mold. Given the cost of high grade molding silicone, I can't afford to risk it so have made my own vacuum degassing chamber using an old refrigerator pump and some plumbing fittings. For this I have borrowed a glass vacuum jar from a Chemist friend so I can at least make sure the mold is perfect. I'll post some pics later when I get home. It's a bit home made, but will do the job. Thankfully the pot life on the silicone is long enough to take my time and mix in two or three batches to manage the quantities. I'm hoping to get started at the weekend fingers crossed, but rest assured I'm fully committed to giving this a shot.

Very home brew, but does the job without spending hundreds on a proprietary item.

Just a small update, if for no other reason than to prove I'm still on with this. I've been procrastinating over building the mold box for a couple of weeks now, as I've not been fully comfortable with how I was going to approach it, so always ended up finding another jobs to do. Today however, I broke through the fog and worked out how I'm going to do it. Effectively, I've built a wooden container that has internal dimension circa 15mm larger than the spoiler's greatest dimensions. As I decided I wanted to play on difficulty level 'very hard', I chose a split mold design, but given the odd shape and rather large overall dimensions, I opted to make it in one complete piece first, then rip it through my table saw to make two perfectly matching halves that will be much easier to index back together when the final pour is carried out. I needed the box to be sturdy and rigid enough to remain dimensionally true, straight and flat, yet be made from a material that could withstand the radius I needed to bend into it. In this case, 9mm thick MDF was chosen and boy oh boy did it take some bending. The problem is that whilst it will just about confirm to the radius required, holding it in that shape whilst the glue dries using screws, without the tension delaminating the surface and ripping the screws through the surface wall was a very touch and go process - akin the creaking submarine on the sea bed awaiting rescue. Thankfully with enough clamps and some straps to try and hold the tension, it held enough for the glue to dry, although I'll not temove the screws until it comes time to slice it into top and bottom halves. Where we are as of now.... (not pretty, but hey, its a mod box) Just resting on top to indicate proportions - the spoiler with eventually fit inside, sandwiched between the top and bottom sections.

Is it just me..... or does anyone else have that same feeling that one used to get as a child on Christmas Eve? The waiting, anticipation and general excitement is killing me ! Great progress, loving your work.

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That's very flattering and I'm sorry progress is so painfully slow. I'm spinning multiple plates at the moment so this is something I crack on with when I have some breathing room. By not rushing it gives me ample opportunity to thoroughly plan out the process and steps to hopefully avoid messing it up. Next stage it to work out the best place to slice the mold in half and then mount the spoiler in the required position for the first half pour. I still need to mentally scope out these steps and try to plan ahead so I don't make a bad call and snooker myself.

Quite a frustrating day today - took two steps forward and one step back, as whilst trying to be too clever for my own good, I damaged the surface of the master so I've had to re-finish it (again). I did manage to make some progress with the mold box, however. It's an odd shape to mold, with holes, which makes any type of mold design a compromise, as no single type other than injection molding lends itself well. This, despite my going to bed feeling confident I've cracked it on many occasions, only to wake up, head down to the garage, stare at it for a while whilst mentally executing my plan, only to realise my plans are flawed. I have now settled on the final method, so.... Here are the various components required, including cutting open a screw on lid both top and bottom to permit filling from both sides (as it's a two piece mold design), as well as a removable riser block to give me some relief and body for when I cast the opposite side. Don't worry, it makes sense in my head! Hopefully more progress tomorrow.

I was somewhat thwarted over the weekend, struggling with surface prep during the refinish efforts. I got there eventually but I made heavy weather of it waiting for putty, stopper and primers to properly dry between applications. Obviously I had to ruin it again, twice, due to my own impatience, but that's on me. Whilst watching filler dry, I reinforced the walls of the mold box so that if either the top or bottom lids are removed for any period, it is more likely to hold its shape, as any shift due to underlying tension in the curved walls could introduce shift in the mold between the top and botton halves, introducing 'rubbishness' and likely tears. I'll add a brace on the convex side also, for belt and br...... never mind. For nothing more than my own entertainment and bit of a giggle, I decided to give this spoiler my own custom part number and printed a label I could adhere and then cast into the mold. It's positioned on the rear vertical face of the spoiler in the middle, orientated correctly if you were looking at it with the car up on a lift.

Classy...... you've had to put so much work into this.... makes one realise why companies charge so much for these taking into account the hours you've spent on this......i'm defo going to buy one when you're ready to sell to folk. Keep it up.

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That's kind of you, although some of my time investment is due to my own mistakes and unnecessary pursuit of perfection, which is a very cruel mistress. I have to stop my self at times as I can obsess over silly details. For example, I experimented on a scrap piece of spoiler material different levels of countersink on the mounting holes. Knowing an end user will likely by fitting this on their driveway, they will be reaching under the bumper and inserting the rivets blind by feel only, so having a countersink that is large enough to ease this process but without compromising the rivet performance was a factor. I set up my drill press with an end stop to make sure the counter sink was exactly the same on every hole. This is just more for my own satisfaction, rather than any kind of need. I'm already looking at the part number label and wondering if I should try to blend the edges in to lessen the hard edge or not - I'll let you decide? Blend or leave as is?

Leave as is.... or start a poll..?

Question... are you going to provide a paper template for positioning the splitter for diy fitters...?

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Will leave as is, you have spoken.

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No template required, the holes in the spoiler should line up perfectly with those already in the bumper - this was one of the details I obsessed about in the beginning as none of the aftermarket ones have the correct holes in the correct position to allow direct fit. If I pre-insert the rivets to check alignment, they all slot perfectly into their respective holes in the bumper without having to move, bend or manipulate it in any way - most satisfying.

Looks brilliant, would you please consider recreating the 996.2 GT3 Aerokit version in the future?

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I think I'd need to see if I'm capable of reproducing my prototype well enough first before considering other versions, but if it works out well and if anyone ends up with one and they like it and feel it worthy, I wouldn't rule it out.

I made some good progress today, which was a welcome change. I mounted the spoiler to the lower (upper?) 'lid' using very thin double sided tape and then proceeded to seal off all the edges around the spoiler where the two mold half mating surfaces will be. This is to encourage a clean crisp mold half edge and prevent silicone creeping under the spoiler making it really difficult to cleanly mate with the other half when we get to that stage. The more prep done now, the easier life will be later one.... I hope. To seal the gaps and edges, keeping in mind this all needs to be easily removable when we mold the other half, I used a block of proprietary molding wax which is akin to Play-Dough, but with a very high wax content that spreads and tools really nicely. I sliced off small chunks and rolled them into long, thing strips using an off cut off MDF, to then place round the edges and smear into the gaps. Initially I just smeared it into the join with a finger tip, then cleared most of it out again using various tools to leave just the smallest fillet of wax to prevent silicone creeping under the edges. I then made a bit of a swerve decision regarding the mounting holes, decided to blank them off, as I came to the conclusion that trying to get them 'machine perfect' from both sides at the same time without any issues whatsoever would be nigh on impossible without them likely needing drilling through to tidy them up on the finished product. Which means it'll be easier for me to just blank them off now and drill them once pulled from the mold using my original template. For the sake of drilling eleven holes and countersinking them on the pillar drill, I think this is the best call. I started by just filling the holes with a blob of wax pressed into position. To leave me with a nice precise edge and also a neat, uniform dimple to indicate the hole position, I used a marble pressed firmly into the hole which simultaneously gave me a nice smooth finish, whilst also trimming the edges for me to wipe away the excess wax that squeezed out. After a final check over and finesses to get everything as good I could, it was time to screw the lid into position, leaving the spoiler in the correct position for casting the mold. Last night I added a brace on the other side of the mold box, just as a precaution which you can see in the upper part of the picture above. Hopefully this gives a clearer idea of how the upper (lower?) part of the mold will be cast. You can also see where I used the wax to seal the mounting plinth to the walls of the mold box. This will keep all the silicone in the intended 'half'. It was then time to spray everything in silicone release agent to try and make life easier later on when it's time to remove the spoiler. No images of that as it doesn't look any different other than having a slight sheen. As a final last step I cut and added some 'spacer blocks' to the inner curve of the mold box. The only reason for doing this is to take up wasted volume that would otherwise need to be filled with silicone. With the cost of top quality silicone molding rubber being what it is (makes printer ink look cheap), this was an easy win. There is still plenty of wall thickness all around the spoiler to allow the silicone to make a great and stable mold, especially as it will remain permanently in it's mold box. Next steps are to cut a pour hole and a vent hole at the other end of the lid, screw into place and go for it - tomorrow hopefully.

Outrageously good work!

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Thanks, but there's still plenty of opportunity for it to turn into a big pile of "Maverick, that was some of the best flying I've ever seen, right up to the part where you got killed". We have however, made more progress today....

So, the big day..... (gulp). The two part silicone needs an element of moisture to assist the cure, hence the term 'condensation cure'. With this in mind, I needed to find a way of letting plenty of air get to the silicone, whilst retaining some strength and rigidity to the lid. Half an hour later with the hole saw, I was top of the trypophobia club's most wanted list. At this point I could procrastinate no more, took a deep breath and began to mix the silicone. I didn't get chance to take any pics of the mix or pour as I was working alone and had to crack on, but did get a picture of the degassing process in the vacuum chamber. The blue tape is just a quick make-shift spout to reduce the spillage during pours and to give a more precise aim. After a ticker-tape parade of kitchen roll to wipe up all the various drips and spills, I was left with this... And now we wait - tick follows tock follows tick follows tock.... (24 hours worth). But wait, there's more.... I killed two birds with one stone by planning to have just a little silicone left over from the main pour. I wanted to pour some silicone into an aerosol lid so I could not only assess how the cure is going without messing with the job in hand, but also do some stress testing to see how it performs under various conditions - compression, tension, torsion etc as a guide for any future projects. But rather than 'waste' the silicone, I decided to see if I could take a mold of a smaller component and settled on one of the fastening clips. These are lower profile than the ones used elsewhere on the car and are ideal for the spoiler as they are not visible from the side on the very outer end holes, which do not have much 'lip' to hide them, so before ordering a bag of them, thought why not see if I could replicate, just for the hell of it, not for any kind of common sense, economic consideration. Here you can see it is much slimmer than the push-pin rivet type. I mounted it to a large cup washer and sealed to the bottom of the aerosol lid, then sprayed with silicone release agent and poured in the last dregs and scrapings from the mixing cup. That's all for today folks.

Whoa! How can a thread about making a spoiler lip be so gripping to read?!

Excellent work and a pleasure to read. Have you a background in engineering and plastic moulding? I am also putting my name forward for inclusion on the potential list.

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Thank you. No experience with plastic moulding, but whilst not an engineer by employment, I am from that background and general area of interest. I've been working on (home tinkerer) and restoring cars for nearly 35 years and have just gained experience over the years, mostly from making mistakes! I am a somewhat methodical and logical person and like paying attention to detail, so stuff like this is my 'happy place'.

After 24 hours worth of ticking and tocking, it was time to see if that last few months have been fruitful, or one of those life events where one reflects that experience is something you gain right after you need it. I was able to remove the aerosol can lid experiment first as an appetizer and to check whether it had fully cured. Yep! My little 'skateboard space-saver' released it's inner prize without too much fuss, and whilst peering into it's tiny abyss, I could see what looked like decent detail capture of the fur-tree serrations. On to the main course, the tension building.... I was scratching my head a little at first as there was absolutely zero give in the lid whatsoever, but with some persuasion, it eventually made a noise like a knife going through a 'not quite defrosted Wall's Vienetta' (ask your parents, kids), upon which the double sided tape that held the plinth to the inside of the lid released. My first observation was that there had been some silicone creep past the wax that sealed (or not, as the results show) the plinth to the mold walls. Only a couple of places, but interesting nonetheless as I was pretty thorough in that department. I can only put it down to the very close proximity of the lid join to the plinth edge that perhaps permitted the wax to shift and void? Or maybe I'd gone a little too thin in some areas causing the silicone to push it's way past? My next obstacle was the plinth. At this point one of two elements would release first, either the entire prototype would come away from the silicone mold whilst still attached to the plinth, or the double sided tape used to attach the prototype to the plinth would separate leaving the prototype still on the mold. They both put up one heck of a fight, determined to remain undefeated. After a quick conference call with Archimedes, I reached for a scraper to act as a lever which didn't go as planned, as the end wall off the mold box revealed itself as the weakest link. I'm chalking that one down to a combination of dipshittery and hamfistededness. In my least competent moments, I'm pretty sure I could cross-thread a spline. Not a disaster though and I later glued this back in place. Some more brute force, er, I mean gentle calculated persuasion.... At this point the force was so great, I was convinced something was going to break, yet despite sweating like Ted Stryker on final approach, I had little option but to continue. Eventually, the double sided tape released, leaving me to examine what had become of my efforts. It was at this stage I mused at how much of a close match in colour the grey primer of the prototype is compared to the grey of the silicone. A contrast of colour would make it easier to visually digest, but it is what it is. You've got to admire 3M, their double sided tape is nothing short of astonishing. Some of the yellow wax came away with the plinth, hence the gaps. There was some more silicone creepage past the wax. I really wasn't expecting this, but as we'll see shortly, it isn't the end of the world. Between these two squares of tape, you'll see the only area of surface finish damage to the prototype finish. I've no idea how that happened, but something between the plinth and the prototype caused a reaction to the primer. No biggie, it just cements what direction I take next. It was interesting to see one of the mounting hole wax plugs pulled through on the plinth during removal. I then spent a good while carefully cleaning off all the yellow wax and where possible, removing the worst of the flashing creep, which rather satisfyingly tore cleanly off the the edges in most places. Things were starting to look more encouraging at this stage. It was at this point, knowing that if I were to use a two part mould, I'd need to refinish the mating face of the spoiler to rectify the flaw above. I was also aware that to try and get a perfect finish from a 360 mold, I'd also need to clean up the small remaining areas of flashing. To do either of these, I had no choice but to remove the prototype from the mould, on the basis that once the finish flaw is corrected and with the remaining flashing removed, I could re-insert it and continue as planned, if I continue with a 2 piece mold process. So, all I had to do was pull the prototype from the mould. Should be easy enough. All I can say is that I'm pretty sure I equalled my 1 rep max equivalent deadlift trying to get it out. Despite all the silicone release agent, there was enough surface area on the vertical lip face, aided by it gripping in sheer, backed up by what must have been a perfect air tight seal, that getting it out was an exercise of nerve and patience. At least I now know just how far polycarbonate with bend without breaking. Nevertheless, here we are.... Despite the few issues with flashing and the small finish flaw on the prototype, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome so far and I think I've got something to work with to go to the next stage. Thanks to the design of the mold box I still have both options available of how to pour the final piece. I can still try an open face pour like an ice cube tray as you see it now, or I can further try to refine the flashing edges and mould the upper face, which to be fair, is just a flat surface with holes in that I've already decided will be blanks and drilled post casting. Either way, it's clear now that there will be some element of clean up of the finished item but that's not an issues as it'll just be on the very edges as planned. I've nothing to lose by attempting an open face pour first as if it doesn't work, I can always continue with the upper mold section to give more precise dimensional control to the mating flange. The key to success of an open face pour will be if the flat flange area is perfectly level and flat. If this is the case, the resin should pour and settle leaving a consistent flange thickness from side to side. The slightest deviation from flat or level will see it thicker one end than the other, rendering it beneath the quality I'm aiming for. I have tried to design into the mould box and mounting plinth as much flatness and straightness as I possibly could, but the proof will be in the pudding (puring?). What I can try as an experiment is to fill the mould with water and observe how the meniscus collapses when sufficient depth of flange is achieved. A drop of soap in the water will collapse the surface tension in the water to assist this technique. if this is pretty even side to side, I'll know if it's level enough. I can also measure the water depth side to side as a second check of thickness. If it's out by more than 0.25mm in thickness, I'll go for the upper mold element. For now I'll call that a win, as I was all prepared to bin the lot and start again with my newfound 'experience', but so far, so good....

So what happens next? When do you offer the prototype up to the car? Exciting stuff!!

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Cheers buddy. I tried the 'fill with water' experiment this evening to assess if everything would be flat enough to open cast, but whilst very flat, I know that it's a compromise and would leave me with an outcome I know could be better, so I'm committing to a two part mould as originally scoped. Next step is to refinish the mating face of the spoiler flange where the surface finish was compromised, re-insert it into the lower mold, attach some fill and vent tubes, then cast the upper half of the mold. Once this is complete, and if successful, I should in theory be able to cast my first item! One advantage of filling it with water was that it gave me a very close idea as to how much castuing resin I'll need for each one, to avoid mixing too much or too little. I'll let you all add your guess as to how many millilitres it took.

424ml

Amazing progress!

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I stopped adding water at just over 250ml for fear of overflow - less than I thought, too.

Here's one for the team.... I've been asked whether this will fit a standard bumper and whilst at first my gut reaction was that it probably wouldn't due to the different shape bumpers, having compared the underside of mine and that of a standard bumper from pics I can fint on the web, the actual mounting area looks to be a similar curvature and flat mounting plane. I'll try some photoshop comparisons tonight. Any thoughts?

As we've been discussing.... aero bumper not only looks wider and deeper but i'd suggest that the standard bumper has more of a point to it...? The aero bumper certainly looks more curved to me. Si.

Just a quick one from tonight. As I wanted to blank off the holes from the mating surface side, yet still retain an accurately located centre point for future drilling, I 3D printed these little press fit (interference fit?) plugs, secured them with a dot of thin CA glue, then body worked them in to place so they were invisible. So that's a domed recess on one side of the holes and a pin point recess on the other.

Today's progress was about preparing for the upper mould pour. I forgot to share an image of what the other side of the hole plugs look like.... I designed the plugs to be a little less thick than the flange to make sure the marble still sat comfortably in the hole, as this is the profile of the dimple now cast into the master mould and I didn't want the prototype to sit proud on these dimples by not leaving enough gap. Next up was to prepare the lid, which is where I realised I didn't need the perimeter wall anymore as I'd not be able to pour the silicone any deeper than the top of the mold box whilst keeping the ability to remove the lid. I need the silicone to come all the way to the top of the box and contact the lid to solve another potential problem that I only identified by staring at it for a while. If we imagine the setting up the final mould ready to pour the first production spoiler, I'd have effectively the two silicone halves sitting on top of each other, with a void between them in the shape of the spoiler. However, unless the top half of the mold was a good few inches thick, it runs the risk of sagging into the void that is intended to be filled with resin, resulting in a ruined piece. This is because the silicone would not be bonded to the mould lid. The silicone rubber sticks to nothing other than itself. It's not like silicone sealant for kitchens and bathrooms that adheres to hard, smooth surfaces. By its very design, it is unbondable. Thhs means that it would just fall away from the roof of the mold box and flex/collapse into the void. More of how I solved this shortly, but for now, I needed to remove the walls from the lid, which I'd bonded in place with aliphatic adhesive. Aliphatic glue, once cured on wood is generally stronger than the wood itself, especially MDF, so there was no other way than to cut it off. But how to do this accurately? I set up a fence on my table saw and measured very carefully to try and take the exact amount off without cutting too deep or leaving me with lots of sanding which would ruin the flatness of the surface. I set the inside edge of the blade tooth dead on 9mm and hoped for the best. Only the faintest marks from the saw blade - I'll take that. What I couldn't take was the part when through my own sub-par performance, I lost finer control of the lid whilst feeding it through the saw and proceeded to cut a big slice out of the lid. Scrap one lid. Some days you get to be the windscreen, other days you get to be the fly. So, I assembled some offcuts and cut a new lid. As this was in two pieces due to not having a long enough single off cut, I used the original inner mounting plinth as a reinforcing piece and also to provide additional rigidity. Determined to execute my 'affix silicone to lid' plan, the thin slices of perimeter wall cut from the original lid came in very handy indeed. I took these and sanded a rough bevel along each side ,whilst also cutting some rough notches in them.... These were then glued to the underside of the lid with a series of holes drilled between them along the length of the lid to aid curing of the silicone. You'll notice how the bevels face toward the lid. In addition to the bevelled off cuts, I also inserted a row of screws leaving their heads protruding a little. The purpose of all this is to provide a matrix of physical anchor points for the silicone to grip to once cured to prevent it sagging into to void when it comes time to pour the resin. I know it looks very messy and random, but this is literally about to be burried forever in silicone and is there purely to provide an anchor. This shows the lid in position with the reinforcing plinth sitting on top, complete with holes for the curing process. Now was time to thoroughly clean the mould, cover it with silicone spray, and insert the prototype for what I hope will be the last time. It's now a different colour as I used a different primer this time after blending in the hole plugs. But why the larger cut-outs at each end of the lid? These are to give me flexibility of where to attach the fill and vent ports that will need casting into the upper mould. These are needed simply to permit adding the tesin into the void when the mold is all assembled, and also to let air escape out the other end as it fills. These will also serve as reassurance that the void is sufficiently full. Ignore the marks in the lid, these were caused by the grinder as I removed some protruding screws from the anchor points. After these pics were taken, I gave it a finer sanding and then a thorough coating of PVA to both seal the surface against moisture creating warpage in the future whilst also minimising any loose fibers causing flaws in the silicone. Whilst these look like tubes (because the are), they are literally there to cast the silicone around so I have a tunnel each end to access the void. Once poured and cured, the final piece will naturally have a spout of resin protruding from the opposite corners that I will need to trim off, along with any other casting marks or flashing that will likely occur. These are positioned on the side that mates to the surface of the bumper, so even if not invisibly perfect once removed, will not be visible. It is trying to plan ahead like this that is taking so much time, but hopefully removes as many areas for failure as possible. The vent guide pieces are now glued in place. If you imagine the cavity full to the brim with silicone, with just a hole down to where the spoiler will be cast once the prototype and tubes are removed, this is what I'm aiming for tomorrow. We're getting there, thanks for coming along for the ride.

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I think you’ve spent almost as much time on these detailed posts as the incredible work on the development of the spoiler! Thanks for sharing

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Thanks Jez, I find the engineering and process challenge enjoyable, so if there are others that also are interested in the process and approach, I'm more than happy to share. I appreciate that to most people, this is painfully boring, endless faffing about with no real progress for what is a simple curved piece of body work and 'who cares?'. I completely get that and from a time and money perspective this makes no sense whatsoever, but I'm enjoying having something to focus on whilst life throws various curve balls. As I've been fortunate enough to meet you in real life and you know a little more about me, it probably makes a little more sense to you than others.

All set up ready for the upper mould pour. I noticed a little flex in the ends of the prototype through the holes, so just to make sure they didn't rise out of the lower mould at all and to keep them firmly in place, I wrapped a little tape round as a safety measure, pressing the ends downwards using my vent and pour tubes as a 'press'. I mixed up just slightly more silicone than I needed, more by luck than good judgement, which is better than the other way round. Sadly I didn't have enough left over for a little side project. More of that later. Into the vacuum jar to de-gas... Which eventually left me full to the brim... Another 24 hours of ticking followed by tocking awaits. As I didn't want to waste any left over silicone (had there been more than a tablespoon full), I set about quick side project that will have to stay in waiting until I mix the actual resin, but for now, here is where my mind was heading.... I rolled out a burger sized slab of the moulding wax, making sure to properly clean the rolling pin afterwards with IPA, before sneaking it back in the kitchen. I placed this on a sturdy flat plate of steel, in this case the guard from my belt sander, then covered it in cling film. The next image should explain everything.... I'll see if I can mould some custom and perfect fit jack pads, but that's for another day.

Bit of a milestone day today. With the tape removed from the ends, it was time to see how the upper mould had turned out. And boy did it take some effort to seperate! Even with all these wedges and spaces in, it really put up a fight. At one point I thought it was going to rip the mould from the lid, which would've been a disaster. But, eventually it gave way and separated, pulling the prototype out still attached to the lid. The spoiler then released from the upper mould with very little effort, leaving a decent looking upper, albeit needing some serious trimming to remove all the flash and creep. This is after I'd removed all the flashing. It looks a bit messy but even with a brand new razor blade, it's like trying to cut a thin jelly but matters not a jot and makes it easier to put the lid back on, thanks to the chamfers. Here you can see the pour and vent holes. With everything cleaned and re-coated in silicone spray, it was time to cast the first spoiler!! The resin only has 5 minute pot life so I had to work quickly and get on with the pour. I propped one end up a fair bit on a 5 litre container to enlist the help of gravity. The plan was to lay it flat the moment I saw it appear from the vent tube which was the lowest point. I don't have any pics of that as I was up against the clock. The viscosity of the resin is a bit thinner than washing up liquid or liquid soap, so pretty runny compared to the silicone and I was expecting it to flow into the mould without issue. However..... The resin appeared to flow down the funnel fairly well initially, but then it just seemed to slow right down. At this point panic set in as time was running out. I lifted the funnel out and it flowed out the funnel, but as soon as I put the funnel back in, flow pretty much stopped. I resorted to trying to suck through the vent hole to see if I could draw it through but had to stop when I heard the vacuum I was creating begin to pull the silicone away from the lid, identifiable by a unique 'unsticking' sound. In the words of Eminem "The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow" "Houston......." Hmmm, resin at one end, but not the other. At this point I walked away feeling 'somewhat deflated'. In the same way Felipe Massa's Father felt 'somewhat deflated' as Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock at the last turn of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. That kid of 'deflated'. Knowing the resin can be demoulded in about one hour and with most of the crowd having now left the grandstands, I shuffled back into the garage and removed the lid, trying to guess what had gone wrong. It was this next picture that gave me a clue as to what might have gone wrong. The tunnel was not only proud from the spoiler as expected, but looking at it more closely, it had a recess in it. In a flash of realisation, I inserted the funnel to the the depth it had been sitting in the lid and the smoking gun fired its last round. The funnel had bottomed out against the mould and had effectively sealed itself shut, preventing anything more than the smallest amount through. Schoolboy error, as I'd already cut a chunk off the bottom of the funner to make sure this didn't happen, but just didn't cut quite enough off. Oh well, it was naive to expect it to go perfectly at the first try, so what else I can learn from this first attempt? A few things actually. I'm assuming that these are tiny air bubbles given they are in the uppermost surface. Other than mix more carefully, there's not a lot I can do about it as the short pot life doesn't give sufficient time to de-gas. I'll try the next one with more gentle mixing to induce less air. Despite all this, I was encouraged by my first '30% of a spoiler' and caught a glimpse of what the end product may look like. I was also pretty chuffed by just how well the two part mould had come out, with practically zero flashing or creep and fine dimensional consistency. This in itself is a small win and enough to spur me on to keep trying. On to the next mini-disaster and one that you just have to laugh about. To coin a phrase, "Like shooting' pool with a length of rope!" Well, there's certainly no worry about it grounding out, based on this particular resin! On reflection, I think I might have got the calculations wrong for the black pigment, basing my calcs off only half the mix before adding the catalyst, which would double the concentrate. Maybe that has weakened the mix and made it more flexible than I was expecting based on the Shore hardness rating. As an experiment, I've just mixed a very small batch and added it to the bottom a business card box at a slight angle so it sets as a wedge ranging from about 2mm thick to 10mm thick so I can assess the flexibility at various thickness before deciding of I need to try a different resin. A long day of mixed emotions and lessons learned. Down, but not out.

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Amazing update - I’m very optimistic for the next go!!

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I'm getting ready to pour right now. I measured the internal diameter of the funnel bottom and it is only 45% the area of the actual hole due to the wall thickness and mathematics of circle areas. I've taken a blade and cut out a mini funnel in the actual silicone top face where the funnel inserted to give me a wider aim to pour the resin directly in. Another bit of good news is that it has stiffened up a fair bit over night as it continues to cure. Ther Data sheet states 1 hour demould time, but 7 day full cure, so perhaps it will continue to firm up? It is now of a firmness that actually could be a happy accident, as with these things grounding out, having some flexibility to bend out the way could be a fantastic feature? Is say at the moment is somewhere similar to say a car tyre rubber of the same thickness. I can bend it double and it return to shape immediately. More to follow....

Ok, a couple more steps closer today after the second pour. But first, here is the first one that was cast last night, looking far less floppy. A summary of upgrades to the second pour are: Mould box set at 45 degrees to encourage gravity to assist flow through.​ ​ No silicone spray on the mould halves​ ​ Correct mixing ratio of black pigment, now down at 4%​ ​ Part A was mixed with the pigment then de-gassed, at least this gives me a fighting chance once mixed, if I'm careful​ ​ Part B degassed​ Both parts mixed carefully to try and minimise air entrapment​ The pour went pretty much the same way as the first one, there was only so much resin I could pour down the tunnel before it backed up and overflowed. It was at least entering the mould more consistently thanks to the absence of the funnel blocking the flow. This issue was that at the rate I am able to pour is slower than required to beat the pot life, and unless I can pour it at least 3 times faster, the same thing will continue to happen. After 90 minutes, I lifted the lid. In the words of Jim Bowen from Bullseye - "This is what I could've won"... About 20% more spoiler than last time. Not good. However, attempt number two did show significant improvements in surface finish and lack of bubbles, thanks to the pre-mix de-gas and elimination of the silicone spray. The spoiler came out the mould just as easily with or without the spray, so I'll not bother with ti again. The data sheet for the silicone does state a release agenbt is not necessary but instinct got the better of me. As my Dad always says, "if in doubt, read the instructions!". I cut the spoiled the spoilt spoiler a little more by cutting it into sections to better evaluate the various details. This was the worst of the flashing, which is practically zero in moulding terms. The flashing pretty much just wiped off with a cloth, leaving me with a finish I'm really pleased with. The other side where flashing had potential to present was the hard front corner where the vertical element joins the mounting flange. I designed the mould so the two halves join at this very corner to minimise any evidence of flashing rectification and I'm chuffed with how this worked out. Also note the vastly improved mating face surface, free of any micro bubbles. When I removed the lid it was effectively trapped due to the funnel contour I'd carved into the entry point. Knowing the spoiler was a dud, I just pulled it off the spoiler, which when still curing is easier to tear. This is the profile of the entry tunnel. This picture gives the game away regarding the flow rate challenge. The flow rate is ultimately governed by the cross sectional area of the spoiler, which with a flange thickness of 3mm means that even if I had a hole the same diameter as the width of the entire flange, the cross-sectional areas for the resin to flow through at the entry point is still slightly less than the cross sectional area of the tunnel. This means there is no point making the hole any bigger, it just won't flow any faster due to the viscosity of the resin. The 3mm cross sectional thickness further compounds the problem as due to the viscosity, laminar flow has a greater impact than it would in a cylindrical tube. The bottom line is that I need a resin with a lower viscosity and preferably a longer pot life. If I can halve one and double the other, I'll be about right. Disappointing, yes. Progress in quality and understanding, yes. I'll need to research resins for a while so this will be the last pour for a few days depending on what I can find and the postage times etc, but we march onward.

" sweating like Ted Stryker on final approach, I had little option but to continue." ...... Very funny, are there no end to your talents?

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I think any talents I may or may not have have rapidly run dry. Over the last couple of weeks I've been searching for the lowest viscosity resin I can find and discovered one with a pot life of circa 15 minutes. I ordered a kilo of it and have been preparing the mould over the last couple of evenings for another pour, tonight. Frustratingly, I still cannot pour the resin quickly enough, despite it being muth thinner than the last resin I used. It definitely flowed more quickly and easily, but still had to be poured no faster than the equivalent flow rate of say, engine oil through a straw. Needless to say, it set in the pot and became too thick to pour before I had enough in to appear at the vent hole. I made a little more than I needed and only had about 80ml left in the mixing cup when disaster struck so I can't have been far away from a complete pour, but I won't know until I lift the lid tomorrow. My guess is I have about 75% of the spoiler in there. We'll see. It will at least allow me to assess this new material and how it moulds to see if it is suitable going forward. If so, my wild card is not to degass it prior to the pour, as this absorbed at least 3 mins of useful pot life that could make the difference on another pour if I'm close enough. Although this introduces great risk of air bubbles which we don't want. Feels like I could almost touch the rear corner of the bus before it pulled away without me.

Well that was a disaster. The material is not fit for purpose and too brittle. It has a good amount of bend to it, but then snaps which is no good at all. Aside from that, it carried all kinds of air blisters and voids and just doesn't look or feel quality at all. Got closer this time.... Irrespective of the above catastrophe, I'm not happy with the part number label - it just looks far too imprecise and amateurish so will need to be done a different way on the master. Which will require a new mould to be constructed and cast as either way, I've not noticed that a divet has appeared in the silicone mould (highlighted below with a light shone from the side) that was definitely not there before and that I cannot fathom in any way how it has occured, but effectively renders the mould scrap. Back to the drawing board I guess.

Why am I so fascinated by this thread Keep up the good work. My only input would be as you now have the volume required, and a two piece mould, can you not pour evenly along the moulding, then clamp the pieces together?

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Thanks, appreciate the kind words. I tried this off camera before switching resin and trapped a heap of air bubbles, plus the squish of the excess prevented the two mould halves clamping together correctly, forcing them out of shape at the edges. It was such a mess I didn't even bother reporting on it, but as an idea, my mind went down the same road. The issue however is that the mould now has a divet in it for some reason I can't work out, so is now no use. I'll need to make another one and use all the experience I've gained so far and lessons learned to make the second mould much better, more user friendly and easy to work with. I'll try to use the mounting hole areas for multiple fill points, thast way once drilled out, I won't need to worry about cleaning the surface up once I cut the fill and vent port witness marks. I want to use the first resin as it really is a fabulous material and would deflect out the way if grounded out. I can bend it double on itself without any cracking or stressing and it returns to the original shape perfectly like a car rubber floor mat, only more rigid like a mud flap.

Multiple pour points? Maybe 3, one each end and one in the middle?

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Yes, something like that but with easier to use funnel points, square shape outer mold box for stability and handling, maybe even a pressure injection system to force it in (I tried vacuum but it collapsed the walls of the mould!). I've just tried to 'drill' holes in the preferred rubberised material and it drills with the precision of gunshot wound (exit side, for the avoidance of doubt), so I'd definitely need to mould in the holes, or find a circle punch to neatly cut them out? Maybe I could cast the mould with an 'almost through' hole that leaves only a very thin rubber skin to pierce through? Dunno.... I'll get there - as I've said, this is a journey, the destination is a bonus.

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And when you do reach the destination, the reward is directly proportional to the difficulty of the journey!

Just read this from start to finish. . . . . unbelievable work !! Looking forward to seeing the finished product hopefully have one off you when your ready

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Very kind of you, thanks. Whilst doing all sorts of tidying and tinkering in the garage today, I removed the part number plate and filled the holes on one side as I prepare to refinish it. Again. The prototype has seen more paint that the yellow submarine!

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ill be keeping an eye out, Do you have any idea when you'd hope to have it finalised and what price will be yet?

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Time wise, I really don't know. Whilst I've got a prorotype still, I need to start again with a new mould. This is something I tinker with at the weekends for fun and interest, and with no idea of whether I'll be successful or not, it's difficult to say. If all goes well on the second mould, couple of months? Price wise, this isn't a commercial venture so It's probably one I'd open to the floor and let people tell me what they think is fair. Not trying to be evasive, it's just that until I have something I can put in a box, it's difficult to quantify and objectively put a fair market value to. I appreciate your interest though, thank you.

Just a small update to keep those even mildly interested up to speed. Whilst I was 'mildly disappointed' that I've had to start again with a new mold and re-think the process for adding resin, I use every set back or failure as an opportunity to improve the outcome. After experimenting with the failed first attempts, I have come to the following conclusions. 1) The first 'rubber' type resin is absolutely the way I want to go - having this level of flexibility and deformability is a real bonus for something that will likely ground out frequently. Much better that it deflects out the way rather than crack or wear down too quickly. Which leads to the next point... 2) It cannot be drilled for the mounting holes. It's like drilling silicone. Not happening, which means I either cast in the holes when moulding, or find another way to add them post mold. 3) Given I'll need multiple entry points for the resin, all of which will leave evidence when the spouts are removed (despite these being hidden on the mating surface when mounted) it makes sense to use the mounting hole areas as the multiple entry points, that way I can add the holes and eliminate the spouts at the same time. 4) I'll use a proprietary hole punch for leather and rubber to stamp the holes in - quick, precise and easier, using the Mk1 spoiler as a template jig for the hole positions. After handling and spending some time with the first rubber trial runs, I realised what it was that was niggling me. The surface finish whilst very nice, when cast in resin/rubber leaves a unique semi-matte finish that unless perfectly uniform, leaves a finish that to my eyes, isn't quite where I want it to be. If I'm going for the OEM+ look, it needs to be better than the original plastic injection moulding. So given I needed to refill the mounting holes completely and re-finish it (again), I've been experimenting with various textured finished to try and give a really nice, uniform, refined and 'quality finished product' look and feel. Tonight I settled on one I'm happy with and trust you all approve? I hope it looks as good when cast in the rubber/resin. I'll hopefully start to assemble the new and improved mold this weekend.

That looks brilliant. Would paint up really nicely too

You're getting there, slowly but surely..... reckon you'll get plenty of orders for these.....!!!!

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Thanks, but the rubber finished product won't be paintable, it'll be as it comes. Of course I can dye/tint the resin to any colour as the resin is a transparent, slightly amber colour out of the box - I have to add a black pigment and UV stabilizer to it during the mixing process.

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We'll see how it goes. If it all goes south, I'll at least have a nice collection of extra large 'smilies' to make into wall art.

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That’s awesome ! Defo the way to go and gives and option for someone to paint if they wanted but I like that finish ! I’ll be after one when they are ready

I've been busy on the spoiler all day, but ultimately not made much progress. As I'm effectively starting the mould from scratch, I'm trying to apply lessons learned from the previous mould. First of these was to use a full rectangular baseboard, here with the spoiler laid out for spacing and alignment purposes. I wanted to give the mould thicker silicone walls, especially around the front centre of the vertical element, as I felt the original silicone front wall was not rigid enough here and carried the risk of pulling away from the mould sides, leaving an inconsistent section thickness. I increased the wall thickness by 50% for most of the mould and doubled it in that specific area. The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed a nice new white worktop on my roll cabinet. This is a large sheet of high density polyethylene (HDPE), the exact same material that UK car number plates are made from. This left me a decent offcut which I used to create flexible walls that are far easier to bend than the MDF. I then stared and pondered, pondered and stared, for a frustrating length of time trying to work out the best approach to build the mould without having it permanently fixed to the base board, as the new mould will not have top or bottom lids like the original. I need it to be fully self supporting. After scratching my head for far too long, I set about with a plan and started by fixing the walls in place using drilled dowels on the concave side, and the green location finders that I printed for the original prototype on the other wall, as they were lying around and the ideal shape for the convex side. The picture will explain better. I then used a heavy bead of sealing wax to not only seal the walls to the baseboard, but help secure the walls in place. The idea from here was to pour in the rest of my alternative resin that turned out to be too brittle for the spoiler, to create a raised false floor to mount the spoiler to. The purpose of this is to create a temporary false lid that when removed, will create the cavity to pour the bottom half of the mould into. The resin false floor just acting as the bottom surface of the upper mould. After more pondering and head scratching, something just didn't feel quite right, so before I went any further, I decided to pull the original mould appart to assess just how structurally sound the raw, bare silicone is without the MDF walls. If I'm flipping the mould over from one side to the other, I need it to stay in the correct shape and the HDPE will not help in that area. It was a shame to undo all that work, but ultimately it was a first try and having to start over was always on the cards. I'll never be able to eat Octopus again. I had to destroy the main MDF walls to get the silicone out separately, as I'd poured it around some internal construction features which meant it was never going to come out without some 'reverse engineering'. As per below, without the structural walls, it's a bowl of spaghetti. This was actually really helpful as it confirmed that my current idea of using the HDPE for the walls was not going to work. I'll build a full box frame outer structure tomorrow from wood that will be far more rigid and withstand manipulation without the baseboard as intended. All part of the process I guess. In other news, as I have decided to punch the mounting holes in the flange rather than try to drill or mould them in, I've been experimenting with punches and various techniques on one of the first trial pours. It took several attempts to find the right weight of hammer blow and the most suitable substrate to use as a support base, but the second hole on the right shows how precise it can be when done correctly. Even better was that the hole it creates is a perfect fit for the genuine Porsche screw rivets that attach the spoiler to the bumper. I've ordered more resin and silicone, this time going all out with the 'professional use only' catalyst cure silicone which is about twice as ridgid (and expensive) as the first silicone I used. This upgrade will mean the mould will last longer and permit more examples to be cast within its service life. That's all for today.

The end is in site me thinks. Good work.

Won’t be long now mate until you get there with it! Some serious effort gone into this

Today I got the new box frame constructed for the second mould. This one is very sturdy, rigid and is only attached the baseboard by a screw in each corner, so flipping it over to create each mould half should be much easier and won't require a lid to keep any curved wood under tension. I must clean off all the dirty finger marks and smudged pencil lines and reference points, but that can wait for now, although I'll probably add some filler blocks of material to take up some of the voids to save using too much unnecessary silicone.

A few baby steps forward today. To create an upper and lower mould 'half', based around the mounting surface plane as per the previous mould, I needed to create a flase floor to mound the master to, which will then be fulled with silicone. Once cured the false floor will be removed to enable me to fill that void as I cast the upper half. I used gold paint as it was what I had lying around in a can to cover the various areas of sanding to make it smooth. It sits 30mm tall, which once I factor the height of the spoiler, leaves me with the required 10mm minimum wall thickness between the upper centre of the lip and the top of the mould, assuming I brim it with silicone. I secured the master to the lid with double sided tape and then, as previous, I had to seal the master to the false floor to prevent silicone creepage. I'll need to add some blocks of wood in strategic places where the wall gap is largest to take up some of the space, as currently it has a volume of nearly 6 litres and I need to reduce that considerable given the cost of this high spec silicone. Hopefully, tomorrow I can execute this and pour the upper mould.....

I was about to start final assembly for the big pour, then it struck me, the wax is not a suitable creep seal for a textured surface, as as soon as it blends into the substrate, the texture is lost, so I had to remove it all, which in doing so rubbed a smoother section over that area. Which required me to refinish it again. Thankfully the textured surface doesn't need the same level of prep as a smooth surface so this was only a minor set back. Instead, I opted to use double sided tape which gave a really nice, neat edge, albeit will leave a slight undercut on the rear flange edge. Given the cost of the new silicone, it was even more critical to absorb some of the volume with some blocks which were duly added. At this point it was time to pour. The silicone is super thick, about the same a 24 hour Araldite epoxy and was an absolute pain to try and mix. I had to mix it in multiple small batches as to not overwhelm the vacuum canister as this stuff expands to about 5 times it original volume whilst degassing, before collapsing again once all the air has been removed. I started the first pour at about 6pm yesterday evening and poured the last mixing cup at about 11pm. I was absolutely delighted with the result though. Absolutely incredible quality and clarity. Having left it overnight to cure, this evening I was desperate to remove the rear cover and false floor to see how it had turned out. I had to screw in some wood screws into the riser blocks to lever against to break the stiction, but it came out without too much fuss and left me with this... My confidence in the double sided tape was misplaced, as whilst it did a great job in most places, there was still a little creep that needs to be removed before preparation for the upper mould can begin. It was at this point I should have just walked away for another day, but full of enthusiasm and that rare feeling of 'win', I took a brand new razor blade from the stack and like a neurosurgeon, began to carefully slice off the creep to match the edges each side. I'd got all the way round it and done a pretty neat job before realising that I'd inadvertently created a problem. The double sided tape had raised the spoiler a small amount from the surface of the false floor that acted as the reference plane for the main mould, resulting in a lip between the mould surface and the spoiler flange which sat ever so slightly lower than the mould surround by the thickness of the double sided tape. This might not seem like a big deal until you follow the process of pouring the upper mould. Poured as it, once removed, the upper mould would have a 'proud' section that would need to slot perfectly into the mould cavity in the other half like a an ultra precision jigsaw piece. Just the tiniest fraction of misalignment would see the upper half not seat and seal correctly against the lower half and leave a gap for the resin to leak into, destroying the end part. I'm really cross with myself for not spotting this before. I stood and pondered for a while before making the next bad decision to not walk away for another day. I deduced that if I sliced a very small 1-2mm (ish) chamfer into the circumferential edge of the mould, the upper mould once poured would mould to the same shape and would make alignment much easier as I'd no longer be trying to drop a peg into a hole with perfectly vertical walls. A chamfer would help it self align. This might sound a little abstract and hopefully my description makes sense, but the salient point is that no matter how small the recess, if not perfectly aligned, the upper and lower mould halves will not perfectly join and seal. I did not have this on the MK1 version as the sealing wax by its very nature lowered the edge of the mould surface to below the surface of the soiler flange, meaning the top and bottom half joins in the mould were positioned within the depth of the spoiler flange, avoiding any concerns about perfectly dropping a plug into a hole. As I say, I should have walked away, but instead I reached for the razor blade to carefully slice a small chamfer into the upper perimeter wall of the mould. It was at this point I ran out of talent. Try to recall the last time you used a jigsaw to to cut some wood. As long as you go slowly and carefully, following that pencil line should not be a problem, right? Until you realise the blade is wandering and despite every effort, the line you cut ends up all all over the shop. I could blame poor light. I could blame aging eyesight. I could blame refraction making the path of the blade in the transparent silicone appear to be in a different and changing place as I moved round the curves. I could boame lots of things, but ultimately it comes down to me, despite trying my hardest, not being good enough. The blade wandered off course and cut too deeply. I tried to rectify it. This made it worse. I tried to even it out by matching the deepest cut all the way round to at least give it some uniformity. Nope. Not sure if any of you will remember the scene in 'Father Ted' when they are preparing to give the car away in the raffle and Father Dougal innocently asks 'what's that 'nick', Ted? Two hours later and the car is destroyed. Yep, I ruined it. Beyond repair or recovery. And scratched the edges of the master with the blade in the process. More than once. I've no idea where I go from here, but I need to step away from it for a while, as I just can't face starting again. Nor do I have the appetite to spend another three figures on more silicone. Sorry to disappoint everyone, I've really tried, but I'm just not there yet.

It’s not a disappointment of a lack of final product, more a feeling of empathy for how frustrated you will be feeling. The last 5% of a tough project always seems to take 80% of the time. I am currently struggling with a 3D printing project of a car heater vent with all the flaps and connector bridges printed in place. Take a few days and then revisit. Would you accept a small donation for moulding materials?

Take a break and reassess.... the only pressure on you is from yourself. Sure there are plenty of us watching with interest and admire the effort you're putting in but sometimes a break will do you good.

Quotes source post: 2707475

That is such a nice gesture, the spirit of which really motivates me to continue. I wouldn't dream of accepting any contribution as it's not the money objectively - more the combination of disappointment, frustration and principal. However, having slept on it and woken to your very uplifting message, I'm determined to succeed and will continue until I do. I'll need to have a good think about how I go about this. The long length, proportions and cross sectional dimensions take this far outside what would typically be moulded in this way. I'm taking a tried and tested method, typically used to produce items that normally fit within a shoe box and trying to apply it to an item that should be produced using other technologies. I'll stand at the drawing board some more and return with an improved plan.

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I think that is a good strategy, thanks for your support.

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How about trying to make it in 3 parts.....? A "blade" either side of a connecting section..?

Quotes source post: 2707487

I have considered making it in two pieces, (flange and lip) however this requires a join, which would need to be immaculately precise as well as mechanically robust. Not off the table by any means, but straying from my original quest of replicating / improving on the original one piece design. Food for thought.

Time for an update. Following my 'blue screen' event, I had to switch myself off and switch myself on again so see if that cured the problem. Once I'd rebooted, I was still none the richer, better looking or intelligent, however I did install and run 'dontgiveup.exe' which got things moving again. Starting again gave me the opportunity to make further improvements to the mould box design. I had to remind myself that the original design worked well, other than the issue of not having sufficient entry pour holes to combat the short pot life of the resin. For this reason I have stayed with the same concept, but refined the details to better replicate the areas that worked well on the first mould, whilst making improvements to the areas that let me down on the second attempt. The key enhancements are a much larger 'volume absorber' to save using excessive quantities of the silicone, whilst also making the mould a much tighter fit round the prototype. The second step was to drill a series of holes in the walls that are close to the vertical element of the spoiler, as on the first version, these pulled away from the mould box walls when I removed the master, requiring me to CA glue them back in place to maintain dimensional accuracy. The CA glue 'only just' kept the wall in place against the mould box. I also drilled holes into the 'ceiling' of the volume absorber for the same reason. The third enhancement was dual purpose. As I wanted to add further inner walls to reduce the volume of silicone, I used these to act as a shelf for the mounting plinth to lay flat against. This means I won't have to try to seal the edges of the plinth to the edges of the box walls anymore and can instead seal the face of the plinth to the top of the 'wall' with a thin film of wax. The pictures below will hopefully explain it better. It is upside down in the below picture (although correctly orientated for when the spoiler is mounted to the car) The spoiler will hang down from the plinth which rests against the tops of the perimeter walls, giving a much better sealing surface and flatter mould half mating face for when I pour the upper mould. I spent ages carefully sanding and checking all the way round the tops of the walls with feeler gauges to make sure there were no gaps larger than 0.1mm when the plinth was set in place. Only a very thin smear of sealing wax will be required now. I also roughened up and toothed the edge of the main volume saver, again to try to anchor the walls of the mould into the mould box. This is what it looks like the other way up. The vertical lip of the spoiler will sit in the middle of the gap. I resisted trying to get all the holes in a nice neat line and equidistant, preferring the scatter gun effect of impatience. There's a fair bit of primer missing from the top surface of the mould walls as I spent some time block sanding it to ensure it was perfectly flat and level on both sides to help with sealing the upper mould lid when the time comes. Anything I can do now to remove as much opportunity for error can only help. I refinished the gold mounting plinth to fix all the marks and scratches I'd put in it, and as I'd emptied the gold spray can, opted for for black. I made a couple of small relief cuts in the 'shelf walls' to maintain the minimum silicone thickness. This shows the close fit between the plinth mating face and support walls, which should give a much more precise mating face for the upper mould half when the plinth is removed. The underside of the plinth in position can be seen below, along with the spoiler in the middle of being refinished (yet again) to remove the textured experimental finish I tried. I think it's been refinished now more times than the Golden Gate bridge. Another improvement I wanted to make was to give myself a pre-moulded locator to make punching the holes out of the finished product easier and correctly positioned, whilst also giving a nice neat edge. To do this I machined a small fixture to line up perfectly over the pilot holes, using the re-drilled pilot holes as a reference point. This was clamped in place and recessed using the correct sized end mill. With a coat of primer, it looks like this. As the weather has now closed in, working outdoors is no longer an option so I had to set up a small stand on the bench with a sheet of polythene to catch any over spray. Now I had the small pilot holes back in play, I used cuticle sticks set into blocks of wood to support it whilst I painted. The spoiler can be flipped over to rest on the cuticle sticks from either side without having to rest the spoiler on a 'surface' during the painting process. Last time round this gave me all sorts of problems leaving marks and imprints as the primer had not fully hardened. School boy error and no such problems this time. And last but not least to bring this weekend's update to a close, there's a saying often spoken to "Go big or go home". This is usually wasted on me as people seldom appreciate just how much I want to go home. In fact it's my only goal in life. However on this occasion, given the expense of a new batch of materials, I erm, upgraded my vacuum pump and degassing chamber a little, to permit sufficient quantities for a full pour to be mixed and degassed in one sitting. That's all for now folks.

Once more into the mould!!! No pressure from this side at all , but.......... Not many days left until Christmas and I know what I will be asking Santa for. Plus I have been ever such a good boy....honestly

Just a small update as I've been busy with other life tasks recently, but I'm now back on the chase. Determined not to get caught out again with short pot-life syndrome, I've been pondering all sorts of options to both future proof, and also give me flexibility for pouring the resin from different places down the line depending on how well it goes. I therefore decided to make a large 15mm dia pour / vent port from all eleven mounting holes. To do this, I 3D printed some little soldiers at 15mm diameter to give adequate pouring capacity, but with a centre dowel pin the correct size for the mounting hole to not only centrally locate them, but also to blank off the now re-drilled mounting holes, as I can't have silicone casting through the mould hole or I'll never get it out. The outside of the countersunk hole above is the same size as the out diameter of my hole punch, to make positioning easier. From the other side, they protrude as per below, which when the time comes to pour the upper mould half, these will serve to cast in the pour / vent ports. They are all permanently affixed in place with thick CA glue. The fringe benefit is that as I'll have to drill clearance holes in the mounting plinth, it does give me something to not only help position the prototype correctly on the plinth, but also something to draw up against if I need to pull the spoiler tight against the plinth, as I drilled and tapped an M4 fine thread in the end of each one, just in case. Plinth with clearance holes, below. All being well, I aim to have the spoiler mounted to the plinth, the plinth mounted in the mould box, and everything sealed with wax gap sealer by close of play tomorrow. Then I can prepare to pour the Mk3 mould....

A trickle of progress today. To minimise any step in the moulding half join, I bought the thinnest double sided tape I could find, in this case less than 0.1mm. Which enabled me to mount the prototype to the plinth once more. I paid extra attention to getting the sealing wax as neat and appropriately sized for the joins in question, which vary front to back due to the front edge having a much sharper angle, compared to the more radiused rear edge. Next up was to prepare the mating face of the mould box walls to seal against the plinth. I prepared a squadron of wax sausages, then laid these out round the perimeter, with the expectation that that when the plinth is placed on top and screwed down into position, this would then give a neat and precise edge and seal all the way round. Once I clamped the plinth in place, I soon realised that this approach, whilst providing a good seal, would not yield the desired neat edge where the plinth and walls join as it does not compress nearly as much as I hoped. It actually left a bigger and less even gap than without. I'll sleep on it but will probably seal the plinth from the back, filling in the edge voids with wax, accepting there will be some very thin creep under the plinth edge that I can more neatly trim after the plinth is removed. Getting closer all the time.

I got my new vacuum chamber commissioned and was pleased to see a very strong vacuum. Spoiler all mounted in position and ready for the pour. Learning from last time, I bought some sturdy mixing sticks as the silicone is very thick. The mixing stick happy to stand vertically for a while before slowly leaning over. The vacuum chamber did a great job and actually over flowed my plastic bucket with froth. Nothing that can't be cleaned. Once the vacuum was released, it settles quickly into a bubble free mixture. The blue tape is my makeshift pouring spout. After some pouring action, I was left with what looks like a fine pour that is now curing overnight. I did have one small disaster which hopefully won't cause any issues in that whilst wiping up a spill on the bench top, I inadvertently knocked off one of the little green soldiers that plug the mounting holes. It was quite alarming watching the silicone escape out the bottom of the mould, thankfully very slowly due to its very high viscosity. I quickly positioned it back in the hole and used some tape to hold it in position during the initial cure and thankfully I didn't lose any more, so hopefully this will just result in a little clean up and trimming on the underside around where the soldier mounts. I'll need to reattach it. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow how it panned out.

Fingers and toes crossed for a positive result

Good luck can’t wait for the finished product great work

Success! (ish) The good part is that the main mould was a win and looks great. The less good part is that the 3M tape is unfathomably strong and actually delaminated part of the plinth in places and pulled paint from the spoiler in others, quite astonishing. This means that I'll have to remove the soldiers and refinish the mating face again, no major issue in the grand scheme of things and as I type this, it's already done with the new primer resting up to cure. The plinth was destroyed, but has served its purpose, so again, no issue there. Next up is to make a screw on lid to form the base of the upper mould. Not much to show in the way of pics, but here are a few I took throughout the day. As the silicone is clear, it's really hard to make out the shape, but in person, it's very clean and precise. I'm very happy with this one.

Good progress today, as I set about making the lid and pouring the upper mould. First up was to cut what was the bracing bottom plate to size, as it is no longer required for bracing duties now the lower mould is cured. I could have left this full size, but wanted to make it as light and maneuverable as possible. I drilled lots of little holes in it, as well as larger holes with a stepped lower sections to act as an anchor points to keep the silicone mould half firmly adhered to the lid once cured to maintain dimensional and indexing accuracy. The larger holes also act as clearance holes for the 'fill ports'. Above you can see that the larger holes are orientated above the mount holes to align with the fill entry ports. After a thorough coating film of vaseline to prevent the upper mould adhering to the lower mould, it was ready to accept the prototype once more.... Here you can see that I have re-attached the fill port soldiers as some broke free during de-mounting from the lower mould. Ready for the pour.... The pour went well, although as per usual, it was a very messy process requiring lots of kitchen roll to mop up spillages. No matter how well I plan and how careful I am, I always end up with silicone up to my elbows, but the results (so far) are pleasing. It's difficult to see in the pictures, but the silicone is full to the brim of the little holes, the countersinks acting as little anchors. The full cure is 24 hours, so I should be able to lift the lid and inspect tomorrow evening. The goal is to be able to pour the polyurethane resin through the multiple ports created by the green soldiers. Another fringe benefit of the silicone being clear is that through the other additional larger holes I added, I'll be able to see where the resin has flowed to during the pour so I know which ports to add more resin to. At least that's the plan....

I left the upper mould another 24 hours to be on the safe side as when I came to inspect last night, the silicone still had a slight tacky feel to it, probably due to the colder ambient temperatures, so I thought best to leave it another day. Tonight I lifted the lid and I have to say, I'm really pleased with the outcome. There's a tiny bit of flashing that'll rub off here and there, but it's really solid and precise feeling. In hindsight, given how well the upper mould anchored to the lid, I could have reduced the thickness by 50%, but it's done now so I can now move on to preparing the first pour - a task for later in the week. Fingers crossed.

Just a tiny update as I prepare for the first pour. Given I now have multiple pour sites to choose from and a short pot life, I'l be moving my pot of resin quickly between one port and the next which will create all sorts of mess and issues come demould time, therefore I 3D printed some little funnels. These fit perfectly into the holes cast into the lid to give a stable platform that won't fall over or fall out if I'm in a rush, and have a cup design to hold more resin that can flow into the mould whilst I'm pouring into a different port, minimising any ports running dry to maximise flow potential in the short pot life window. I'll use 9 of these out of the 11 available ports. I'll pour at the weekend.

Looking good! Can't wait for the final results.

Tonight was the big pour. I suspect this one will be a 'nearly' result, but another good learning curve nonetheless. I didn't mix enough resin, despite trying to calculate the volume accurately and adding a safety margin. I ran short by about 5-10% from what I could see, as there was just a touch of bare mould under the central mounting hole. I quickly rushed back to the scales and mixed up another small batch to pour down this, and one other marginal hole and only time will tell whether I caught it in time for the two mixes to blend and bond. My suspicion is they won't as it really had started to set by this time, but who knows? The little cup funnels were great and reduced the enormous mess and spillages by nearly 1%, meaning I used a tiny bit less than a full blue roll and a paddling pool of acetone cleaning up. It's all about incremental gains. A few pics... Trust me, the above picture was post 'remove the evidence' clean up. A benefit of the clear silicone is that once it had set (less than 10 mins), I could lift it up to look underneath to see if there were any obvious voids. From what I can see, it looks to have made it all away along the vertical lip. I'm kind of torn, as if the only issue is that I had a not mixed quite enough resin, and the late addition of more didn't work, then conceptually it's a massive win, but on the other hand very frustrating. I'm in good spirits and look forward to lifting the lid tomorrow to see if this has actually worked. I could see a fair bit of flashing creep between the mould halves from underneath, but this will be micron thin and will just peel away from the edge when de-moulded. Tomorrow is another day.....

I admire your perseverance and am learning a huge amount. Thank you for these regular reports

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Thanks, it's a steep learning curve for sure!

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Got up early, eagre with anticipation. It would appear that we may need to reconsider the word 'nearly'. I start with the summary fist, comprising of four main observations. 1) There was clearly an issue with adding a second mix post pour, as this did not cure at all. Unless I got the mix ratios all wrong in my hurry (I was careful, so doubt this is the cade but can't rule it out), rendering and voids I tried to fill, still void. There were more than I anticipated! 2) Even within the good areas, there were some trapped air pockets, which to avoid would require me to pour more slowly and strategically, which is beyond the pot life of the resin. 3) The quality and finish of the good areas is as good as I could ever have hoped for, so I know we now have a sound mould. 4) I'm going to have to find a different material, the short pot life just will not work on this scale, despite all my efforts and prep, including keeping the resin components in the fridge right up to the point of mixing in an attempt to arrest the cure. Any how, prepare your eyes for the bittersweet results.... After wiping up all the un-cured resin, I could better assess the level of 'nearly'.... It released from the mould more easily than I feared... You can see here the very thin mould flashing, but this literally rubs off with a cloth. But, if there are any positives to take away, these.... erm.... let's call them 'samples' show what the end product will look like. As strange as this may sound, I'm really pleased with the reproduction quality of the mould, I just now need to find a better way of executing with a different rubber. I can use these samples to test cutting off the pour 'legs' and punching out the mounting holes in the meantime. Remember, if you're standing on the South Pole, no matter which direction you face, you're facing North.

I had enough resin left for one last try, so this time tried every trick and technique in the book to prevent air pockets and ensure adequate flow. I made far less mess this time, too. I pulled the lid an hour ago not expecting much and almost got a little giddy with excitement at first glance as things looked promising. Dammit - an air pocket! Oh, you are kidding me!? Air pocket was a full fat void. So close to a full end-to-end.... Then I noticed a couple of blemishes on the front face. Both other than that, the best yet by a long chalk. As this is as close to a full soiler as I've had, I trimmed the legs off and punched the holes which thankfully worked out as planned. The safest place I have found for the prototype is resting at the base of the windscreen of the car. Oh well, it was worth a try. The resn takes a full 7 days to fully cure and at the moment is not very rigid at all, but from past experience, achieves it's full flexural strength in a week. At this point I've at least got something I can mount to the car to see how it looks, fits and assess whether it is rigid enough. If it is, I then have a Shore A and shore D hardness baseline to compare other resins against, to make sure I don't go too far away from what works. One could argue that given I'm so close, why not continue with the current resin? The realisty is that I've now exhausted all the available engineering options and techniques and whilst getting it right eventually could happen, it will be more by chance than improvement in technique. Whilst the resin is not as expensive as the silicone, it's not viable to keep throwing money at a resin that has proven to be just beyond the scope of application. Deep breaths.

You’re a man on a mission, I salute you Sir

Update time. As the next phase of experimentation is to use a flexible epoxy rather than the polyurethane, due to it's much longer pot life of circa 45 mins, I was able to revert back to a single entry point to pour the resin. This is needed so i can tilt the mould at an angle to slowly fill up with resin from the lowest point with less change of trapping air bubbles. For this I had to plug all bar one of the entry ports, but to keep my options open and things reversible, I 3D printed some plugs that I could insert to a flush depth. I left the centre mount hole/port open to add the resin. With all the other ports sealed, I needed add a couple of small vent holes to allow air to escape at the very highest point, so had to add these at the very end corners to be trimmed flush post production. I used a sharp 3mm drill bit in a press at very slow speed to carefully drill through the upper mould attached to the lid. At just the right speed, pressure and sharpness, the silicone will drill, rather than just spreading apart and then resealing itself once the drill is removed. The picture below shows the small additional vent hole on the edge of the silicone trough. The hole in the wood is larger than the silicone, more by accident than design. To save me having to stand there pouring a trickle of resin over 45 mins with my arm aching, I printed a larger funnel to at least hold a modest amount of resin to enable a periodic top up process than a stand and continuously pour situation. It's much bigger than the other ones I printed. I then tilted the dframe to set the vent hole exits at the same height as the top of the funnel to reduce overflow from an overfill situation as well as allow the resin to flow through the mould whilst chasing the air toward the vent holes at the outer most and highest ends. The much longer pot life made it a far more relaxed and controlled pour and gave the opportunity for a couple of mid process pictures. The viscosity of the resin is at the absolute max that would flow through the mould, somewhere between Fairy Liquid and Tomato Ketchup. A funnel full as per below takes about 15-20 mins to sink into the mould. The plan, from the outside looking in just about worked as the resin took an absolute age to flow through the funnel and seep throughout the mould, only making it to the vent ports within a few minutes of the advertised 45 minute pot life. The low ambient temperature probably bought me a further ten minutes of grace had I needed it. It was a huge relief after naerly 45 mins to finally see the resin ooze out of the vents. This time I got my volumetric measurements correct (just), as once the resin appeared, I then set the mould level to ensure everything was where it needed to be and that the levels were correct. With the vents and the entry port all settled flat and level, just beneath the surface of the lid, I poured the remaining resin from the mixing cup into a small plastic container to see how much I had left. This is a business card box lid.... I'd not want to cut it any finer! Luck or judgement? I'll let you decide but either way, I'll take it. And now we wait. The initial cure time is 48 hours, so I won't know whether this has worked on not until I lift the lid on Monday night, so tune in to watch a grown man laugh or cry. The last attempt with the polyurethane, whilst not perfect, did leave me with enough of a completed item to mount to the car to check all is in order, so I grafted on an end from a previous failed mould to fill the missing blank and mounted it to the car. Not the finished product and far from perfect, but there is at least a small sense of satisfaction that what you see mounted to the car now is not the original polycarbonate prototype, but an item I've moulded myself from nothing. Planks of wood are just for storage and nothing to do with the car or project. I'll take that for now, and hope that the results from today's pour with a different material gives me a steer as to which direction to take next. My prediction is that the flexible epoxy with be too flexible and that despite every effort under the sun, there will be trapped air bubbles still. We shall see. Thanks for sticking with me and sorry this is taking so long.

Some earlier than expected progress and I guess, encouraging results... I noticed yesterday that the epoxy was shrinking more than the polyurethane and upon inspection this morning, noticed it had sunk below the surface level of the spoiler within the fill and vent ports. This renders this particular example scrap, or at least not a finished item, but it was never going to be as a first attempt with a new material and technique. The view down the entry port is below. I measured the depth with a vernier and it slightly exceeded the 40mm depth of the upper mould, confirming it had exceeded maximum shrinkage allowances. I can easily overcome this as I sucked out half a tube's worth once the pour was complete. If I'd left it alone, I think I'd have had enough to make up for shrinkage. Whilst examining the mould, something caught my eye. I noticed that at one end, the mould lid had not fully seated home when I screwed it down. The observant amongst you may have noticed that I filled the original countersunk mounting holes as given the lid is chipboard, I was rapidly tunnelling through the lid each time I tightened down the screws. I drilled new holes and used flanged screws to spread the load. Despite me believing I'd fully inserted the lid, the torque of the screws was not enough to fully seat it as I'd left my drill driver on the lowest torque setting, which with the threads being newly cut, clickety-clacked before it was fully home. Pure schoolboy error and valuable learning experience. At this point I knew this one would be a write off, but would still serve to assess the mould pouring method and the new material. With this in mind, I lifted the lid to inspect, despite not having a full cure. It is reasonably cured, but still slightly tacky and can accept a fingerprint fairly easily, so nowhere near it's finished strength, but at least dimensionally stable enough to inspect. In any language, that feels like good solid progress so I'm quite pleased. You can see the excessive creep/leakage where the lid was not fully secured on the right. The vent ports worked as hoped, but again, suffered shrinkage below the surface level, actually leaving a small void behind them. It's looking a little imprecise on the leaked end for exactly that reason. The centre fill port has the same issue, but I neglected to picture that. You will notice some very small air bubbles sill present. Not ideal, not perfect, but if this is as bad as it gets and these on on the hidden mating surface, that's not a disaster, although I'll aim to do a better job degassing next time round as without boring you with the details, this took far too long to do as I didn't have a large enough mixing container and had to stop half way through the degass to share the contents between two pots and start again. After 15 mins I gave up as I didn't want to waste any more precious pot life. Next one will be better. You will also notice that the green plugs used to blank the no longer needed entry ports remained stuck to the spoiler. Of course they did..... the resin is epoxy, so they glued nicely to it thank you very much. Again, a schoolboy error, as I should have applied mould release to their end points but this completely escaped me in all the excitement of spending a Saturday playing Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Thankfully though, as the resin was still not fully cured, they (with some resistance) twisted off without too much of an issue leaving a surprisingly nice finish, which is where the mounting holes will be punched through anyway. Whilst pondering incremental improvements to the future process, I felt that having the ability to pressurise the fill port a little to help the resin on it's path, especially at the end of the process where I may be getting close to the end of pot life window and needing a little extra encouragement would be helpful. With this in mind, I took some 15mm copper pipe from my plumbing cave, as this is the perfect diameter to press fit into the entry port and seal. I then cut off the end of a large syringe and 3D printed an adapter to hold the two together, as the polypropylene of the syringe body is difficult to adhere to. The interference fit (see what I did there?) of the adapter with a little CA gel gives sufficient strength. I might never need or use it, but it felt like a handy tool to have on standby for future pours. So, what's next? I'll leave the spoiler in the mould to fully cure (it's now in the house leaning up against the radiator in some vein attempt to address my impatience. I'll pull it tomorrow and assess the surface finish, initial flexural modulus and overall quality before deciding what next. If we stray with this pouring method which as can be seen is the most successful yet, I'll probably make a new lid moulding without the mounting holes to plug. One the last failed attempt, cutting these off flush with a razor blade was not a fun job to do precisely. I've got plenty of options up my sleeve and I'm not fully committed to taking this through to a satisfactory conclusion, treating it now as a hobby in itself, rather than a means to an end. Hopefully others will see this more as a win in progress than another failure, as the shortcomings I know I can overcome. Unless the material is too bendy. I can mix in fine chop strand carbon fibre to solve that, but fear it would increase the viscosity to unsureable levels. An experiment for another day. Note to self.... Black pigment paste doesn't come out of clothes. Or carpets.

Quotes source post: 2695099

They would get destroyed in use!

Ok guys, gals, Porsche lovers, and non-Porsche lovers who still claim to like cars.... this one's a Doozy! Our last episode ended with our next patient resting up ready for removal to assess the pretty side, and whether the material was up to scratch. Following more than ample curing time, it was encouraged to free up bed space. I spent a few minutes trimming the flashing from the edges using the edge of a razor blade and took the following shots. At face value, this is the best yet by a long chalk and is making a pretty good case for itself as a front lip spoiler. The surface finish is great for a raw casting and more than up to the job. Now this is the part where you love the look of the car in the showroom, but the test drive leave syou rather underwhelmed. Houston..... The epoxy has way too much plasticity, which even with a strengthening additive, would still leave it deformed and unwilling to return to its original shape quickly enough. To illustrate, I bent the front lip down and it stayed down for a good while, only partially recovering, needing a helping hand to return it to it's correct form. I was not disheartened, as this was a multifold experiment to test both the material and the new method of pour and vent, the latter proving successful, meaning I now only need to find a polyurethane with the required mechanical properties as well as a long enough pot life to pour within the design scope of the mould. At least we know that epoxy is not the solution. Behind the scenes, I've been doing much research into modifying polymers which if nothing else, has developed my understanding of chemistry a little. Following some background experimentation, I tried a new Polyurethane resin that with the right tweak here and there should steer me closer to the mark. The stars aligned and I had an opportunity to mix some up and have another go, this time using the new pour and vent method, too. As the pot life is longer than the original Poly, but shorter than the epoxy, I didn't want to risk a single entry point so used the three front mounting hole locations as the source of entry. Lots of careful weighing and measuring.... Unlike the epoxy, the Polyurethane does not suffer much shrinkage, so I didn't experience the same issues of retraction beneath the mould surface level. With nothing to lose and following 24 hours curing, I lifted the lid and was delighted with what I saw. Immediate observations: 1) A full pour was achieved. 2) There was no creep between the mould halves leaving excessive flashing. 3) There were some very small areas of micro bubbles, however these are smaller than they look and all on the underside mating face of the mounting flange. 4) Remember to add release agent prevented the green plugs sticking to the spoiler! 5) As this material is much more rigid, the vent spurs broke off the spoiler when lifting the lid, leaving small craters - again on the hidden flange. At this point I was really quite delighted and prickling with anticipation to release it from the mould, to see if the important side came out as hoped. BOOM!!! <Mic Drop> I'm struggling to find the words to express how delighted I am with the result - this is absolutely every bit a good as I hoped it would be. The material has a slight flex to it, but is still fairly ridgid, but doesn't feel too brittle where I'd be worried about dropping it on the floor and it breaking. I still need to trim off the three pour spurs underneath (I quickly trimmed them back most of the way for these pics) and also drill the mounting holes, but all in all, this is close to the finished product. It's a shame the vent spurs broke off and that there are still a few tiny micro bubbles, but these are all 'defects' on the hidden mounting face that I'll attempt to refine on future pours. The polyurethane mix sets rigid enough that I could easily use it as a flexible filler to correct any such imperfections post production. Not sure what to say at this point, so will bow out gracefully for the night to reflect and plan the next steps.

Boom...... !!!!!

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What an epic adventure - but persistence, intelligence and talent pays off in the end!

Your getting quite good at this now... Excellent work! Your persistence is admirable.

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Quotes source post: 2713078

Kind of you to say, but I think 'experienced' is a more appropriate word than 'good' at this stage. Until someone other than me has one in their hands to evaluate objectively, it's all a bit theoretical. I'll hopefully have a first until ready to ship in the not too distant future once I've made some final adjustments. I'll probably make a new upper mould without all the numerous mounting hole pour/vents that I've blocked off for a smooth finish and whilst I'm at it, I'll increase the diameter of the corner vents so they are less likely to break off when I lift the lid. Much easier to trim at the surface than snap off and leave a crater. It's just good to know that we're on the home straight now.

Quotes source post: 2713077

I make you 33% right!

As I’ve effectively now got a first production item complete, I wanted to check a few elenents. First was to carry out several drop tests onto my tiled garage floor from multiple angles and impact points. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too fragile or brittle and it passed with flying colours. I also wanted to fit it to the car for a final assessment of fitment, gaps, tolerances and general aesthetic appearance. I’m delighted. Now I have the technique and materials sorted, I can make the final adjustments to the mould. As I no longer need all the mounting hole pour sites, rather than just leave them plugged with the green pegs which leave a witness mark, I’ve refilled the holes (again) and will pour a new upper surface lid mould with larger vent tubes to reduce the chance of them snapping off when I remove the lid. This of course means I’ve got to bodywork and refinish the upper surface, for what I think must be the sixth time. I was getting separation anxiety from my sanding blocks but all will be well soon. Here it is with the final skim of Dolphin Glaze, ready to be blocked out back to 2,000 grit which is what gives the spoiler an almost reflection smoothness in the pics above, despite the polyurethane being satin/matte. My aim is for the next spoiler to be the final production version, which if successful, will enable me to produce more for anyone who still wants one, but being realistic, these will be a one per week max cadence as I work long hours, often away and have a full family to serve.

Bravo bravo bravo... persistence paid off, we all dof our caps to you. Well done!!!!

Absolutely incredible work!!

Excellent work , can’t wait to see how long your project duck tail mould will take you

Quotes source post: 2713498

You provide the duck, I'll provide the tail!

Just a bit of faffing today whilst I wait for some more materials to arrive. My growing collection of samples tells me I must be getting close now! Whilst I'm in the process of smoothing over the holes again, I wanted to add very small indentations as on a (very) previous prototype to accurately locate the holes for drilling. The hemispherical indentations on the other side kind of do this to a degree, but without the same degree of precision and were more to aide location of the punch when the softer rubber was planned. My fear is that as the holes have been filled and drilled a good few times now, despite my best efforts and recent trial fits, I wanted to be 100% sure and also needed a precise locator for the holes that had been completely disguised during the refinish, like this one.... I pondered and considered what would be the most accurate way of transferring the holes without having to pull the front bumper off, turn it upside down and carefully eyeball them again. I eventually came up with a plan. I decided to use the attachment clips as a location guide as they have small holes in the middle for the expansion pins. I found that cuticle sticks were the perfect diameter to fit in snugly without any wobble, but needed to make sure that I didn't lose them into the bumper, so drilled tiny holes through their ends and glued in a short piece of garden wire to prevent them being pushed through the middle. It'll make sense shortly, bare with me. Which were then inserted into the bumper to give exact spikes where each hole is situated relative to each other. I then took some polystyrene sheet and positioned it under the bumper, which once everything was lined up, I just had to press against the bumper for the spikes to leave their position mark. This is why I needed to put the little wire through each one, to prevent the sticks being pushed through into the bumper. Resulting in this.... And more usefully, this... I then used the small inner hole of my original green location pads from back in season 1, episode 1, to position these on the polystyrene sheet, but with some self-adhesive tape on the face of each green pad. I also positioned some of the sticks round the perimeter of the spoiler as guides to make sure I dropped the spoiler on top of the green pads in exactly the correct place, which when lifted up again, took the green locator pads with it. It may seem like a long winded way of going about it, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and know the holes will be accurately located. Or at least the dimples to allow pilot hole drilling. I used and old offcut from way back when to act as a spacer as the green pads have inner lugs that were designed to fit through the holes which are obviously not there anymore. The key thing here is, I now have perfectly positioned pilot hole locators that I can insert a drill and leave a witness dimple in the surface for when I remake the upper mould. Before I did this, I laid one of the recent prototypes over the original and added a green Sharpie dot bang in the middle of each hole, so once I'd drilled the dimple, I could assess how much movement I may have induced with all the filling and redrilling through the various stages of development. Most were perfect, with these three being the worst. I'll take that! Here you can see the dimple that will be moulded into the finished item. I can then offer the spoiler either pre-drilled for direct fitment to an aero bumper, or supply undrilled for custom fitment to a standard bumper if someone wishes to go that route. I'm waiting for some high build filler primer to arrive, so in the mean time, gave it a quick spritz of regular primer to better illustrate what I'm shooting for. Last but not least, you may recall that whilst I'm planning on making a new upper mould to remove all the mounting hole witness marks from the blanked off holes, that I was considering ways to give myself a little more pour capacity from a single entry point. One option was to just use a bigger hole, but that would then cover over the central mounting hole dimple which is not ideal. To combat this I 3D printed an oval shape that I can mount toward the front edge, leaving the hole dimple still available for drilling. This gives me 2.5 times the cross sectional perimeter area of the single hole for the resin to disperse into the mould, whilst also leaving me with just one fill port to trim off and smooth out, rather than the three or more from previous moulds. Next is to make the upper mould once my materials arrive to complete the upper face refinish. Sorry if this is terribly dull, I just thought it might give some insight into the challenges faced when trying to do this kind of thing from scratch.

This is awesome great work!! Ready for mass production

I gave up waiting for materials to arrive, essentially more high build and regular primer to finish off the underside (top side?) of the spoiler ready for moulding. The "next day delivery if ordered before 3pm" from a week last Friday is still AWOL. It dawned on me that as I was only using the prototype for a dimensional mould, there is no reason whatsoever to make it aesthetically a uniform colour. It goes against the grain somewhat, but I ran out of patience waiting for the primer so decided just to finish it up to 3,000 grit to give a really nice, smooth finish. You can actually see a partial reflection in it. The pour and vent ports are now attached. The vent ports are twice the diameter of last time to help prevent them breaking off when removing the lid. I was never intending to re-use the previous lid as the holes are in the wrong place now, so I pulled the silicone mould from it to test the mechanical adhesion from all the holes and grooves I cut in it. It took some peeling off which was reassuring. Once separated from the lid, the upper mould confirmed that I made it far too thick. There's over £100 of silicone just in that piece. Having spoken the manufacturer of the silicone, they advised a 10mm wall thickness of this specific variety would be plenty, although I'll need ensure it bonds to the lid to maintain dimensional accuracy and doesn't bend or sag when suspended in position. I decided to 'level up' in the lid stakes and made a new one with an insert that penetrated the mould box by 16mm, leaving circa 10mm wall (ceiling?) thickness. This saved a lot of silicone. To ensure sufficient mechanical bond to the lid, I attacked it with my multi-tool and cut one or two slots in it for the silicone to grip to. The chipboard is a great material for this purpose as the silicone also likes to bond to the fine texture of it's construction. I used MDF for the upper section as it was what I had lying around, but to stabilize it and make sure it doesn't absorb moisture and swell or distort, I used up the last of some aerosols and painted it. I had to measure carefully to cut the pour and vent holes in the right place. With the prototype snugly back in bed, I could fasten the lid, ready for what I hope is the final pour. I had to leave sufficient space to pour the silicone in, which as we'll see in a moment, is very thick. I thought I'd capture a short video clip to illustrate how thick the silicone is. Mixing it is a wrist killer. imgur.com Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users. imgur.com I ended up having to tape it in position to allow it all to flow out and this took 'some time'. For something so thick, it's fascinating to watch it foam up as it degasses in the vacuum chamber. Thankfully, especially at the current ambient temperature, the silicone has a long pot life, which is a good job, as it took me over an hour to pour it into the mould as it sunk slowly into the ports. It was like watching ketchup slowly creep down the sides of the bottle. The silicone is so thick that it never degasses completely and the few micro-bubbles that remain always find the surface, away from the mould surface. And now we wait. Assuming this turns out okay, I'm hoping the next resin pour will be for the first production spoiler.

Some days the learning curve feels more like a loop-the-loop and today was one of them. I removed the lid to inspect the upper mould to find two enormous air bubbles. But why are they located where they are, equidistant between the entry port and vent holes on each side? The silicone was so thick that despite the long pot life, it was taking an age to ooze into the entry port. After about half an hour and still having almost half of the mix still in the bucket and no sign whatsoever of it appearing at the vented outer ends, even tilted at 45 degrees, I feared it would cure before I got it all in there. To combat this, I also filled from the outer end vent ports which certainly helped get more in there, but such is it's gloopy consistency, it trapped air on both sides which couldn't escape. This was the first silicone mould pour I'd made without a series of holes in the lid and that was the cause of the issue. I was so certain that the grooved cuts in the underside would provide sufficient grip, I didn't feel the need to add any holes other than the fill or entry ports. <Deep sigh> I considered drilling holes from the back side to back fill, but this carried a few risks and became moot when I noticed an area that had not cured, caused by insufficient mixing. Double school day. I bit the bullet and pulled the mould from the lid to start again. This confirmed that my method of mechanical anchoring to the lid was enormously successful - boy did it not want to come off, to the point it tore rather than release its grip, and this stuff doesn't like to tear. I then spent the next hour carefully scraping out the silicone left in the little slots with a fine pick. I honestly can't remember ever having so much fiun*. *Some or all of that may not be true. Not to worry, I've already added four large holes along its length to pour from as well as give plenty of opportunity for large bubbles to escape. More silicone is on order, and we go again. I'll have this boxed off by the weekend.

Three steps forward, one step back? Your tenacity is inspiring (at least to me, who would have found reasons to give up by now).

Ordered more silicone and modified the lid to include more holes to prevent trapped air. As I'd run out of gold paint, the next tin was some 'artisan copper rose' (don't ask). The paint is just to seal the MDF to prevent moisture swelling and distortion. I poured the new upper mould yesterday and removed the lid to inspect this evening. No trapped air bubbles this time! But, there was still a small area of what I've now learnt is referred to as cure inhibition, in the same spot as the last upper mould, albeit much smaller. The picture above shows the raised flange that defines the edge of the spoiler is not quite as raised or sharp as it should be. it was still slightly sticky and had to be wiped away until all the uncured surface was removed. This has compromised the very edge of the mould in that area, but not the actual surface the spoiler will be cast into. The worst case scenario is that the edge of the spoiler in that area might have a slightly coarse / enlarged texture when cast that might easily be smoothed as part of the clean up. Rather than scrap another load of silicone and given I had enough resin left for one last pour, I decided I had nothing to lose and poured the last of the resin to see what the results come out like. This will tell me if I need to try again with another upper mould, paying closer attention to contamination. Addition cure silicones (platinum silicones as they are often called) are particularly prone to contamination as a compromise against their other finer qualities - detail, dimensional accuracy, wear resistance, i.e mould longevity, temperature stability etc, etc. I'll either be pleasantly surprised and can crack on and mould some more spoilers, or I'll need to pour another upper mould. We'll find out in the morning I guess. Yes, tonight was a 'double brew' session.

Who remembers this sketch from the 'Fast Show'? " We took four standard cardboard toilet tissoooo toooobs to see if they could hold the weight of an average male..... " "The results were..... disappointing" Houston aren't answering my calls anymore, fed up of my problems. We have a dud. Hit the jackpot this time - air bubbles AND fragility fractures - it must be my lucky day. Okay, so something has gone wrong. I've gone over all my steps, all the parameters, mixing ratios, temperatures etc and can't immediately think what has gone wrong which makes it difficult to fix in order to return to the 'settings' that worked last time. The only thing that is slightly different is that I increased the amount of black pigment in the mix by 1% just to darken it up a touch, but we're talking a few extra drops in 330 ml so I can't see that being the issue, and if it is, then I'm far tot close to 'critical mass' for repeatability anyway. Ironically, the cure inhibition was only a very small issue, but wouldn't leave the end the item up to scratch so the lid mould would need to be repoured anyway. Hmmm..... this is quite tricky, eh? Having spoken to a couple of people from the composites and moulding industry, it would appear that what I'm trying to do is outside the realistic parameters for single piece moulding with these techniques and materials, which are more suitable for items you could fit in a shoe box for example with far less volume or need for dimensional accuracy over a long, thin length. I guess the Wright brothers felt a bit like this when no engine manufacturer in the day produced an engine both powerful enough or light enough to work in their new aeroplane idea, so they made their own and here we are. I've now climbed way too far up the success tree to climb down again, so all I can do is pause, have a jam sandwich, a sip of my coffee flask and reach up for the next branch. Watch this space.

You may even require a beer, you’ve definitely earned one. Thanks for the update, frustrating as it is.

Quotes source post: 2715080

I'm tea total, but days like that make me question the life choice! Right, back on the progress train with some materials testing. Some root cause analysis shows that the fundamental problem is trying to get a fast setting, high viscosity liquid into a long, thin section mould, which either is causing bubbles, failed flows or compromises in material choice to compensate for the above. If something has to give, what I decided should be the last thing to compromise on is the material, as ultimately this is an item that has to perform, and if I'm to make this better in service than the OEM item, it needs to have superior mechanical properties for the application and not chosen ust because it's cheap and easy to manufacture for a production car. The elements I've been researching and testing have been focused around the Shore hardness A/D ratings, flexural strength and the flexural modulus. Plasticity, elasticity and abrasion resistance are all factors to consider too. The ideal material would be rigid enough to hold shape, have a relatively low flexural strength in order to bend out of the way if deflected by something sold like a kerb or speed bump, but not too weak so as it deforms against high speed air flow. It needs to be UV stable, not have too much plasticity to remain bent out of shape if deformed, with enough elasticity to return to form, not suffer fatigue stress and have enough elongation potential before breaking to prevent brittleness and cracking if given a sharp, high energy impact. It them needs to have a long pot life and low viscosity. Oh, and be able to be coloured with pigment that doesn't materially interfere with the chemistry at required dilution ratios. Good. Luck. With. That. (As I have found). Essentially, all the above are partially contradictory and do not exist in a single material, therefore a compromise needs to be made. I calculated the minimum and maximum operating windows for the critical mechanical in-service properties, ordered these in order of priority and went through my back catalogue of materials, mixes and failed castings, collecting a stash of samples to work with. I've spent the weekend testing these in various scenarios and narrowed the choice down to one of my earliest materials - which just so happens to be really viscous and has the shortest pot life. Meh. Hence, rather than continue to try to force a square peg into a round hole, I'm going to use a square hole that will permit the use of the desired material. Essentially, what this means is that I have to abandon the concept of a 360 degree mould with a 95% upper surface coverage, as the limited access to pour enough resin, quickly enough, into the full length of the mould is the root cause problem. As I previously tested an open face mould (ice cube tray concept) and failed, as trying to maintain flange thickness over a 1.2m length was impossible, I'd never considered ways to refine this. What I'm planning to do is create hybrid upper mould that is in effect what I have now, but instead of a series of holes and slots to pour and vent from, I'm going to cut a single slot all the way down it's length from end to end, leaving a small area just around the perimeter which will have a 'roof' or upper mould left, as I do today. By leaving a wide slot most of the way down the length, I can get all the resin in quickly and throughout the mould, whilst mitigating the chance of air bubbles getting trapped against a 'roof' that isn't there. The compromise of this approach is that it will leave the finished moulding thicker (deeper?) along the length of the pour slot as the resin will need to over-fill to ensure adequate depth. But, and here comes the cunning hybrid plan.... by leaving a thin perimeter area all the way around with a traditional upper mould surface, (picture a submarine with a full length sunroof) this gives me a reference point so that as I cut, sand, grind, machine, say a prayer etc, to remove the proud 'fill slot', I know when to stop as it will blend with the perimeter edge and I'll know it's the perfect and uniform thickness all the way through. It's clear in my mind, but maybe not explained very well with the written word. The short version is to use what I've got but extend the pour holes and slot all the way down the length, extending almost to all the edges, but not quite. From the 'lucky mix' I've not been able to repeat, it left me with the most rigid sample, which closes up to the bumper nicely and looks a high precision item as seen here, 'now in service'. Yes, I'm over the moon with that and if nothing else I can view this as a 'mini win', given I started from scratch. Indulge me here, I'm clutching at straws for motivation. However, me dropping it on the garage floor from different heights and angles is probably not the most thorough testing regime, nor reflective of the high energy, high impact abuse it will be subject too in service. So, here are the highlights of my bench testing. Test rig and various samples laid out to await their fate. I used one of the old lids to attach to the two most likely materials to in order to test them in a mounted configuration. One on each side, supported by wooden spacer blocks to make sure the vertiocal flange doesn't foul the bench. I thought it might make it more interesting if I took some footage of the testing. To start, I tested a section of the most rigid sample - the same as the 'lucky mix' which is now attached to the car. As I stated, dropping onto a garage floor probably doesn't replicate a rock hitting it at speed, so I whacked a sample against the corner of my tool cabinet to see what happened. (Denzel Dexter moment incoming). I don't think that's going to cut it out in the wild. Moving on to the next option which proved to be too plastic and not elastic enough, as well as showing mediocre abrasion resistance. In these next too videos, I used full length samples mounted to the lid to better illustrate in service life but deflecting flat with my hand and smashing my most sharp and. course dreadnaught file across the lip to see if it cut, cracked, splintered or tore. And finally, what I think will be the best option is this - enough plasticity, elasticity, strength and looking at the photo following the video comparing the damage the file did, also high abrasion resistance. Lower of the two is the preferred option in the video above - far less wear. I hope this is at least slightly interesting and would appreciate any feedback specifically on the preferred material of choice. It's not a rigid as the original OEM item and may require a thin band of double sided thin foam tape to keep the front edge tight against the bumper (I'd supply with this pre-fitted ready to peel) to prevent any long term 'sag' between the mounting points. To my eyes, the flexibility and impact resistance would make this a far superior and longer lasting item than the OEM piece?

Fantastic update!

Very detailed and very interesting. I want one when they are ready - some how we have to support this level of development.

I've not been idle chaps, far from it in fact. The 'submarine with a sunroof' concept was flawed. It would leave me with a big long section to remove, which in my head sounds easy, but in reality, having 'trial trimmed' a few older samples is a nightmare as the resin is so flexible and rubber-like. It's too tough to cut easily or accurately with a blade and too soft to grind or sand easily in any volume, which means it would be very difficult and hugely time consuming to trim back a large length of it, so I've had to come up with another plan. And another plan, I have. I'm going to make life really difficult for myself, because.... it's what I do, and this idea is now the last resort from a mould perspective. To overcome the high viscosity and short pot life, but without cutting a long sunroof in the U-Boat, I'm going to pump the resin into the mould under pressure. What could possibly go wrong? I considered this way back when, but quickly discarded the idea as it felt like a sledge hammer to crack a nut. Given I've tried every other sort of hammer and I'm pretty darn determined to eat this nut, its time to break out the sledge. Taking this from a concept and making it a reality is not as straight forward as I'd hoped. Has it ever been? There are quite a few challenges and considerations to overcome to make this possible. I can't use high pressure as it'll just blow the mould apart, so I need to use very low, regulated pressure somewhere in the region of 1-1.5 PSI 'absolute'. I don't want or need to blast the resin through, I just need to speed up the flow a fair chunk to allow it to spread through the mould before it cures. The key attributes of a system must: Apply pressurised air into a re-useable container for subsequent cycles User a container that can be easily cleaned and re-used for the next run Be large enough for the 300 ml ish of resin, but with enough in reserve as to not run empty and risk introducing air bubbles Use an air feed from the top of the vessel, and pump liquid from the bottom Allow me to see the flow rate and to adjust accordingly Permit the mixed resin to be added to the vessel quickly and attach the air pressure without wasting precious cure time Connect the pressurised resin to the mould quickly and easily, and detach quickly before it cures This is what I've come up with..... I used an old 600ml spray gun cup - easy to clean and with a bottom outlet. Mine had a cracked lid so needed a quick repair. The screw on lid allows me to quickly pour in the resin and seal, whilst I added a regular PCL fitting to make quick release of the air a painless affair. To prevent the crack reappearing in the lid given the force sometimes needed to connect a PCL, I reinforced it with a large washer and bonded everything together with epoxy. Messy, but does the job. I had to drill out the normal fitting at the bottom of the cup and attach a copper tube with an olive pre-fitted. This gives greater cross-sectional area for increased flow, perfectly fits some clear silicone hose I have and serves the need to see the flow rate and be able to strip and clean easily, even if that means the short length of hose is sacrificial for each cast. It's about as simple as I could make it whilst ticking all the 'must' boxes to aide simple and speedy operation. The next challenge is how to regulate the air pressure down to such low levels without a specialist low range gauge, as most pressure gauges are 'lucky guess' once you go below about 5 PSI. I pondered this for a while and came up with a plan that would allow me to pretty accurately calibrate the regulated pressure from my compressor to a very low level. A regular balloon, by its very nature holds just over 1 PSI, and once over the initial 'stretch' part of inflation, holds a near constant pressure no matter how full it gets until it bursts. Therefore I attached a balloon to the outlet of the pressure cup and gradually increased the pressure until the balloon began to inflate. I was able to adjust the flow to see where the balloon stopped inflating - 1 PSI, and where it began to inflate again and at what speed. A healthy adult human lung can exert up to a maximum of 1.7 PSI of pressure. As we know from experience how fast a we can exhale and inflate a balloon, this tells us that at a similar rate of inflation, that is give or take 1.5 PSI. And hey presto, a calibrated, low pressure air feed. That's where I'm up to so far. There's more silicone arriving tomorrow, this time with a red pigment to help me know when its thoroughly mixed. I'm 3D printing a tubular peg 0.5mm smaller than the diameter of the hose exiting the pressure cup, so when I pour the next upper mould, I can create a perfect and snug fit entry port for the tube to feed directly into the mould. Silicone on silicone will be plenty grippy at that low pressure and the slight interference fit should also help it stay in place. If not, the side of my 996 will take on a splatter effect, maybe with a silhouette of me somewhere? Hopefully I can pour the new upper mould this weekend.

I have to say i'm staggered by your chops to continue where most would've given up long ago.... i wonder if you've spent as much on materials as the splitter would have cost to buy..? Keep it up as you've come so far and it will come to fruition.

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Thanks, this is no longer about a splitter and now more a personal challenge to myself to 'achieve' and do the difficult thing, to overcome the barrier and to push through despite the odds. This is a process I've had to follow all through my life, but that's perhaps for another day. As for costs, that ship sailed a long time ago - I'm now in over a grand in materials alone, so this is absolutely now all just about the challenge. It might still fail, but even if it does and I've exhausted all other 'home moulding' avenues, I've already got plan B up my sleeve, so no matter what, I will succeed and win. Thanks for sticking with me on the journey.

First of all, I would like to say: respect for your work. But what I didn't understand about the project (or did I miss it): why are you building a part that is available to buy? If you were to achieve an improvement, it would make sense to me. Why don't you make the lip wider (as an example). Do you think that your material makes the lip more resistant? If you were to make the lip 5mm wider and from a material that is a little softer so that nothing can break out when you sit on it, I would take one.

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Thanks for your reply. The project started out of sheer frustration at the quite frankly ridiculous pricing charged for an original spoiler due to our good old friend, supply and demand. A new original spoiler is circa £500+, which for in injection moulded piece of plastic is simply madness, given that the they were so much less expensive when offered by OPS back in the day when they were plentiful. I decided to make my own for a fraction of the cost using polycarbonate, which after a couple of adjustments to the design shape to get it perfect, I achieved and could have stopped there. Job done, mission accomplished. However very quickly I had other members from here and elsewhere contact me for one, which got me thinking about whether I could reproduce more, for others with less hand fabrication, which led me down the path of moulding. For the avoidance of doubt, this wasn't, isn't and never will be about commercial enterprise - the time and materials invested make that an absolute non-starter. This is all about not being held hostage to ridiculous pricing for an original, which, if I can help other fellow members do the same, feels like a philanthropic and feel good way to give something back. The intent was always to replicate the size and shape of the the original, rather than make a custom item. The only area I have changed is the a deeper internal radius on the back side where the flange and fence meet at a near right angle, and the rounded flange end corners, as the original just looks a bit 'that'll do', plut it's nice to leave my own stamp on it. In terms of improving on the factory item, my quest here and the source of much development is to make them from a material far more flexible, less brittle and more abrasion resistant. The original items snap, crack and abraid quickly when ground out - that'll be another £500+ please, Sir..... The material blend I've settled on as demonstrated in one of the videos posted last week shows amazing flexibility where you can tie it in a knot, flatten it completely, and it returns to shape, whist having great abrasion resistance. This means it should last a lot longer and give the owner less anxiety of grounding out, ergo a significant improvement over the original item? Forgive me if I've misunderstood the mention of making it wider (or deeper?), but the constraints here are that in a side view plane, the bottom of the spoiler is horizontal to the ground, whereas the bumper slopes upwards toward the front, hence the spoiler tapers to a point at it's ends. To make it wider, i.e extend further round the bumper, three things would need to happen. If the horizontal plane was to be maintained, the front fence would need to be deeper to compensate, which in turn would further restrict the already marginal ground clearance. Or, the spoiler would need to slope upwards on its bottom reference plane which would look a bit odd, like it's already ground out. Thirdly, the factory mounting holes do not extend beyond the current end positions, so by going wider would extend beyond these points, further round the bumper radius toward the wheel arch, would require drilling additional holes into a GT3 front bumper assembly, which doesn't fit in my own particular wheel house. As I say, this is not about selling these for a NET profit, and more about helping others not be 'done over' by paying £500 for something that quite simply is just not worth it. The rip-offery rating is just too high on this one as a matter of principle. Thanks for your interest and I hope you continue to follow the journey!

Lots of progress yesterday as Fedex made yet another stop with more goop. I'm doing everything I can to plan ahead to mitigate potential problems, and in this vein I wanted to make sure the pressure cup of resin are perfectly positioned yet mounted with some adjustment. I made a bracket to support the cup from an exhaust clamp, with with silicone tubes to provide move cup grip for stability. Slots on the rear enable fine depth adjustment if needed on the day. The next task was to bench test the pressure feed system. To do this I needed to replicate the viscosity of the resin and also the restriction of the mould. To match the viscosity, I had to start with something similar, then modify to get it just right with a little flour and water. When the kids heard the cake whisk in action in the kitchen, their disappointment was palpable when they realised that these endeavours were in the pursuit of spoilers and not cake. This is where my geek-O-meter entered the red zone.... How do I know I've perfectly match the viscosity of the resin? Viscosity is measured with a very imaginatively named device called a viscosity cup, the purpose of which is to time exactly how long it takes to drain a precise amount of fluid through a precise diameter hole, the unit of measure generally used being a centipoise. Here is a typical cup used in industry. As I own exactly zero of these curious devices, I 3D printed my own and machined out the hole to the exact DIN #8 range dimensions to test and adjust the toffee sauce to the correct viscosity. It took some trial and error, but I got there in the end. Everything in my garage is now stickly, yet curiously tasty. The next challenge was to replicate the restrictive resistance of the spoiler mould dimensions. This presented a challenge as the the cross-sectional area diminishes along it's length out from the centre. Pouring from the centre reduces the pressure in half by having two directions to flow into. As the mould fills, not only does the resistance increase due to the tapering proportions, but the back pressure also increases as there is more spoiler to push through. I did as many calculations as possible to best factor all these elements and back solved into three equivalent diameters, factopring a small element for the effect of laminar flow restriction due to the narrow sectional dimensions. The above tells me that if I can find a length of hose with that internal diameter and half the length of the spoiler, it should closely replicate the average flow resistance during the pour. I raided my stash of various hoses collected from projects over the years and found a water hose from a camper van conversion was near on perfect, or certainly close enough. I set the bracket, cup and vessel up on the bench and experimented with various pressures and was able to flow a full spoiler's worth of resin in about 60 seconds, giving plenty of 'thinking distance' within the short resin pot life. Without the pressure feed, this took over 4 minutes which explains the issues I was having trying to fill the mould using gravity alone. Next up was to cast a new upper mould. Given I've suffered cure inhibition twice now in the same area, I went to extreme lengths to clean and prepare the mould and prototype, including stripping and refinishing the prototype in the original matt black plaint I'd used without issue first time round to make sure there no contaminants on the spoiler surface that may have contributed to the issue. I also used a proprietary red pigment with the catalyst so I could be absolutely certain it was thoroughly mixed. In the picture below you can also see the new pour tube which I printed to be 0.1mm smaller in diameter than the hose attached to the pressure cup, to ensure that it is a snug fit when pressed into the mould to feed the resin. Once thoroughly mixed, I realised that red was probably not the best choice of colour, as I became acutely aware it looked like I was now preparing a prototype for the new Ann Summers catalogue, just needing some glitter adding to the mix. It always amazes me how the degassing process unfolds. To avoid any risk of trapping air bubbles, this time I poured the silicone directly on the spoiler, then added the lid afterwards as the long pot life of 30 mins permits this. Naturally I had to make sure I made too much rather than too little silicone, which led to the inevitable. Not a bad guess though. However, a 'quick and mess free'* clean up (*some or all of that may not be true) restored order. I used an old credit card to scrape the excess silicone into a container and not wanting to waste it, whilst also recalling my endless frustration of having to unblock nozzles in my CA glue bottles thanks to forever knocking them over, decided to use the excess to cast a glue bottle holder. Or course I'm now committed to this brand and size of glue for all eternity. And that's where I'm up to as of now. I'll let the mould set up over the next 24-48 hours, then, if all has gone to plan, after Boxing Day I can try for a pressure feed pour. As a side note, I can officially declare that trying to pour any decent quantity of silicone without spillage or mess is like trying to do an oil change on the driveway - ALWAYS spillage! Merry Christmas to anyone still following along.

A very happy Christmas to everyone who like me as captivated by the time, effort, detail, obsession and perfect madness of this thread.

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Merry Christmas to you, Sir. I went to the garage this morning to unwrap my Christmas present, as I couldn't wait any longer. The results are fine, but only just, having narrowly averted a couple of disasters. Issue one.... The upper mould at full to the brim depth, despite using copious quantities of release agent was an absolute pig to remove, requiring a porcupine of wedges, levers, scrapers and other tools that Archimedes would have approved of. It really, REALLY didn't want to come away and in the process made some alarming noises I'd not heard before. Such was the force required to remove the lid, it actually pulled away part of the lower mould from the box wall, despite my myriad of anchor point wormholes! As can be seen, this distorts the mould rendering it useless unless I can correct this. Trust me, there is no getting the pegs to line up with the holes again, let alone getting them to slide in, all aligned and at the same time, although I did try, but quickly gave up what was clearly an exercise in futility. All I could do was reach in with a pair of long tweezers, stretch each little peg out a touch, then slice it off at the base with the tip of a new scalpel blade. Thankfully, this silicone is firm enough to spring back into the exact and correct position afterwards which was a huge relief. Crisis one averted. Issue two... On first quick inspection the upper mould came out really nice. However, closer inspection revealed I still suffered cure inhibition in exactly the same place as had occurred previously. This was really frustrating and disheartening, as I made every effort to decontaminate the area thoroughly in multiple stages using acetone, IPA, brake cleaner and soapy water, followed by more IPA. I couldn't do any more to decontaminate the surfaces in that area, yet was still presented with this... Thankfully on this occasion, the cure inhibition did not breach the defining perimeter of the upper mould surface, so as long as I can remove the uncured silicone without compromising the spoiler edge wall, we should still be in business. After a lot of careful scraping and much use of various solvents, I was able to evacuate the area, which whilst now not as aesthetically pleasing, doesn't compromise the mould itself. Another lucky escape, leaving me with this... Out of interest, the image below is the mating surface that is causing the contamination issue. The yellow shade is the sealing wax under the mould, nowhere the near the surface and used all over the mould, specifically designed for use with silicone, so I know it's not that. All I can think of is that there is some kind of contaminant within the silicone mix itself in that area that cannot be cleaned off if intrinsic to the substrate in that area. How or why that didn't impact the cure in that particular pour in the base mould I cannot explain. I might be wrong, but I have exhausted all precautionary and decontaminating options available without having to completely start again. So, with two disasters averted and what now looks like a decent mould that is ready to use, the next step will be to put all this into practice with the pumped resin process and see how it goes. This will either be a rip-roaring success or end in total disaster, instigating the simultaneous turning of security keys to execute plan B.... May your turkey be moist, your 'After Eight' mints plentiful and your bottle of Bailey's consumed before next Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you too Sir! Excellent work. The Baileys issue will be an issue - there is still a nearly full one from last year...

Today's results..... After a dry test run where I hooked up the air flow and went through the motions, I discovered my cup clamp was not stable enough in the Z axis, so I went back to basics and quickly made a wooden version which turned out to be ideal. I also set the mould angle at a what felt the best compromise. Blue tape around the air vents is to catch the hopefully inevitable. With a deep breath I went for it. Thanks to the short pot life, I had no time to take pictures, but in short, the air pressure feed worked an absolute treat and saw the resin ooze from the air vents almost simultaneously in less than one minute. If nothing else, I was delighted with this as it proved the concept of a pressure feed to be workable. There was no way to avoid a small spill when I lifted the pressure cup away before it began to cure. I waited patiently for the prescribed initial cure time and then gave it another hour just to be safe. Nails were bitten. First glance showed a full mould. My initial excitement was curtailed though as I found two air bubbles a little smaller than a penny, just to the right of the fill port. There were also a couple of tiny air bubbles that whilst not perfect, are far from a show stopper. The rest of the pour was spot on, albeit a few more tiny air bubbles on the mating face. So close, but not quite. It's a little bitter sweet, as it's a massive step forward, but just not quite right. The small amount of flashing will come off with a razor no problem. It looks like it's not sitting flat in the middle as I only roughly trimmed the fill port nugget, which still has a few mm left to be trimmed another day once fully cured. So what can i take away from today? The pressure feed works and the silicone master mould is also fine. The resin can be pumped through before curing and the cup mount also works. I think the two main air bubbles may have been caused by pumping the resin through too quickly, trapping air before it could flow to all extremities, especially where the deepest part of the vertical fence is, closest to the fill port. If I slow down the pressure and subsequently the flow to half the current speed, it should hopefully eliminate this. I've got enough resin left to just about do another two runs. What I did learn was that my compressor regulator when set to this very low pressure is not consistent and difficult to modulate between off and way too much. Having now proven that well under 2 psi is all that is required, I'll move over to using the balloon pressure feed which will be at the right pressure, consistent and easily throttled using the a plumbing fitting valve that I assembled whilst the resin cured. As the resin flowed so quickly under pressure, it actually gave me about two spare minutes, which I'll use to try and de-gas the resin which will hopefully reduce or ideally eliminate the few microbubbles. I might try another pour later. I've got the resin bottles in the fridge which will hopefully buy me a little extra time.

A super result - great progress!

I went back out for attempt number two, this time degassing post mix and using the balloon. The degassing took too long and I quit before it was complete to make best use of the remaining pot life. I think the resin thickens up a fair bit by mid pot life as the balloon didn't cut it, any more than attaching it to the intake of a GT3 and expecting it to turn the motor over. I tried all sorts of blowing down the nozzle and sucking through the air vents to try to encourage it along, but before I knew it, it had turned gelatinous. Looking at wat was left in the cup, I think I got about 70% in there, but I won't know until I lift the lid tomorrow morning as I've had enough for one day now. I've got enough for one last pour tomorrow and will revert back to the compressor and without degassing post mix, but I'll throttle back the pressure a little to push the resin through more slowly. If this doesn't work, it'll be time for plan B. But in the meantime, here are the two leaked photos from the autopsy. This was what was left in the cup when Medusa showed up.... And this is what awaits a prodding tool in the morning as I risk incapacitation on acetone fumes. As Rudyard Kipling once wrote; "If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

The results of 'balloon-gate' were interesting, in that there were zero bubbles and the quality looked spot on, assuming its for a 3/4 scale model. With just enough resin left for a final try using the compressor again but at a lower pressure to slow down the flow rate, along with fully degassing both components before mixing the resin, I got the final checklist then remembered this... Unlike silicone, this stuff does not peel off in one satisfying sheet leaving zero trace of its existence. I now know why polyurethane is a popular compound for structural adhesives and we'll leave it there. Whilst we're on the subject of silicone peeling easily away from mixing cups and buckets, I did accidentally stumble on a comedy moment too good to pass up whilst peeling out the residue from the upper mould pour. The inside of my largest mixing mixing bucket that I use to degass with was a nice shade of pale red with a concentrated ring at the bottom. This, like many others previously peeled out in one go, to which I cast it aside for a moments while continuing the clean up. Only when I glanced at it on the floor did I 'see it'..... (shoe for size context). Ahem, moving on.... I set up and prepared as best I could, set the compressor to the lower setting and poured the last batch. Sadly, I was just a tiny bit short, in that I had the right amount (just), but didn't want to let the compressor pump every last drop through for fear of pumping air into the mould. I disconnected the air line with only a tiny amount left in the cup, yet no sign of any resin at the vent holes. In a bit of a time pressure panic, I laid the mould flat and after a short wait couldn't see any resin appear at the vent holes. Was the last batch just too short on resin? With the clock ticking, I sucked through the two vent holes and discovered that polyurethane resin tastes awful. I rushed to the other side to repeat and once satisfied I'd drawm the resin through to the end, noticed that the fill port had drained all the way to the bottom of the mould. I dashed for the mixing cup and used my scraper to gather up another couple of teaspoons and pored these in the fill port, follwed by various tilting and manipulation of the mould box to help the resin find a natural level. It did just as the resin cured, with the levels about half way down the fill and vent ports. I had 'just' enough resin, but had a haunting feeling that all my sucking resin through and manipulation could well have drawn some air in. I had to patiently wait it out until it was time to face the music. My fears were confirmed. Two air capsules, one on the side where I must have emptied the fill port and drawn air in along the front edge (path of least resistance), and another in the other corner where I must have tilted it the other way to help the resin flow before I'd evacuated all the air. I'm pretty convinced that had I had just a tiny bit more resin, we'd have hit the jackpot as the rest is spot on with only the tiniest few pinhole micro-bubbles on the mating surface flance. At least I now have a couple more 'nearly' samples to experiment with final finishing techniques, one of which is how to remove the fill port turret leaving a flat surface that doesn't impede a close fitment to the bottom of the bumper. Having tried to carefully cut this off flush on earlier samples using a razor blade, it was all too easy to dig into the surrounding surface of the spoiler, rendering it spoilt. I needed a guide template to mitigate this. This going to sound like a real rabbit out the hat moment here, but bare with me. My brother-in-law works with lasers, so I asked him to cut me a hole in the thinnest sheet of aluminium he had, as per below. Which once positioned over the pour turret, gives me a protective guide that prevents me gouging the surrounding substrate, but leaving only a 0.2mm thick stump to shave back afterwards. One thing for certain is that I need a longer blade that will sit flat against the template, as trying to use either a craft knife, scalpel or regular razor introduced an angle that saw me gouge a little too deeply on this try, but better learn this now than on a perfect spoiler. Still not too bad as a proof of concept as the surrounding substrate was protected from damage. Now this would be perfectly serviceable as it is hidden between the spoiler and bumper and the slight proudness would never been noticed, but that's not the point. I wanted to see how far I could refine the surface of the rubber during rectification. Essentially I supported the (still not fully cured) flange from underneath with a flat surface and then carefully block sanded it back. Ever tried sanding rubber? Fun isn't it? Said nobody, ever. This was after I reached 600 grit (wet). You can still see the slight indentations where I sliced too deep due to the blade angle. And for the sheer hell of it, I just kept going, reaching for the next finest grit of paper, calling it quits at 5,000 grit. Who knew you could sand rubber to a reflective finish? At least I know I can surface finish any imperfections or marks that may present on future runs. Not the big reveal I was hoping for, nor the catastrophe that would see me instigating plan B. I've ordered yet more resin and feel confident that I'm only a final tweak away from mastering this, although I am exploring a different potential method of resin injection which should give me more control and consistency. Research in progress. I won't receive any more materials until the New Year so it'll all go a little quiet, but believe me, I've never been more determined.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you have all enjoyed the festive period! Development work can be boring, time consuming, frustrating and expensive, however it serves a purpose to bring us closer to our objectives. Over the last week I've had some time off work to be able to really focus on this and work out how to overcome some of the many challenges. I took a step back and mentally laid out in my head all the various challenges and tried to apply some lateral thinking. I had to work out a different approach that address multiple issues all at the same time, these being.... Short pot life - not enough time to manually pour the required volume Air bubbles - short pot life prevents post mix degassing Air cavities - far too critical pump rate between success and failure Working blind - not being able to see what's going on during the fill until it's cured Insufficient mould box slope to naturally expel / avoid trapped air - limited by method of resin entry Split mould design - introduces twice as many complexities and opportunities for failure, plus uses £££ of silicone Efficient design often seeks to use one item to do at least three jobs, more if possible. For example, in a competition car, a bracket to support say, a fuel pump, must also serve as the strengthening gusset for that part of the chassis, as well as a firewall attachment point etc. I was convinced that I needed to deploy such thinking to overcome some of these hurdles rather than trying to address each on as a separate entity. I needed solutions that address multiple areas at once. Eventually I had a moment of inspiration that brings two new concepts to the design, but would effectively mean starting again from scratch. However, sush are the advantages (if it works), it's worth it as the design cannot use any of the existing mould. Yes, I scraped the second mould. Rather than lay out the plan in a long ,boring paragraph, permit me to illustrate as we go. I'm the kind of chap who eventually relents and buys the tool to do the job after struggling without it for years. A recent flooring and fencing job saw me pull the trigger on a bevel and mitre chop saw which has already been more than worth it! The new design requires many precise mitre cuts that would have taken me forever by hand as per the previous mould box. Here is the new design, which rather than being a frame concept, is now permanently built from a flat baseboard for greater stability. The new design means I don't need to be able to remove the bae board for upper and lower mould processing. I won't lie, working out all those angles and lengths to create the ideal inner and outer arcs took some head scratching, but I'm pleased with the results. As well as the base board, the mould trough is a much tighter fit round the spoiler and also far more shallow - the bare minimum to maintain the required silicone wall thickness required. The base board and perimeter frame gives the required rigidity to permit such a shallow depth. You can see here how much more snug the spoiler fits within the walls. This design saves me almost 50% in silicone. As per the previous moulds, I filled the large L-shaped void with blocks of wood, but this time also built a series of stepped ramps under the vertical fence as it tapers toward the ends. This also saves good chunk of silicone. It's not aesthetically pleasing, but as their job is simply to absorb volume, I couldn't justify making them too pretty, although the temptation was strong! The small gaps here and there are advantageous as it give the silicone more to grip against to help mitigate separation from the box walls when extracting the spoiler. Another design improvement was to move away from the wood screws to support the lid (more on that in a moment) which, after a dozen or so cycles in softwood eventually strip the wood, so this time I invested in some machine screw inserts. I try to improve everything each time I do it, learning from past shortcomings. To help measure and position all these infills, I suspended and carefully positioned one of the many previous test spoilers where it will eventually live within the mould, using three support battens to simulate the vertical placement. It'll make more sense in a moment. The picture below shows the stepped ramps that follow the tapered vertical element. This is one of the example where I suffered micro bubbles. So now comes that part that aims to overcome many of the challenges - the lid, formerly the upper mould. The only reason I had an upper mould was because I could not achieve a consistently thick flange with an open pour mould (ice cube tray concept) as over the near 1.5m length, maintaining a consistent mounting flange thickness was not feasible, not to mention the meniscus factor at all the edges. In addition to this, I also wanted to maintain the the hole position markers. What if I could come up with a hybrid design that gives a fully enclosed mould, yet doesn't need the upper mould silicone element? The first part of the plan is to use a plain, flat lid 'as' the upper mould, but without any silicone element, effectively mounting the spoiler prototype to the lid, attaching it to the mould box, turning the entire thing upside down and filling with silicone. Once cured, I can remove the lid, extract the prototype and be left with the full mould contained within the lower mould with the lid just sealing it closed and acting as the base for the mounting flange. I hope that makes sense? It's creating the mould in reverse, from the lid down, rather than the base up as previously constructed. By using the flat lid as the upper mould mounting surface, I do lose the mounting hole locators, however I've decided to make a jig for these that I can add easily post production from the original prototype, rendering this a non-issue. I'm in the process of making this jig which required uploading the precise hole locations into some CAD software for a future date. Here is a couple of shots of that process using a slightly vintage 3S scanner to capture the precise hole locations. Calibration was first required to make sure the canner was happy using the tiny pilot holes from the original location pieces I printed way back. With the scanner happy, I laid out the original template taken from the car which all hole positions have been made from and referenced to, added the location pieces and took a scan. This gives me a master file for use down the line. I sense checked the accuracy using manual measurements taken when the temple was laid out on the bench. That's what all those lines and measurements were from a few posts ago. Anyway, back to the lid design, which is by far the most salient and important part of this development. The answer had been in my hands since the beginning - polycarbonate. The fact it is transparent allows me to view the resin entering and flowing through the mould so I can spot any issues, trapped air etc before it's too late. Plus I'll be able to monitor the pumping and flow rate and know exactly when it's full. It'll also be really cool to watch! Here is where I'm up to as of tonight, with the lid cut to perfectly match the mould walls, all of which were block sanded and levelled to within a couple of 'thou. I've deliberately left the protective backing sheet on both sides for now, only trimming the edges off so I could see the correct positioning for the threaded inserts. I'll remove these films last minute to protect the surface from scratches during the final build and refinement process. The next part of the new design permits me to stand the mould vertically on it's long edge (landscape) like a big smile. This is so I can mitigate trapped air and bubbles as much as possible. The previous barrier to this was that I needed to pour the resin in from above, which even with the pump and spray gun cup set up, meant I couldn't go more than about 20 degrees incline. The new design permits a full vertical orientation. How? This brings me to the final piece of the puzzle to make all this work. How do I combat the time taken up by mixing, the introduction of air bubbles this brings, and also to fill the mould from the bottom of a vertically placed mould, all whilst under a controlled and variable pressure and flow rate? The answer is in this last picture.... Using a twin cartridge gun with a static mixer nozzle gives several distinct advantages. Firstly, it will not only pump the resin, but give me full and precise control of the speed and flow rate which I will be able to monitor through the transparent lid. Secondly, the static mixer nozzle means I not only won't have to use precious pot life mixing the two components, but also won't introduce air into the mix, reducing the chance of bubbles. I'll be able to fully de-gas the two components individually, fill the two cartridges without any time pressure, then only when I'm fully set up, comfortable and ready to go do I pull the trigger and mix as I go. It also reduces any waste as I can leave unmixed elements in the cartridge for the next pour. Thirdly, the small diameter nozzle of the static mixer, means I can directly inject the resin from the very bottom of the vertical, smiley mouth mould through a much smaller hole. This will be not only easier to plug once full, but will also leave me with a much smaller fill turret to snip off once cured. This feels like a material development step which, if successful, should make moulding far easier, less critical, more consistent and hopefully successful. Next jobs are to refine the prototype (again), delete the mounting hole dimples, then attach to the underside of the lid. I can then prepare to pour the silicone element and go from there. Cheers!

So much work! Can't wait for the result of this update

Holy smoke, total rework. That mixer gun looks like a big step forward 2025 is your year.

I stumbled across your thread, far too late last night, whilst looking for some rear alignment adjuster eccentric lock out plates which weren't absurdly expensive. I was thinking: "surely someone must have had the same idea and is knocking some up in their garage." I found your front splitter instead. I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your efforts, and thank you for taking the time to share them. As somebody who purchased one of these when they were trading for the low, low price of £350 + VAT, still has it boxed up in the garage and is afraid of fitting it for fear of smashing it up, let me also vote my support by saying that if you do ever decide to produce these to order I will happily buy one. If not, so long as you keep enjoying the process, I will keep enjoying the read. And hope that Porsche commission another batch, making them available for £80 again... Best of luck in your endeavours.

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Well said indeed......!!!!

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Thank you for the positive feedback, it makes it all the more worthwhile. A question to the floor - does anyone have an old damaged or broken original laying around I could beg, borrow or buy, primarily just for some cross reference research. Thanks.

A little more progress today. I was hoping to pour the new silicone today, however I ended up in a vortex of preparation and perfectionism. As I was offering up the prototype to the polycarbonate lid, upon close inspection I became aware that the with all the sanding, filling, drilling holes, filling them, more sanding etc (multiple times) the bottom surface of the spoiler had lost some of it's uniform flatness, taking on a very slight curve across the section from front to back. Further inspection revealed a slightly inconsistent thickness to the mating face flange as it put the venier across it in several places - less than 0.2mm, but against a perfectly flat polycarbonate lid, it would compromise how the spoiler sat and how the end product would turn out as without an upper mould to compensate, any lack of flatness would present as varying thickness of flange. So I stripped the top layer of primer off and added a skim coat of filler right across the bottom surface from end to end. From there I very carefully block saned and guided coated it repeatedly, measuring the flange thickness and flatness each time until I got it laying perfectly flat, uniform and with even thickness all the way throughout the mating flange. This took a long time and lots of faffing, but having gone to this much trouble, I felt this last step was what would elevate the end product into the highest quality I can produce. After a load more priming, guide coating and wet sanding all over, I was left with the spoiler in absolutely the best shape and condition it has ever been, this time without any hole locators. And just like AC/DC, back in black. I'd never call anything perfect, but it's as close as I'll ever get. At this juncture, I decided to hang on the wall a large wall thermometer and Christmas present to myself, with a nod to one of my other passions. I prepared the rear of the new mould box with three silicone pour points and a series of vent holes to prevent any air entrapement. At this point, during final preparations and test fitting, whilst tightening down the machine screws that locate the lid, I noticed in the light reflection a slight radial distortion in the polycarbonate just outside of the screw head. This would not have any impact on the actual area the spiler was mounted to, but did make me feel a little uneasy as the last thing I want is for the lid to crack if I accidentally over-tighten one of the screws etc. I didn't have anything like enough M5 penny washers to use under the screw heads, and even on the ones I did have, hated that they overhung the edge of the perimeter walls. What I really wanted and needed were 32 rectangular washers that were the same width as the mould box walls, but longer to extend the sphere of influence and help distribute the load into the polycarbonate. A quick google search suggested that these do exist albeit not in the right size and are also a crazy price. So I made my own. Which turned into one of 'those' jobs, with an amusing (to me) tale along the way. I cut the rough sized blanks from a sheet of aluminum plate I had, then drilled the M5 hole and rounded the corners a little. My Brother-in-Law is of a similar mindset to me and also tinkers with his own technical / engineering projects. We'll often exchange a "what you working on?" Whatsapp message from time to time - the unwritten agreement is that we absolutely must pick holes and find fault with whatever each of us is doing, for the sheer banter of it. "Oh, just making 32 rectangular washers for my spoiler mould box, you?" At which point I sent him a pic of the blanks ready to be drilled and finessed. To which he promptly replied, "I thought you'd at least make them the same size"...... #GAMEON! Same size, eh? I'll give him same size!! I'd already drilled the centre hole in them by this point, so stacked them all together in a pile, tightly clamped, them set them up in the mill. An initial high speed rough cut got them all the same width, allowing me to then mill all four sides to be exactly the same. Now I'm no machinist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have an eye for detail, and sometimes, once you start, you can't stop.... They turned out quite nice to be fair... for a washer. <shakes head in despair> To complete the gag, I sent my Brother-in-Law this picture... At least now the lid is a more secure and robust fit. I really have tried my absolute best on this one, carrying out as much due dilligence and preparation as possible. Tomorrow I hope to pour the silicone and we'll then be well on our way. Cheers!

LOL. Love that story!

I’ve only just picked up on this thread and all I can say is sir I admire your dedication to working through the multiple issues you’ve encountered. I’m going to be keeping an eye out now for further updates

Ha Ha, you’re slightly mad, I love it! Who would ever think that a spoiler thread could turn into this journey, you might have be able to sell the film rights one day. Now you mentioned aviation, tell me more. You fly?

LOVE those washers.

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Sadly not. I grew up in the golden age of jet aviation and was fortunate enough to travel a fair bit as a kid thanks to my Father's job. I spent a lot of time on DC-10s, L1011s, DC-9s, 727s, Tridents, One-Elevens, 707's etc. This fuelled a passion for aircraft and aviation to the point all I ever wanted to be was an airline pilot. Sadly, my eyesight was below the minimum required to achieve a Class 1 medical, irrespective of corrective measures, so that dream came to and end. The one that got away.

That’s a shame, Class 1 eyesight is strict but around 15 years+ ago there was an opportunity to get a less restrictive FAA (American) Class 1 medical & convert to CAA/JAA (UK/European) as a work around. You certainly flew on some lovely classics. Your eye for detail and attitude would probably make you a good PPL holder, and there are loads of interesting classic SEP aircraft to fly.

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Yes indeed, I remember getting quite excited for a short while, however I was still just outside the threshold of myopia, plus, I had a muscular imbalance that was also a binary barrier. Just wasn't meant to be. I'd probably not be suitable though as I'm not sure any airline or passengers would be content with twelve go-arounds, just to make sure I buttered the '11's with both mains at exactly the same time and compressed the struts in an equal and uniform manner. In a MDC condition. And fog. At night. With an engine out. Having had fish for dinner....

Ha ha, I still can’t guarantee a smooth landing everytime!

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Let's hear it for the main spar!

Busy day today. I started off by carefully positioning the spoiler in its desired position with the lid in position on top. This enabled me to draw an outline of the spoiler on the outside of the lid, which I could then see from the other side to help me adhere the spoiler to the inside of the lid in the correct location. I'm using the rear of the mould box hear as a known flat surface. Having spent a comedic length of time refinish it, the last thing I wanted to do now was ding, chip or scratch it, as as the mounting process to the lid would require a fair bit of moving it about, I needed a soft surface to rest it on - something like a silicone mat. Despite a graveyard of hopes and dreams.... I did still have the most recent lid, which just happened to be the perfect shape, so this was put to good use as a rest whilst I carefully applied the thinnest double sided tape from 3M. During my research into cure inhibition problems with platinum cure silicones, I learned a lot more about the types of chemicals that can cause issues. Twop of which I know I have used in or around the spoilers and moulds and they are CA glue accelerator/activator and tape adhesive! I had no option but to use the tape, as the only other option was to glue in in place, which would likely destroy the surface of the polycarbonate lid which I'd need in pristine condition to act as the upper mould surface. It dawned on me that when I attched the last spoiler to the wooded lid, I affixed it with a thin perimeter of tape all the way round, right up to the very edge. I suspect that at this point, it was close enough to the silicone to cause contamination and cure inhibition. Learning from this, I took a two pronged approach in that I left plenty of gap toward the edge, and also applied a film of sealing way all around the tape to the edge to isolate it further. To do this I prepared a series of value sausage proportioned strips of wax and smeared along and around the taped areas. I then used the hair dryer to almost melt it, which made wiping most of it away much easier, leaving a thin, film barrier behind. Pretty much invisible, but present, which is the main thing. With the spoiler taped, waxed and ready, I cleaned the surface of the lid and got ready for my 'one shot' attempt to line it up with the outline I'd traced earlier. I actually managed to get it in the correct position, however despite lots of pressing down firmly, taking advantage of the luxury of seeing what's going on from the other side, I noticed how little of the tape had actually adhered. To fix this I made some soft rubber pads for one of my clamps and glued them in position to prevent damaging the finish on the spoiler or the lid. This permitted me to clamp the spoiler to the lid, inch by inch all the way down it's length which as can be seen in the image below made a big difference. On the right in the image below you can see a left and right comparison. More sections of wax were cut, rolled into the thin strips, then pressed into the tiny undercut all around the perimeter of the spoiler. This part is critical as this intersection will be replicated on the spoiler in the final casting so getting this neat and uniform was key. I also made sure to get as much under the edge as I could to help isolate the mounting tape. From the other side I was satisfied we had a thin, yet consistent edge and barrier. Something that had occurred to me was that the surface finish of the lid is like glass where the finish on the spoiler is smooth, yet matte. This mismatch was an issue (for me), not to mention that a gloss surface in any rubberised moulding is just begging for imperfections to jump out. To combat this and to solve another issue, I decided to shell out and buy the expensive release wax spray. General advice is that you can use vaseline, high carnauba content car wax ,silicon oil or silicone grease as a release agent, all of thich I have used with various degrees of success. But this spray is actually really good and designed for the job. It leaves a very fine textured finish, which not only will be cast into the final mould, but I can also spray onto the underside of the lid before each casting so that the polycarbonate lid has the same texture. Win-win. You can see the lovely textured finish below that will be replicated in the final product. It stands out well against the transparent lid either side. With the mould box cleaned out thoroughly, I attached the lid. It was now time to turn it over and prepare for the the silicone pour. Both to satisfy myself, as well as gathering much needed evidence to combat the near certain character assassination expected from my Brother-in-law, I made sure it was level. I mixed the silicone using less red pigment this time, hence it looks a little more pink. I was determined not to get it all over myself this time, but within the blink of an eye, I soon looked like a vet having helped birth a calf. I calculated the amount of silicone I needed as accurately as I could once the mould was finished, which in theory gave me just enough in the smaller batch order size to avoid ordering the full 4 litre can. My calculations were pretty darn close. But not close enough. I literally scraped the bottom of the mixing bucket for every last drop, but as can be seen through the pour holes, was not quite enough to reach the ceiling of the mould box. This is not the potential disaster it may appear to be, as adding more silicone once the first batch has cured is not an issue as it bonds to itself perfectly with an invisible join that disappears. We need to keep in mind that in this orientation, the spoiler is mounted to the bottom of the mould. The top of the vertical fence can be seen in the above picture fully submerged, which means the entire spoiler is submerged as this is the tallest point. Once it had cured enough to not immediately pour out, in a gelatinous state, I quickly lifted it up and took a few pics from the under side to satisfy myself that the silicone had found its way all around the spoiler. This is another advantage of having a clear lid. The different colours are due to the different depths between front and back thanks to the volume absorbing blocks. Whilst not essential, I will order more silicone to fully fill the mould as designed. Thankfully, I can buy a half litre which will be more than enough, although at this rate, if I'm not invited to the Christmas do at Fedex, they'll be getting a sternly worded snot-o-gram. Nothing doing now until I can get more silicone, add it, let it cure, then we can play lid lifting and prepare for the first injection mould.

Today was one of those days where I got to feel a little bit more like the windscreen, and a little bit less like the fly. I'd given the silicone a good 48 hours to cure so couldn't resist lifting the lid. I was a touch concerned by the 'separation' that was evident between the silicone and the lid, fearing it might be large bubbles or other issue that had decided to appear during the cure process as seen here... I was soon reassured when I began to release the lid screws, where these areas began to shift all over the place and grow, indicating they were literally just where, upon curing, the tiniest amount of shrinkage resulted in the lid not quite touching the silicone by an imperceptible amount. I've got to say, and I know I'll come to eat these words, but this is by some margin the finest mould I've produced. Even on close inspection, it appears flawless. Hopefully thanks to all the preparation and lessons learned on the way. The new 'King's ransom' release wax not only left a lovely OEM type surface finish, but also made pulling the spoiler from the mould less of a 'I'm about to destroy everything' type of effort. It came out with only firm but fair manipulation, and still attached the lid with all its faculties in one piece. Over the moon with the outcome, I mixed up another small batch of silicone to back-fill the gap on the other side of the mould where I'd miscalculated the required volume, just to ensure I had the required minimum wall thickness at the deepest point of the vertical fence. I thought I'd treat myself to an extra couple of drops of red pigment by way of celebration. But what's in the red tin I hear nobody ask? I always look for areas to put any spare silicone to good use; the CA glue holder from Season 2 Episode 9 for instance. Scanning round the garage looking for something to use it on or with, I spotted this metal tin with radiused sides and a nice flat bottom. I then recalled all the times I've needed to sand something without leaving a hard edge or without digging into an adjacent radiused area - the inner faces of the spoiler for example. So here I took a thin but rigid sanding block I cast not long after the pilot episode aired, and dunked it in a bath of the left over silicone. The rigid core will give it enough strength and rigidity, yet the silicone skin will give me a compliant yet still flat sanding block surface for those awkward areas that present so frequently to those devoid of a social life. But.... the greatest success story by far, is that I managed to mix, de-gass and pour a batch of silicone without spilling a single drop. Probably. One looks forward to the weekend where the endurance game show continues with a knife edge round of experimental polyurethane rubber injection moulding. Tune in to see if our naive and blissfully ignorant contestant can brave the pressure of this levelled up state of jeopardy. Drinks from 7pm, please shut the gate.

How Netflix has made me yearn for linear programming.

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The only problem being the endless repeats (see thread for details).

Fantastic.

Everyone here and got a drink? Gate shut? Are we sitting comfortably? A full and long day on it today with a really big milestone reached, although upon reflection, I think the real hidden cost of this project is not the silicone or polyurethane, but the olympic swimming pools of IPA and multi-packs of blue roll I get through. The first job was to drill the fill and vent holes of the appropriate size and in the correct locations. The fill is as low down as possible without breaching the front perimeter edge, whilst the vents are at the very highest point when positioned vertically. If the polycarbonate lid looks a bit misty, it is, but only due to the spray release wax that gives that lovely fine textured finish. Next job was to set the mould at 45 degrees. Why not vertical? This is because the (on the car) vertical lip element would then be horizontal with nowhere for any trapped air to escape, therefore a 45 degree angle gives all elements any equal chance of evacuation of any trapped air. The strip of wood and clamp were the easiest 'quick release' way I could think of to set the mould at the correct angle, which if you've been following this thread a while resulted in this.... It wasn't even a choice. Conscious of the resin shrinking during the cure process, I knew that the thickness of the lid was nowhere near enough scope to contain shrinkage, therefore I needed to create a reservoir of excess resin around all three holes to prevent sucking air in as well as running dry upon cure as it shrinks back into the mould. For this task, the quickest and easiest solution to was build little troughs round each hole with the moulding wax. And here we are, ready to pull the pin, as it were. At this point, my Brother-in-Law turned up to provide a second pair of hands if I needed them as well as a supportive level of comedic criticism and disapproval. So I began my audition for a job with the international weights and measures people. With pigment added to both parts of the resin to maintain equal volumes for the required 1:1 mixing ratio, the two components took their turn for a de-gas in the vacuum chamber. For this version, I decided to set the camera up and record a video of the entire process. Please excuse the poor 'everything', it is just an attempt to better convey the procedure and curve balls than a series of images. You WILL find this very dull indeed. Watching the resin rise through the mould was great and gave real insight into the flow characteristics. As you may have heard, we spotted some bubbles and had to do some quick manipulation of the mould to try and manipulate these to the nearest hole for venting. We did manage to get the main one we were chasing at the bottom centre, but did not manage to remove a few micro bubbles elsewhere. Only when we removed the wax troughs did we spot the large bubble by the left vent hole. This was caused (almost certainly) by allowing air back into the mould during the somewhat panicked manipulation. The irony being that to remove one medium bubble, we introduced a much larger one, but didn't know at the time as it was hidden under the wax trough. The other end was spot on. We only just had enough resin. And I mean only just, less than a tablespoon left over I'd say. It was this that saw us run dry and introduce air whilst chasing bubbles. Lesson learned for next time. What I also observed, and what I suspected would be the case, was a slight element of creepage between the silicone upper sealing face and the lid. It was transparently thin and not an issue, but occured around the fill hole where the pressure would've been highest. You can see the shrinkage that almost saw the level drop beneath the lid and into the mould. But not quite. Lucky escape. I gave it the full hour initial de-mould cure (full cure is 7 days for final strength) and lifted the lid. It was so much easier than the previous moulds, which thanks to its flexibility in conjunction with the release wax, just peeled off like a the protective cover on a new phone. Very satisfying. At first glance, bubbles aside, the finish and dimensional precision look superb! And the large offending bubble, which turned out to be an almost complete full depth void. I gingerly lifted up one end and carefully extracted it from it's cosy nest. It looked amazing! The next few pics hopefully showcase the surface finish which I'm absolutely delighted with. The tiny wafer thin flashing creep literally just rubbed off with a gentle wipe using a microfiber towel along the cornered edges. Here is a close up of the visible side of the larger air bubble. It's not breached the surface, but there's only a very thin skin left in place which will come in handy later. The other side is shown below, this time with the thinnest of film removed to show the extent of the void. You can also see above where the vent hole had shrunk back too close to the spoiler and therefore broke away from beneath the surface leaving a small crater. I had very mixed emotions at this stage as one one hand, I was staring at yet another failure, but on the other hand, I was looking at my best result yet by some margin. The finish and feeling of general refinement, straight out of the mould, is all I could ever hope for and proved the new injection mould concept was successful. Except for the bubbles. The smaller ones I'm less concerned about but the large ones, only one of which we recovered still needed to be addressed. I analysed the process in my head a few times and reached two conclusions. The large one was easy to fathom - insufficient excess resin in the tough permitted air to enter as I wrestled to change a different bubble out. I can solve this with more resin in a better trough. The other few microbubbles were more of an irritation than a show stopper as they are and always will be on the hidden face of the flange that mounts to the bumper. Whilst cleaning up everything (IPA going off like Champagne on a Formula 1 podium), I noticed something in the mixer nozzle. Despite taking every effort to purge, and then pumping nearly 300 ml through it, the very convoluted square box routing trapped some air within it's matrix which whilst not definitive, is a strong contender for the source of bubbles. I took a break for some food, then couldn't resist another go, this taime amending the procedure and equipment to improve the outcome. First change was the nozzle. I used the green square box nozzles as they mix more quickly and therefore waste less resin, however if they also harbour bubbles, then that is no good. I switched to the longer spiral mixer which whilst more wasteful, doesn't have the same potential to trap any air. In both cases I had to trim the nozzles short to create a snug fit into the pour hole in the lid. I also wanted to capitalise on the round, tapered nozzle on the spiral mixer by using an o-ring to press against to reduce the amount of potential leakage, as well as giving me more scope to deviate away from perpendicular without leaks. It sealed really well and expanded a touch when pressed against the hole in the lid. To address the insufficient shrinkage reservoir volume, and to make these a little more robust, I cut various pieces of appropriately sized tube to length, and using a hot glue-gun, adhered these round the three holes. These give greater tolerance of over fill without too much spillage and also permit more shrinkage during cure to mitigate against the level falling beneath the lid surface. And off we go again. I took extra time to not only degass the two compoents in their respective mixing cups (mix was to introduce the pigment), but also degassed a second time once the initial parts had been poured into the dispensing canister. You can see the extra air escaping just from a gentle pour into the tubes. As I was alone this time, there is no video of the process, but I went much more slowly, especially at the beginning, to make sure no air got trapped. The new reservoirs worked really well and the process went smoothly. It was somewhat disheartening to see a small series of microbubbles appear despite every endeavour to prevent this, and at this stage I cannot be certain what is causing them, other than it is absolutely feasible that preventing any microbubbles completely may be unrealistic unless the entire mould is poured from within a vacuum chamber. Maybe it's something that I just have to accept? A couple of tiny bubbles below as well as the same amount of flashing creep which wipes away effortlessly. I'd rough cut the fill nugget at this point after removing the reservoir tube, As stated earlier, these tiny bubbles are only on the mating face that mounts to the bumper, so not an issue at all other than I know they're an imperfection. However, they're an imperfection that can be corrected by using more resin as a filler post production. Once I was satisfied with the second pour, I left it to cure and took the dispensing gun over to the spoiler I cast earlier, which was resting on top of a previous prototype in order to hold it's shape over the coming days during the final cure stage. I blobbed some resin into the few microbubbles, as well as the end void to test how well any rectification work turns out. Once fully cured they'll need dressing back which will leave evidence by way of differing surface finish texture, but if it plugs the tiny bubble, it's worth doing. You decide? So at this point, assuming the second spoiler is just as good as the first one but without the large void/bubble, I honestly think this is a good as it's going to get barring any further gains within the law of diminishing returns. To my eyes, it's a lovely piece, albeit there will be a small amount of hand finishing required with any micro bubbles on the mating face, or they can just be left. I'll see how the second one comes out the mould in the morning as well as testing how any rectification work on the microbubbles turns out - again, it's all on the hidden face mating face. I guess at this junction I'll have to ask you all what you think of what looks to be close to , if not the finished article. In true Columbo style though, "just one more thing...". It dawned on me that to be able to re-use the cartridge dispenser, (they're meant to be disposable), I needed a way to extract the pistons from the ends of the tube. They cannot be poked out from the nozzle end as the gateway that keeps the two components separate prevents this. The rear face of the pistons is flat to mate with the plungers in the gun, so there's nothing to grip hold of to pull them out, even if I could reach them. I came up with a cunning plan. I took one of the red spiral nozzles and cut it in half, removing the spiral element in the process. This gave me a tube that would screw on to the end of the dispenser cartridge. To this, I then took a short length of airline with a PCL fitting in one end and using a heat gun, stretched it over the end of the tube. A quick connection to the air regulator on the compressor and 'pop', they both came out the end of their respective tubes ( a little faster than I'd planned #air-cannon), ready for an IPA bath. And that was today. Despite the slight issue with the microbubbles, I'm calling that a success. If the second one comes out like the first, we've cracked it!

Congratulations on completing your journey. I have been fascinated as I followed the story along and hope your BiL is ‘giving credit where credit is due‘ PS you write v well

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Thank you, I appreciate the support. The journey in my eyes is only just beginning, as now I've hopefully mastered the technique, I should be in a position to make these to roder if anyone still wants one - assuming the second pour matches the first in terms of quality and consistency. In fact, I'll go and bother the kettle again and find out.....

What a journey, interesting to look back and see how the mould & technique improved over time. Persistence wins!

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Cheers, I had no idea it would lead to this, but each set back was close enough to success to try one more time. It then turned into a battle of wills. Details of number 2 will be uploaded shortly.

I do drive myself nuts some time, almost subconsciously tormenting myself. I ventured back out to the theatre of hope and dreams to deliver and evaluate spoiler number two. I undid all 32 mounting screws holding the lid in place, only noticing by approximately number 20-ish just how heavy my battery powered drill driver is. I actually had to swap hands. What a wuss. The self-torment materialised when rather than lift the lid, I decided to quickly knock up a rack to store all the screws and washers in within the mould box, as routing them all out of a bowl and refitting the washers each time is already getting old. Anyway, it'll make the production process that little bit easier going forward. Anyway, I removed the lid, again an enormously satisfying process and was delighted to see that the quality and finish was consistent with the first spoiler from yesterday. There were no hidden surprises and the tiny micro bubbles were as expected and easily filled if desired. I'll let spoiler number 1 fully cure before finessing the defects to assess the outcome, but having already done this when I removed the large fill port on a spoiler from season 2, I'm confident there won't be any issues. Here are some close ups of the few bubbles with a pencil tip for scale. This one will be dealt with when the mounting hole is punched. The fill port diameter is 8mm for reference. Nothing more than about 1.5mm diameter and only a few which will easily be filled with a syringe of resin before a final dressing. I'll endeavour to reduce these as much as possible, but given they're on the mating face and correctable, I'm content. His birth was incident free and both spoiler and mould are doing well. He is named as Georgle. I'll trim and finesse the pour and vent plugs once fully cured. Here he is with his twin brother from yesterday. I took a video of the spoiler close up both pre and post mould extraction to hopefully give a better idea of the finish. Any little white specs are literally specs of dust, yet to be brushed away. I pulled a spoiler from the 'Vault De La Disaster' and grabbed this video to hopefully showcase what makes this spoiler unique compared to anything else, and what should make it more durable in service. At this point, all and any feedback appreciated as I'm at the stage now where I either punch the holes in these, mount one to the car and put the other on the shelf, satisfied that I achieved my goal, or I invest in some more materials if anyone is still interested and produce to order.

Absolutely incredible work - what dedication to finally pay off! I’d say that you’re ready for trialling on your car and then production!

What a result. And what a skill to master. I’d love one, please.

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Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. I need to go through the thread from the beginning and make a list of everyone who expressed an interest then reach out and see if, knowing what we know now from a finished product perspective, as well as any change in circumstances, whether folks are still interested. Once I have a rough number to work to, I can order up the appropriate quantity of all the various materials, consumables etc, etc, but will mark you down as a yes.

Credit to you for all of the effort and patience with this- looks great! How much are you looking at charging for these?

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Thanks! That's a question I've been dreading people asking, but one I guess is inevitable, so here goes. Before I answer, I just want to reiterate that this isn't and never was a commercial venture, it was all about finding a way not to be stung by the ridiculous price of a new original, £500-£600 if you can find one in stock, which is just unfathomable. It was a personal challenge to see if I can work my way round this, rather than to make an item to sell for a material profit. This is just a fun hobby to make up for lacking a social life! Therefore the cost is more about covering ongoing material and consumable costs, and charging what I hope the community see as 'more than fair' (that's my intention at least). I've read that back in the day when my car was new, these were circa £80 a go from your friendly OPC. I just put that number in an online UK inflation calculator and it stated that in today's money, that is circa £150. My proposal is this; if I can secure 10 confirmed orders, I can buy quantities of material to just about make it viable to produce, box, insured post (within the UK mainland) and include a bag of the correct, original fasteners, for £150 each, delivered. The sentiment to be to replicate the equivalent original price for a small batch. Given that it takes at least an accumulated full day to prep, mould, de-mould and refine each one, it's not a sustainable price long term, but if it helps out fellow forum members who have stuck with this journey and encouraged me on the way, then I'm more than happy.

I for one am more than happy with your price proposal. Another fantastic update with incredible attention to detail - thank you. I am also happy if you need to perform some rework due to bubbles. Hope you get more interest to make this worthwhile.

More than happy with that proposal too - put me down for one pls.

Thanks both, I'll keep a live list of those still interested and once I get to 10, I can pull the trigger. If anyone who has originally said they'd like one earlier in the thread, in the spirit of fairness, I'll produce and send them out in that order. I'll only ask for payment once your spoiler is finished, I'm happy with it, it's boxed and ready to post and I've sent you photos to ensure you're also happy with it. I can offer these with or without mounting holes depending on your preference as I know some people may wish to mount them to a regular bumper* or their own bumper may not have original holes in the original place for whatever reason. *Just for the avoidance of doubt, these are designed to fit the 996.1 GT3 / Aerokit front bumper only and are not designed to fit the stsndard front bumper, however, having examined the profile of both bumpers from underneath on various parts images, I'm confident that the flexible nature would make adjusting the profile to fit a regular bumper not impossible. However, if this is your choice, I cannot legislate for it not fitting as hoped, although looking back at the video of being twisted into a knot, one would hope it would fit! If you elect not to have the holes drilled (punched), it will still come with a bag containing the 11 correct plastic revit/screw combos used to attach. Time wise, once all the stuff has arrived, I'd like to think I could get these produced at anywhere between 2-4 a week depending on work / family commitments. Please keep in mind I have a more than full time job that is my absolute 100% focus and priority, so will be working on these in the evenings and weekends as a hobby, but will endeavour to get them out as quickly as possible, without compromising attention to detail and quality. From a QA perspective, I'm setting the minimum standard based on the most recent example produced, i.e there is a realistic chance of a few microbubbles presenting on the hidden mating face with the bumper, which I'll syringe fill with more resin and finesse by hand individually. This exercise will induce a variance in the textured surface finish of the hidden mating face, i.e it will not be possible to invisibly rectify any air bubble without a full cosmetic rework of the mating face - not impossible, but necessary? I will not tolerate nor send out anything with a surface defect in any other surface, i.e visible when mounted. If any are spoiled in the production process (see what I did there?), that's on me and I'll just make another and order more materials to cover. I'll limit it to forum members who are already members at this stage. If those that get one are happy with it, I could maybe produce more but will have to take a view on that at the time, as there is a finite lifespan of a silicone master mould and there is significant cost in making a new one. I'll start a list in the next post that you can copy and paste and add your name to. If you've previously said you'd like one earlier in the thread, feel free to copy and past the list ,inserting your username in the correct order with your post number next to it for reference, just in the interests of fairness. I'd just like to say thank you to everyone that has given positive feedback and encouragement during this process, without which I'd not have got to this stage.

Spoiler Alert List 1) tttc - #208 2) corneg1 - #212 3) M1ke - #213 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) Thanks everyone.

Inter..... as we've previously discussed, i'd be more than willing to drive over to see how fitting would be on a " standard " bumper if it aided your R&D.

Top work. Hats off to you. Spoiler Alert List 1) tttc - #208 2) corneg1 - #212 3) M1ke - #213 4) 996-aero - #217 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

BUT... is it strong enouch to stay straight at 300Km/H? And... HOW CAN I GET ONE??

I will happily purchase one. No hurry for me, so place me at the bottom of your list in terms of timing.

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I'm yet to fully commission my wind tunnel, so would have to surmise 'some deflection possible' but with adequate recovery. Are you in the UK?

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Noted, thank you.

Spoiler Alert List 1) tttc - #208 2) corneg1 - #212 3) M1ke - #213 4) 996-aero - #217 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

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You're more than welcome to scoot up for a trial fit and a cup of tea/coffee. I think I pm'd you my location previously, so if that's not too far away, let me know? (weekends are best).

No, i am in germany... maybe shipping will work when i take a couple more of those...

Great job- I'll have one too when available please!!

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I've checked shipping and for an economy service, it would only add an additional £10 to the price, so if you would like one, please let me know. I'll assume yes and add you to the list but we can remove if you'd rather decline.

1) tttc - #208 2) corneg1 - #212 3) M1ke - #213 4) 996-aero - #217 5) Teilegott - #218 6) Gixxer996 - #225 7) 8) 9) 10) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

I'm interested, so please do add me to the list

1) tttc - #208 2) corneg1 - #212 3) M1ke - #213 4) 996-aero - #217 5) Teilegott - #218 6) Gixxer996 - #225 7) DJLoDY - #228 8) 9) 10) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

Yes please! 1) tttc - #208 2) corneg1 - #212 3) M1ke - #213 4) 996-aero - #217 5) Teilegott - #218 6) Gixxer995 7) DJLoDY - #228 8) wellsy - #230 9) 10) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone #17 3) tttc - #208 4) corneg1 - #212 5) M1ke - #213 6) 996-aero - #217 7) Teilegott - #218 8) Gixxer996 #225 9) wellsy - #230 10) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request) And we have our 10 requests - thank you everyone, I'll start ordering the various elements. I've rearranged the order a little as I went through the thread from the beginning and a few of you were hot out the gates asking to have one, so as promised and in the interests of fairness, I'll offer them in that order. If anyone wants to drop out, no problem at all, do not feel obliged as I'm sure I'll be able to find a home for any spare, or I can keep with my own car as a spare or two if not. To manage expectations, my plan is to pour the first couple this weekend all things being equal. I need to leave them to fully cure for at least 7 days before final refinement and hole punching etc, to then post out. On this basis, I'd estimate from initial pour to posting will be circa 10-14 days, but please bare with me if life throws me any unforeseen curve balls #hobbynotbuisness I'll keep the thread updated with progress and pics as we go.

Congratulations on achieving your goal! This has been a great read and I salute your dedication & skills

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Thanks, but it's not over yet - still got to complete the refinement process, and produce 10 more quality items and ship them. I'll only consider the project complete when people receive them, fit them, and feel pleased with my efforts - that will be when I can look at the next project. Given the four figure investment into infrastructure, tools and equipment, along with that I've actually really enjoyed this new found corner of the hobby, I'll be looking what next, if there is such a thing. I note that the GT3 has a small rear lip spoiler on the lower clamshell that is also priced within the "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley" zone. Maybe that could be a fun gig. Then again, it's not something that gets consumed and therefore I guess there is no real problem to solve for people, as they don't go through them like the front lower splitter. We'll see. I've ordered all the items needed last night, including a run of custom made cardboard boxes in just the right size, as well as the other stuff easily overlooked, like long thin polythene bags to protect against any rubbing/maring against the cardboard in transit etc. I want my fellow enthusiasts to enjoy an as near to retail experience as possible. I upgraded the cardboard boxes to white and with clear packing tape, rather than brown. Stupid stuff like that makes all the difference to me and I want others to enjoy the same feeling I get when I order something and it turns up well packaged with good attention to detail etc. I probably need to have a word with myself.

Brilliant! can't believe I've made it to the top of the list too! That is fine by me but if anyone is in dire need before me, do shout up as my car is typically in hibernation until Easter time and the oem one is just bit scuffed. I am happy to drop down the order, if it helps anyone (equally happy to get one first!)

I would like to purchase one please

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Thanks Steve, I appreciate the interest, list updated. (EDIT: extending volume as far as possible) Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) tttc - #208 4) corneg1 - #212 5) M1ke - #213 6) 996-aero - #217 7) Teilegott - #218 8) Gixxer996 #225 9) wellsy - #230 10 Steve.S - #235 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

This is awesome! Congrats hard work has paid off all the hours blood sweat tears and blue roll haha Shame I have caught up late with the update or I would have had my name down on the first batch If anyone drops out can you let me know ? When are the plans for you to do a second batch?? Thanks Ryan

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Thanks Ryan, in the interests of fairness and sticking to the protocol, you put your hand up in post #100, so I'Il adjust the list. I'm already feeling bad about potentially letting anyone down so I'll just let the list grow organically without a limit until I reach the end of the list. If I need to order more materials and the mould is still serviceable, I'll keep going for pre-existing forum members. I'm quite taken aback by all the votes of confidence. All I can say is I'll try my very best. Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) ryanwright91 #100 4) tttc - #208 5) corneg1 - #212 6) M1ke - #213 7) 996-aero - #217 8) Teilegott - #218 9) Gixxer996 #225 10) wellsy - #230 11) Steve.S - #235 12) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

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That really is much appreciated but I guess is also a fair way of doing it. You’ve gone to great lengths on this project and without a doubt people appreciate the work that has gone lnto this and if it can give you a little money in your pocket and showing how much it’s appreciated it’s paid off for you and everyone who’s interested

Could you please add me to the list, post 116 was intended to express my interest, although, looking back I realise I never said please may I order. Feel free to add me wherever suits on the list. Also, I have parents in the uk but I have relocated to the Netherlands, could we discuss postage nearer the time. To echo all the previous posters, very well done for the excellent work and the great write up.

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No problem. Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) ryanwright91 #100 4) King Shultz #116 5) tttc - #208 6) corneg1 - #212 7) M1ke - #213 8) 996-aero - #217 9) Teilegott - #218 10) Gixxer996 #225 11) wellsy - #230 12) Steve.S - #235 13) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request)

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Question for @BigHammer88 . Does he want to remain at the end of the list as it gets longer and longer, demand for this superb product being so exceptionally high?! Or does he just want P10 as that’s what he thought he was originally in for? (I dont know why I care about this, but for some reason I feel distress when I see him getting pushed further and further down

This has been a fascinating journey, I’ve learnt a lot just by reading your progress. Thank you for sharing this project with the 996 community. I would like to be added to the order list if possible?

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Me too! For clarity, as soon as BigHammer88 raises his hand form the original position, he’s up to bat.

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Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) ryanwright91 #100 4) King Shultz #116 5) tttc - #208 6) corneg1 - #212 7) M1ke - #213 8) 996-aero - #217 9) Teilegott - #218 10) Gixxer996 #225 11) wellsy - #230 12) Steve.S - #235 13) AntonyC - #243 14) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request, or when ready from 10th)

Just returned from a couple of days away with work to a garage scattered with boxes and packages which I started to sift through last night. Other than the custom ordered packaging boxes I ordered which should be here today (weather permitting), I've got everything I need to to have a real go at moulding this weekend. If anyone DOESN'T want mounting holes added, please let me know via DM to save clogging the thread. I won't be punching holes until the full one-week cure, but better to ask early.

I just found this thread and what an enjoyable read and a great R&D journey. Fascinating and educational at the same time. Wonderful, all power to you.

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Why thank you, Sir. I got an early start last night and set the wheels in motion. I'm refining the technique and process with each attempt, this time adding release wax spray on to the silicone mould as well as the lid, which as can be seen below massively reduces the amount of 'flashing/creep' to be removed. below is exactly as I saw it after lifting the lid. The shading just round the edges is where the wax preferred to bond to the wax on the lid rather than stay on the silicone when the lid was lifted. I timed it last night to see how long it takes and from a standing start, to clean, prep and assemble the mould which includes attaching the vent and pour reservoir tubes, mixing the resin, degassing, filling and degassing the cartridge gun, applying the 4 wax spray coats, setting the mould box and angle, injecting, settling, then cleaning all the non-disposable tools and infrastructure at 4.5 hours to get to the point I can lift the lid. If I can get another couple done this weekend, I can then see how long it takes to punch the holes (once I've finished my jig), refine the mould edging, address any micro-bubbles, then complete final finishing, before packaging with all the bits and bobs. I't end up being a full day as I thought, which is what it is. Keeps me out of trouble. One thing that is bugging me is the the finish discrepancy that any finessing will leave, so my plan is to likely fully surface finish them all over to leave a uniform appearance. This will likely involve a full and final 'wet sand' by hand using whatever grit wet n dry that leaves the most appropriate finish. I'll experiment on my vast selection from the back catalogue of disappointment. I'm guessing somewhere between 1,500 grit and 2,500 grit will be what works best, but I've got as fine as 7,000 if I need it which would produce a near gloss finish. We'll see. One addition I'll be making to the 'package' is to add a thin 5mm wide strip of 3M's finest ultra thin 0.6mm double sided foam tape to the front edge of the mounting flange face, ahead of the holes. The flexible nature of the spoiler, in conjunction with the not precision flat surface of the bumper could lead to small (tiny) gaps between the front fence (the right angle part of the section) and the bumper. The originals had worse from what I;ve seen, but on a flexible part, I'd prefer to seal off the interface with the bumper. This will not only prevent dirt ingress that damages the paint over time (all bumper show witness marks where the spoilers have been due to this), but will also provide an extra layer of mounting security to make sure nothing 'hooks' between the spoiler and bumper that could try to rip it off. I researched all the various type of VHB tapes on the 3M website and chose the one with the greatest sheer strength, thinnest section and highest range of temperature performance so if a car eve ends up in a heated paint booth with one fitted, the tape won't fail. I'll add the tape precisely from end to end before shipping and leave a small tail protruding forward to aide installation. My planned method of instruction will be to install it with the clips to get everything in the correct position, then pull out the upper backing film to present the adhesive to the bumper in exactly the correct place to make installation easier. I've also order a stack of appropriate sized IPA infused wipes which I'll put in with the bag of clips to the owner can wipe the mounting surface of the bumper to remove any residual wax or grease that may impede appearance of the foam. I've also ordered some protect PCV sleeves that I'll cover the spoiler with so that any movement within the box doesn't cause minor marring of the surface. I'll put the IPA wipe and clips in a zip-lock bag and attach this to the storage sleeve when I pack. I just want to do the pest possible job I can on this from end to end. The comedy comment from my wife when a particularly large box arrived was "What's in the really big box?"......... answer: "A load of cardboard boxes". If I could have captured the puzzled look that followed. To be fair, what with the boxes of syringes (for measuring pigments and resin additives precisely), weighing scales and other 'paraphernalia', I'd forgive her for suspecting far more nefarious shinanigens where afoot in the garage.

While I don’t have an aero car, I have thoroughly enjoyed your ‘journey’. Your attention to detail - even for the packaging and fitting accessories - is amazing. A thoroughly decent gent who is going above and beyond to support a community - bravo!

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That’s very considerate - thank you. Personal matters will keep me from my car until June earliest. So I will be content if you could get to mine by the end of May. Thanks agin BH

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No problem, just send a DM when you're ready, but I aim to have them all done long before then.

And we have a WINNER! But just before we shampoo our hair with Champagne, a final chicane required navigating. What I saved for the (hopeful) 'solution' post, i.e. this one was that whilst I cast a spoiler last night that came out well, if still not perfect with some correctable bubbles, it was not without incident. It's been nagging me as to why I'm still getting bubbles. Yes they can be corrected, but it still highlights a flaw in the process somewhere and until I find out what it is, I won't be fully content. During last night's pour, the sealing o-ring where the mixer nozzle seals against the hole in the lid became skewed somehow as I went through the quick process of releasing the sealing cap on the bottom of the cartridge and swapping for the mixer nozzle. I only became aware of this once I'd started to inject the resin and was committed, as it began to leak up, over and out of the fill reservoir at a ratio of about 10:1. I tried a few adjustments and re-insertions, but doing this blind in a bath of oozing black resin was futile, so I shoved it in as firmly as I dared and carried on injecting. I had to speed up the process and inject faster than I'd have liked as gravity was pushing resin past the o-ring at a constant rate from within the mould as I filled it, so I had no choice but to go faster to make sure (in hope) that I didn't run out. I've had to use more resin per process to mitigate these potential issues having fallen foul of cutting it too fine twice now. Thankfully I had just enough and the end result was decent, but yet again not perfect. Whilst this just means more refinement work for me later down the line, what was not acceptable was that thanks to the leak and my time pressures, my working area took on a look more akin to a Texan oil field after a well gusher. I had to come up with something more reliable than a) using a floating o-ring and b) gave a more consistent seal without me having hold the nozzle at a perfect perpendicular angle to maintain the seal. I'd concluded that an imperfect nozzle to lid interface was the most likely cause of air bubbles. My solution was to create a rigid and interference fit (see what I did there?) interface using some thin wall aluminium tube, connect with some silicone hose to the mixer nozzle to give me the flexibility I needed. I left a small amount of the tube bare to insert, with the silicone tube as a guide/stop to not only give an element of additional seal but also to prevent me inserting too far into the actual mould void. I still added a reservoir so that once I've completed the fill, I can remove the nozzle and still have some excess to manage any shrinkage and protect against air ingress. I also used the same diameter tube to create the vent reservoirs also as the very narrow tube didn't really give enough spare capacity. Another small refinement was to slash cut the ends of the vent tubes so that when being filled, I have more capacity, yet once flat, the lowest part of the slash cut is the same level as the fill reservoir so I know I have reached an equilibrium of pressure and flow. I'm delighted to say that these incremental improvements made the entire injection process so much easier to manage, which along with forcing myself to go as slowly as I dared, appeared to give me a bubble free mould. I gave it 90 minutes until the resin in the vent tubes was firm then gingerly lifted the lid. BOOM!! As close to perfection as I ever dared hope. Cracked it!!! @DJLoDY Allow me to introduce you to "Fritz". Sorry, I get to choose the names. The white specs are just wax dust from when I lifted the lid, not imperfections. I've left Fritz alone in the mould for an afternoon nap and will drag him out of bed later this evening once he's fully rested. Whilst basking in the glow of another step forward, I began gathering up the various biuts and pieces that I'll include with each spoiler. We're at the races!

@Malone Please meet Torsten.

@ ryanwright91 ​ I'll let you know as soon as there's any news...

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HAHA All good if i dont get back to you straight away im away this weekend for a week or so that's all. But all is good keep up the good work !!! Cheers

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No worries, it'll be a week or so before we're close as I need to give them at least 7 days to fully cure, 10 is better. The updates and comedy pics are just to keep people updated and to amuse myself.

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Spot on mate like i say no rush from me when its ready its ready its in your hands

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Norbert turned out great. Any white specs or marks are just dust from the wax as the lid is removed. Any edge inconsistency is just the tiniest of flashing that wipes away. I used one of my 0.2mm thick aluminium thim cards to make another slicing guide to remove the bulk of the port stubs. Doing this whilst fully supported in the mould and still in the soft initial cure period makes life so much easier and leaves just the tiniest stub to address in final finishing. I'll transfer him to the main ward with the other spoilers shortly. I'm hoping to get @King Schulz moulded tonight, before I have to go away with work for a couple of days.

Honestly I think I am enjoying this thread more than Yellowstone!

Not a bad weekend at all getting four moulded, but to be fair, that was both full days and Friday evening. I can't promise that level of productivity every weekend, but it gives me a head start.

FANTASTIC! can't wait to meet Fritz in person! Despite my car bing in winter hibernation, I will endeavour to fit as quick as possible, so you can see the final result

Can’t wait to meet Torsten in person!

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He’s great company, however I suspect he may be ‘low-octane intolerant’. I’ll keep an eye on him.

Great to hear that Hans is happy and healthy!

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This has been amazing to follow, I admire your dedication. Are you still adding to the list? If so then please put me down. Thanks,

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Thank you! No problem, added. There’s a couple I’ve rejected that have not quite been as perfect as I’d have liked which commits me to another batch of materials so I’ll keep the order book open a little while longer. Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) ryanwright91 #100 4) King Shultz #116 5) tttc - #208 6) corneg1 - #212 7) M1ke - #213 8) 996-aero - #217 9) Teilegott - #218 10) Gixxer996 #225 11) wellsy - #230 12) Steve.S - #235 13) AntonyC - #243 14) Guardsredool - #265 15) BigHammer88 - #219 (end position by request, or when ready from 10th)

What's this? A cheeky spoiler on a school night? Oh, go on then! A couple of small incremental process improvements first though. The small length of silicone tube I used to create a flexible interface between the press fit lid inset and the mixer nozzle shown a few episodes ago split on me, as it was a little bit too much of a tight fit. A first for everything I guess. So I 3D printed some sadapters that push fit onto the end of the mixer nozzles and reduce the O/D to one that the silicone tube more willingly slips over. I also knocked up a quick support bracket to consistently and easily mount the mould box at the optimum angle each and every time. I also needed one that I could remove one handed at the end of the pour to lay the mould box flat before removing the nozzle from the lid. And after plenty of hot towels, some gas and air and a rancid coffee from a not recently cleaned vending machine standing on centry duty half way down a dimly lit corridor, we had another successful delivery. @tttc Meet 'Walter'....

I guess this makes me a Responsible Adult now. If speed keeps him happy, I suppose I can begrudgingly facilitate. He will be expected to work hard, I trust you can provide the requisite training?

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I'm not sure how receptive to training he will be. He's already showing some attitude and appears to have the personality of a Peperami. As soon as I got him out of the mould, he strutted off straight to the back seat of the bus and started to plot mischief. I was hoping to clean and prep the mould for another pour tomorrow, but noticed some deterioration around the lids screw inserts where the constant tightening and loosening of the screws has 'worried' the inserts lose in the chipboard. I spotted the start of this the other day as some had lifted toward the surface from their native recessed spot so re-tightening them in there and added some CA glue, but two spoilers later and now they're at the point where I need to address before risking ruining the mould completely or spoiling a spoiler. Their concept was sound but not really appropriate for frequent torque cycling as the chipboard just can't live with the stress cycles. I removed them all, drilled all the holes out neatly to 13mm and then cut some precise fitting plugs from solid wood and glued these in place. I had to make a few repairs around a few of the holes which threatened the edge of the mould walls a little sio I think I've caught it just in time to save the mould. I'll use wood screws into the wood plugs for the rest of the life of this mould. No pics, sorry - have just been at it solid in the garage. Assuming everything sets and settles overnight and the plugs provide a more solid screw anchor, I should be able to crank out another two or three spoilers this weekend, upon which enough time will have elapsed for me to start refining the first few from last weekend that should have fully cured now.

Are you testing me, Satan? Thankfully, that was today's only sub-optimal show and tell. A blob of CA glue and I was back in business again. I took a couple of shots just to illustrate the 'fix' for the blown out nut inserts where I cut some plugs and glued them in place having removed then drilled out the 'wobbly teeth'. They are deliberately below the surface to ensure they do not interfere with the flat reference plane that the lid rests on. There were all pilot drilled and now use waxed wood screws for as long as they hold out with the constant 'Hokey-Cokey'. The rest of the morning was spent carrying out some remedial repairs to the mould to ensure I maximise it's lifespan. Typically a silicone mould will fail before the mould box ever would, as the silicone deteriorates with the frequent speed-dating of the polyurethane and many other chemicals. It;s pretty robust and inert stuff, but swimming in a bath of two-part reaction chemicals isn't a long term sustainable environment. By the time my stomach was nagging for soime lunch, I'd managed to get another mould cast. A few hours later I lifted the lid... @corneg1 I've worked out that further trimming of the vent and pour spouts even after the thin template has got me close to flush is the best way forward as the resin is still very soft and much easier to work with. After some VERY careful razor work, I can now get them super close before mould extraction. This makes no odds to the end product, it just means I have more refinement work and hand finishing on those that I trim back post release. As I type, it's still in the mould as I find that the longer I can keep them in the mould before release, the better. After about 6-7 hours there's nothing else to be gained so I drag him out of bed before I retire for the evening. In other news, an interesting conundrum has presented itself. Mindful that I know the day will come when I have to start punching holes, I've been pondering the best way to do it to ensure absolute accuracy and consistency. I have my template that I made way back in the beginning which as we're seen is spot on, as this and the couple of early prototypes based on this, snapping into my bumper with the precision of a brand new LEGO brick. Anyone else love the crisp and scratch free feel of brand new LEGO? Anyway.... I kept on looking at my car and thinking I could really do with the bumper removing and placing upside down on the bench so I can obsess and drive myself crazy about unrealistic tolerances of hole positions. But realistically, that's not a practical solution as the bumper is really flexible and unwieldy and the very ability for it to twist and flex so much would shift the holes more than any degree I'm trying to improve on. Fortunately, a very kind forum member who I've been chatting with agreed to let me have his old scrap bumper that had been damaged. I spent some time trimming it down further to the ideal size that reduced bulk induced flex and also made it much easier to handle. I've bonded the few remaining cracks and it now makes a great template. However..... The holes on my original template don't quite match up to the holes on the new bumper section. Most are perfect, but the outer ones are slightly off by 1-2mm which is a concern. To sense check this, I mounted it upside down to my car as if it were a spoiler and found the same issue in that I couldnlt quite get the outer holes toi line up. I could force them, and the flexibility of the spoilers I'm making would absorb most if not all of the difference, but that's not the point. One of the following three scenarios is true. No two bumpers are quite the same from a mounting hole perspective (unlikely). The scrap bumper section has distorted slightly during damage, where bonding the few cracks has exaggerated any slight movement (possible). The true hole placement is best referenced from an original bumper mounted to the car where any inherent stress and positional distortion is already in place (possible). I could just make the holes 1mm bigger and solve the problem, but again, that's not the point, they're either in the correct place or the wrong place and only one of those options works for me. To answer this conundrum, another forum member has offered me his old scrap spoiler where the mounting flange is all still in one piece, with only the vertical fence damaged, which I can use as a 'sense' check against both my bumper and the scrap donor section. We're just organising getting it to me at which point I can then start adding holes to the spoilers already cast. On this basis, I don't want to rush getting these out if I have the slightest concern a couple of the holes might be slightly off. Sure, two minutes with a round file etc.... again, not the point. So in the meantime, I'll use the time to continue casting all the spoilers, then I can arrange a hole-a-thon once I've received the old spoiler to provide the right answer. I am mindful that there comes a point where perfection becomes the enemy completion, so at some point I'll have to check myself, open my internal 'task manager' and 'end task'. As a reassuring frame of reference, I lifted the following images of an original Porsche spoiler to remind myself what the quality and finish is like on a £500+ original item. Always good to keep a sense of perspective I guess. @DJLoDY As your's was first out the gate, it's now just about cured enough to begin refinement which I started earlier. Hopefully I'll have it ready for it's school photo tomorrow, just awaiting it's holes to be added.

Hello Otto! I look forward to being educated on aerodynamic flow theory.

Can't wait for the first day of school! Grown up so fast!

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I think he's definitely one of those intellectual types. I've been in the garage pouring @M1ke 's spoiler and all I could hear in the background was him lecturing the other spoilers about Reynolds numbers or something. I left him to get on with it.

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Especially when they're the oldest in their year group.

A very well behaved student, I must say.

Some will notice the additional holes in the mould walls. The wooden plug inserts didn't work, either splitting or pulling out despite use of adhesive. The chipboard is pretty terrible and a poor choice on reflection, but one made with best intentions. I've re-used the nut inserts again, this time going down a drill size to make sure they were a really snug fit and also glued them in place. I'll only hand nip them up from now on, rather than use the drill driver on it's lowest torque setting as I think that's what's been over loading them, despite that being very little torque at all. Hand nipping them up for M1kes spoiler above worked a treat. Another incremental step forward.

Just sat this afternoon and made my way through this whole thread, wow what fantastic work, well done Interference Fit, superb. Having very recently purchased my first 996 with aero kit the front lip is body coloured and has seen better days, could I join the list for a new one? I know you were only going to make so many, absolutely no rush, understand if I’ve timed it too late

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Hi Nick, thanks for the feedback. I've added you to the list. Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) ryanwright91 #100 4) King Shultz #116 5) tttc - #208 6) corneg1 - #212 7) M1ke - #213 8) 996-aero - #217 9) Teilegott - #218 10) BigHammer88 - #219 11) Gixxer996 #22510) 12) wellsy - #230 13) Steve.S - #235 14) AntonyC - #243 15) Guardsredool - #265 16) Nick 38 - #277 I've had a few 'good, but no cigar' pours behind the scenes that whilst 'decent', were not where I want them in terms of final finish, so I've set these aside for my own car, or other potential uses. This, along with the additional demand sees me committed to another batch of materials, therefore no problem adding to the list for now.

Hey that’s great, much appreciated

@DJLoDY I spent the rest of the afternoon supporting 'Agent 001' through finishing school. He has no name as he is simply known as '001' by friends, colleagues and loved ones. He prefers the anonymity given he's a bit special. I assembled the necessary apparatus and began to teach him some manners, using one of the early prototypes as a support which makes block sanding etc (yes, really) more controllable. Lots of soapy water was sprayed, which at one point felt like a game of 'soap-sud slalom'. I'll spare you the tedium of the hours in between, but the end result looks like this.... My first completed production spoiler (just awaiting holes). I'm particularly pleased with how precise and crisp the angle is between the fence and the flange. As stated way back, these will typically come with a few small imperfections on the mating face of the flange that sits against the underside of the bumper, the face that will never be seen once mounted. To correct these requires some retrospective filling and then a little ultra fine wet sanding, hence from a shallow angle you can see a reflection in the surface it's so smooth. Please forgive me for feeling just a little bit proud at the moment as this is way better than I ever thought possible. I Just hope that anyone that gets a spoiler is pleased with it as it's the very best I'm capable of. As soon as the hole jig is set up and ready, I'll get the holes punched and send 'Agent 001' out in the field for some action.

Max, I look forward to meeting you and promise to treat you better than I did your predecessor.

WOW WOW WOW! Absolutely AMAZING work ! I am over the moon with the pictures, a testament to all your hard work. Thank you so much.

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Yes. Especially the little round technic elements that you use to pin two struts together. Spoilers look cracking. Finish like Lego! You did a lovely job of cleaning that tatty old bumper up, but it’s a puzzle that the holes don’t line up. I wonder if Zender experienced some dimensional shift over the years? I can check the date on that one, but I’m pretty sure it was 98.

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Please add me to the list, having followed this thread from the off and even if I didn't need/want one...I would still have to have one (at least) anyways.

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Please add me to the list, having followed this thread from the off and even if I didn't need/want one...I would still have to have one (at least) anyways.

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Thanks, I hope it lives up to billing.

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No problem, will do, and thank you. I'll mould yours next as you put your hand up way back in post number #23, and as stated and to be fair to everyone, I'll send them out in that order (where possible), although I'm governed by the 7-10 days to fully cure so it might not arrive in the exact order on the list. To be fair, I'll likely be posting out the first few all at once as I'm building up a reasonable stock now waiting for full cure and to finalise the hole jig to confirm exact positions. List updated to reflect. Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 2) Malone - #17 3) kaizengruppe - #23 4) ryanwright91 #100 5) King Shultz #116 6) tttc - #208 7) corneg1 - #212 8) M1ke - #213 9) 996-aero - #217 10) Teilegott - #218 11) BigHammer88 - #219 12) Gixxer996 - #225 13) wellsy - #230 14) Steve.S - #235 15) AntonyC - #243 16) Guardsredool - #265 17) Nick 38 - #277

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LEGO - foundation of my childhood. I guess any variance between bumpers would be down to whether the holes were template added post production, or cast into the original mould. I suspect the latter, but who knows. It's not impossible, but given the very low production numbers, I'd wager they only ever used one original buck. Would it surprise you that I came this close (pinched thumb and finger together with an outstretched arm for effect) to fully bodyworking the bumper section and refinishing it? I actually had the DA and Dolphin Glaze out and on the bench ready.... <send help> I've had a play with it earlier and experimented with various hole alignments to see what the largest number of location pegs I could fit without any positional stress or interference. This helped identify which holes are most likely to be the ones in question. The template I'm using (subject to sense checking) for the hole positions is the original the base flange I cut off the very first prototype, which I aligned perfectly with my own bumper way back when I was just a young boy with hopes and dreams... I used it to position the holes in all the subsequent prototypes so I'm confident in it's correct reference, to my specific bumper at least. Against the donor section by comparison, the central most five holes all align, however the differential begins to materialise toward the outer ends. I can gently 'force' all bar one of plastic rivets in, but can feel it's not quite right and see them leaning at an angle going in, where the worst of the bunch (closest to the damage) is just not quite close enough and forces one of the others to pop out. Here are the outer most holes which are the furthest away from expectation, one slightly worse than the other. We're talking very small amounts here, but it's important to me to know for certain which is the best reference point to work from. The only way I'll know for sure is when a donor original spoiler arrives, which I believe is in the post thanks to yet another very kind and helpful forum member - thanks to you both! We'll get there, I just don't want to take any chances, as if a recipient has to take a file or drill to open out a hole on the spoiler slightly, even if a tiny amount, it makes a mockery of all the effort I've put into getting this to a quality I'm happy with. We'll get there and it'll be interesting to know.

Tonight wasn't all just about measuring hole alignment. Amidst the frantic excitement, I prepared and poured another 'air flow botherer'. @996-aero

Hi Stephan - brilliant, I'll see what I can do! Can't wait to meet him. Perfect timing, as I just picked up my car yesterday after an engine build.

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Fantastic, thank you very much

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Nice collection growing here….. White patchiness is just varying amounts of residual release wax not yet cleaned. The longer I let them cure before finessing, the better.

How is the silicone holding up? And how does it degrade?

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It's doing okay so far, but the mould box won't last forever, that's for sure!! The chemicals dry the silicone out making it more likely to eventually harden, craze, crack, split and generally lose its elasticity. Depending on the shape of the item being cast; intricate reliefs and undercuts which you might find when moulding a model action figure or a rose bud for example, require a high degree of flexing to release the product, which promotes accelerated deterioration. 10-20 castings is generally considered typical, with 30 seen as good going from speaking with the manufacturer. The liquid gold stuff I upgraded to lasts longer than the original regular variety I tried, which only last a handful of castings by all accounts. If the mould begins to fail, I'll make a new one, now I'm confident with the technique and processing element. I think the relative simplicity of this shape lends itself to an extended mould life.

Interesting findings. Thanks to yet another helpful forum member who sent me his old damaged spoiler to use as a comparison template for hole positioning, I was also able to do a direct comparison, side by side against my own interpretation. I spent a good while taking all kinds of measurements and comparing it to my version, and whilst the differences are only very subtle, the holistic feel is different. The original feels more like a mud flap type of material, where mine feels closer to a rubber cargo liner for example, the rigidity and flexibility the greatest differentiators. I took a series of side by side photos just for people to see any differences. My version photographed in these pictures is one of the prototypes used to cast the mould, only because it is rigid and and therefore better to compare shape and size than the more flexible production version. Hence it's a little marked, has a glossy finish and has holes in from trial fitting to my car. Apart from the rounded and smoothed out edges and profiles, the only dimensional differences are that mine is ever so slightly slimmer overall by 1-2mm although the rounded edges visually exaggerate this more than reality. Not much in it, but I guess you'll get a tiny bit more ground clearance with mine. The other element which is also visually exaggerated by the square vs rounded edges is that the original is slightly thicker in section than mine which promotes it feeling more bulky I guess. The biggest difference is without doubt the flexibility which I think is hopefully a real benefit to users. I weighed them and the original came in at 448g. I couldn't weigh minbe properly due to it flexing over the sides of the scales and touching the floor, but I know it's less than 300g by the weight of resin mixed for each one. I was then able to assess the hole positions which was the ultimate objective of the exercise. Like my own template, the centre few holes line up well, but also like my template, drifted further away from the bumper toward the outside edges. The crazy thing here is that this had a far greater differential to the bumper than the template did. This one had a different post code.... This one wasn't eve nin the same time zone, nor lined up with the bumper curvature. Another interesting observation was that the holes in the spoiler are only 7mm diameter, where as the holes in the bumper are 8mm diameter. They are made by the same company. The issue this causes is that the smaller holes forces the plastic rivets to close up into a taper and cause the spoiler to be the limiting factor or expansion when the screw is inserted, rather than let the rivet expand and press into the walls of the bumper hole. This may explain why so many of them appear to be hanging down? I could almost bend and manipulate it to fit the donor bumper section, but required a good bit of force and manipulation. It also explains why so many have elongated holes cut in them. I then tried to fit it to my own car, which like the donor bumper section, did not line up well, although I could make a case for it being a little easier to 'force fit' the rivets into the holes. These show the misalignment on my own car. Ignore what look like additional holes, these are location stickers used from whern I scanned the underside of the bumper. I just need to unpeel them. At this stage I'm still processing the data mentally, but I'm reaching the following conclusions. 1) Trying to precision fit flexible, 25 year old plastic parts is futile. 2) The original parts were not dimensionally precise to begin with 3) Different bumpers will have aged with use and possibly shifted / flexed / distorted slightly to where no two are exactly the same 4) My own bumper is the only un-damaged part in the equation, albeit I don't believe the damage to either the spoiler or bumper are responsible for the dimensional positioning of the holes Given the above, it feels like the the best we can realistically aim for is that the holes are in the right location, plus or minus a small amount of manipulation, which with the highly flexible nature of my spoiler makes this somewhat moot. The worst case scenario is that against some bumpers, it might be necessary to tweak a hole or two by a tiny fraction. I'd rather this than just make them all a 9mm 'rattling good fit'. Unless anyone wants to suggest otherwise, I'll use my own template and bumper for hole positioning and sleep well in the knowledge that I carried out due diligence, albeit didn't find the tolerances of original parts supportive of any greater accuracy than we already have. The sad thing is that whilst this probably bores most readers to tears, I love this kind of stuff. The good news is that @DJLoDY is close enough to collect his spoiler in person on Saturday, so I look forward to welcoming him into the thoroughly underwhelming cave where, if the stars align as expected, we can mould another spoiler together and see how it's done. Exciting times.

Woo Hoo! I'm super excited for Saturday. I'm going to take off my OEM spoiler tonight and hopefully not find any horrors beneath. I know it will have been at least taken and refitted twice before when painted, so who knows what the body shops did to get it back on! See you Saturday!

When mines had the nose painted in the past they just painted the spoiler too!! Had a good look at it yesterday, surprised how ridged it is. Will make much more sense to have a flexible one and shiny black too

Great stuff. I too was surprised at the rigidity. I guess a compromise has to be made for cost effective mass production. if it needs to be cheap and relatively robust, it had to be pretty chunky to withstand impacts. I've got the other way and accepted impacts withh be a way of life, so designed in deflection without cracking or splitting. Just for the avoidance of doubt, the prototype was glossy, the production part is a matt/satin rubber type finish and not glossy, although it is a very smooth finish which gives the impression of gloss when viewed from an acute angle.

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Great stuff, we can compare two original spoilers to each other and also continue to sense check fitment variation and choose the best option, albeit splitting hairs over a millimeter.

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Understood, not a problem love how they are looking, clean and new

Safety glasses at the ready, we've 'levelled up' with the laser!! A 100W, JPTM7 MOPA laser if anyone is interested. Still awaiting to be rack assembled, but serviceable enough as it is. Anyone remember back in season 2 when I tried to cast in my own part number, but failed to get the quality where I wanted it? I guess a little bit like Pythagoras with his triangles, the other answer is typically lasers. I decided it would be worth a try to see if I could laser etch my part number into the finished product, rather than try to cast them in, as this would then enable me to individually, numerically etch each one. It took a fair while to dial in the settings for the resin blend, as frequency, speed, pulse and average power, number of passes and overlay angle all need to be set. Thankfully, I was not short of previous samples to test it on. Eventually I got what I was looking for. I took a video of the process of me etching numero uno for none other than @DJLoDY ..... The orange appearance is because I had to put the camera behind MIL spec glasses, as the 100W laser will cut through steel and makes a right old mess of camera lenses. I'm delighted with the results! And yes, @Mallone , you were next up to bat.... In the end I managed to get the first 10 etched, and will continue in this vein. As a little momento, I etched one of those little aluminium cards I have, to keep as a reminder to never give up. It took every ounce of my being to resist etching in their names!!

Outstanding

Outrageous attention to detail. I salute you!

Absolutely brilliant Just awesome

What a thread Doffs cap

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback, it really helps. The ultimate litmus test will be when you receive your spoiler and are content, the first of these will be Saturday when DJoDLY collects 'Agent 001'. I won't lie, I'm feeling very anxious about this as one of my greatest fears in life is that my best might not be good enough. I've left nothing on the table with these and have give it my absolute all. However, it is important to others that the earliest recipients are honest in their appraisal within this thread so it gives others the chance to back out, as nobody is obliged or committed.

Good lord. I see a couple of wires without spade terminals and matching printed heatshrink though. Plus, think of the poor quality airflow around those power supplies.

Absolutely incredible, I don't think there is any doubt about you "giving it your all" Very excited for Saturday!

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Ha, yes! Thankfully this was a very quick temporary installation to etch the first spoilers in a very limited window of opportunity and does not represent normal standards of infrastructure. Everything was stripped and packed away 15 mins later.

Great work mate !! Should have put their names in small print somewhere as a signature

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I'm back in the UK and with my car for the first time in a while. Having just looked at my existing OE splitter which has only been fitted 6months or so, I have to say the quality of the original part is poor. There is flash and sharp edges not to mention inconsistent and poor surface finish. I am being hyper critical as in a previous life I was a toolmaker for an injection moulding company. The point is, when fitted all owners are happy with the original part. From the pics, yours look way better. So have confidence in what you have made- it looks great!! You can hardly see the bloody things when fitted anyway Top job- well done.

Well, it’s been eight months of R&D and here we are, the first one ready for a new home. @DJLoDY will be arriving any moment.

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isn it getting fitted with you? get some photos in

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Yes indeed, well collected, not fitted, however we did fit it to both the donor bumper section and my car to sense check I'd punched the holes in the correct place. When @DJLoDY arrived I was feeling really nervous as I invited him into the workshop to show him what all my efforts have been about, but he seemed to be really pleased. I'm sure he'll add his own thoughts and observations at some point. What a lovely guy - pleasure to meet you, Sir! He kindly brought his own OEM spoiler along as a further sense check of hole positions before we punched the holes in 'Agent 001' This spoiler felt quite different to the other one kindly shared by another forum member (you're all great and have helped this project hugely, thankyou!). By comparison, this one is more slender and almost identical to mine in section, and looks like all the ones I've seen online, whereas the other one is much more heavy duty and has subtly different dimensions. Having compared the part numbers and done some further research, the heavier duty item that I couldn't get to fit to my car or the donor bumper quite correctly is actually the Cup Car version, not the GT3/Aero (road) version. I bet it fits a Cup Car bumper like a glove. Mystery solved. Cup splitter above, GT3/Aero splitter below. The 'road' item mounted straight up to both mine and the donor bumper section with ease, despite their very tiny differences, likely due to mounting vs free standing. We settled on using the OEM road splitter as the hole jig and methodically punched each hole in one by one, joining the new one and the original back to back with the clips as we went along, to guarantee there was no positional wandering between holes. It worked out great and the joy (relief) I felt when it attached to my own car was huge. I was trying to keep my composure in front of my guest, but failed miserably. To see the actual end product, in position is enormously satisfying. As previously mentioned, to help secure these along the front edge, I'll fit each one with a full length of the appropriate 3M 0.6mm thick VHB tape as per below and leave the top face of the tape with its film in place and a tab at each end to remove once the owner has fitted it in position with the clips. This will ensure it is in exactly the correct place. We've agreed that I can keep hold of the OEM splitter for a short while where I'll make a sturdy exact replica base plate jig that I can just slot each spoiler into and punch the holes with confidence, rather than what must have been over an hour getting the first holes just right. Now the spoiler has passed the 'customer inspection', I'll pause moulding for a few days and crack on finessing those that have now fully cured and aim to get these out in the next week or so. There's a good few hours to finesse each one so bare with me. I also need to make the hole jig. .......and breathe........

"Passes" is an understatement. The final product surpasses expectations. It is truly amazing to see the level of precision fit and finish in the final piece. I honestly regard this an upgrade OEM+ , hopefully enough compliance to survive the speed bumps. As with the test fit earlier, this push fitted to my bumper with ease. Every hole spot on. The joy of peeling the backing off the 3M tape! This has been an amazing project from the start and I am truly grateful for hours and hours of R&D to get to this point. If anyone is in any doubt about the standard of the spoiler, take it from me that this work is second to none. In fact, it is noticeably better than any of the plastic/rubber bits Porsche supply. IF is a top bloke, truly dedicated to the community with a passion for perfection. Hats off to you sir!

Precision punching

test fit joy

Whilst I was graced with the presence of a guest, I did cast another spoiler that I had prepared last night. @Teilegott

Fitting the 3M tape

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I'm humbled by that appraisal, thank you. It's been a great journey so far to get to this stage and it wouldn't have got this far without the spirit of forum community, supportive friendships I've struck and the love for these great cars.

fitting steps... remove old bumper, clean underneath, push fit (remove 3M tape) and screw to fix so easy with the supplied bits!

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And this satisfying moment!

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Bench test fit for holes... One handed push fit on my car... and the last screw

Some behind the scenes of the process... the nozzle mix the pour

Thanks for uploading these. That was the spoiler for @Teilegott being moulded right there! Still buzzing with the glow of achievement, I also poured one for @BigHammer88 late last night and despite my best intentions, will try to get @Gixxer996 and @wellsy done as well. In the hours between pouring and release, I'll focus on the finish prep for the next in the queue. A long day ahead.....

It just occurred to nm that whilst a rather intimate moment and not really ‘safe for work’, I’ve never captured a live birth. As soon as they’re born, I find it best to incubate them for 24 hours on a silicone bed whist the surface is still soft and prone to marking. The lid from season two is perfect for this. After a day, they can then join the other spoilers in the nursery.

@Gixxer996 We’ve got another feisty one here….

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Awesome looks great and simple install !!

Hi frank- lovely to meet you! I spend more time on the brakes than the throttle- so looking forward to the lessons

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He mentioned something along the lines of it's either full throttle or maximum breaking at all times, no in between - one or the other.

@Mallone I spent the rest of today getting yours all prepared, holes punched and ready. Here are some pics I took just now to make sure everything was as it should be before adding the tape. I'll have him all boxed up and ready to post by this time tomorrow.

Just updating with latest status: Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to ship) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (on the bench) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (moulded) 5) King Shultz #116 (moulded) 6) tttc - #208 (moulded) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (moulded) 8) M1ke - #213 (moulded) 9) 996-aero - #217 (moulded) 10) Teilegott - #218 (moulded) 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (moulded) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 15) AntonyC - #243 16) Guardsredool - #265 17) Nick 38 - #277 18) Teilegott - #218 (additional order)

@Mallone All boxed up and ready to post. The custom ordered boxes are a great fit.

@wellsy I know I said I'd take a short pause from moulding, but I'm out of the game for a couple of days laster this week so wanted to get another one or two moulded in advance.

@kaizengruppe I finished finessing yours just now and hope to add the holes, trial fit, then box up for you tomorrow.

@Mallone - will keep yours to one side until you're ready.

@Steve.S. Just moulded yours now. I'll not keep posting the same pictures of identical looking spoilers sitting in the mould as I'm sure it's getting old now, so will just update with progress as we go.

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Keep posting the pictures…. I’m only here for the introductory notes now

Have been following this journey from the beginning , a huge achievement! Thank you.

@kaizengruppe All done and ready to post. I'll DM you details. Thanks. Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (ready to post) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (moulded) 5) King Shultz #116 (moulded) 6) tttc - #208 (moulded) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (moulded) 8) M1ke - #213 (moulded) 9) 996-aero - #217 (moulded) 10) Teilegott - #218 (moulded) 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (moulded) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 16) Guardsredool - #265 17) Nick 38 - #277 18) Teilegott - #218 (additional order)

Biggest question though is, what's next?

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I note that the GT3 rear lip spoiler is at similar levels of comedy pricing, so I might have a crack at one of those. Porsche SPOILER Porsche Part 99651298800 SPOILER www.eurospares.co.uk Not sure, I'll see what inspires me. In the meantime, I'm just concentrating on getting these completed and out to forum members.

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@AntonyC

@ryanwright91 All done, boxed and ready. Will DM details. @Guardsredool I've just moulded yours now. Latest Status: Spoiler Alert List 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (ready to post) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (ready to post) 5) King Shultz #116 (moulded) 6) tttc - #208 (moulded) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (moulded) 8) M1ke - #213 (moulded) 9) 996-aero - #217 (moulded) 10) Teilegott - #218 (moulded) 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (moulded) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick 38 - #277 18) Teilegott - #218 (additional order) Only two left to mould now.

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Amazing mate. You’ve flown through them.

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Thanks, I'm just really keen to get them all moulded as soon as possible, that way I know they are viable and 'safe' as it were. Because I had to buy another bulk batch of materials, boxes and consumables, but mainly as I'll have some of my resin mix left over, I think once everyone has received theirs, I'll carry on making them until I've run out of resin. It would be good to have a few boxed up and ready, just in case. If the other recipients are equally as satisfied as DJLoDY is and the general consensus is a thumbs up, I might consider making a new mould and running more in the future. Whilst not a 'commercially' viable proposition in man hours alone, I do really enjoy making them from a hobby / past time perspective and being able to help other enthusiasts not be forced into a supply and demand corner. I appreciate this forum is a closed and captive audience and community, but I'm lead to believe that there's an aero kit facebook group or club that might also benefit from these, but I've niot seen it myself. If anyone knows of this, please DM me the details and I'll investigate whether this could be useful to others in a wider audience if I do decide to make more. On reflection, I think I'd make a batch, then offer them out rather than make to order, that way I don't feel any time pressure and can work at my own pace and leisure. I've also tried to get ahead of the curve this week as I'm out the game for the rest of this week due to a hospital appointment taking place today. I might be able to be do some light prep on Saturday or Sunday depending on how I'm recovering. I'll get the final two member spoilers cast by Tuesday, then I can spend the rest of next week finessing and boxing up. On reflection, I missed a trick by not getting the boxes custom printed with some sort of logo or detail, but my non-existent ego would probably have red-flagged me. Now I've got a prescribed method of finessing figured out in terms of what order, what materials, what tools etc to use, not to mention the best way to punch the holes, I can finesse each one in about 3.5 hours. If I aim to do one each night after work, I should have everyone's complete and ready to post by the week after next, mindful that any I cast need at least 7 days to fully cure. As may have been observed in the 'birth of a spoiler' video (below)... between 1 hour and 24 hours, they are very floppy indeed as the polymer chains have not fully formed which is what promotes the level of elasticity required for it to spring back to shape after deflection. As I have them all lined up in a row, inspecting each one in time cast order, I can feel the subtle differences in their rigidity as I move from oldest to newest. At about 7 days, I can no longer detect any further change in their perceptible mechanical properties which reflects the data sheet for the intrinsic base resin. My modifications to the mix do not appear to have changed the curing time or process. (These have been posted before, but only adding for context for any new readers who may not have the life expectancy to read the full thread) For those interested in the refinement process, the first thing needed is to trim the slight flashing edges off which feel like a slightly sharp ridge all the way round the perimeter of the mounting flange.I quickly discovered to my horror that trying to do this with a razor is inviting disaster and does not leave a consistent uniform finish. I use 320 grit (wet) on a curved rubber block as a slight angle to avoid the face surfaces and this removes the flashing perfectly. Next up is to laser etch the part number in - I'll do these all at once as setting up and calibrating the laser takes a few hours, but boy is it fun. For the remaining batch from number 11 onwards, I'll try to radius the part number to match the radius of the spoiler. Because I'm weird like that. At this point they looks and feel like any other moulded rubber product, with slight deviation in surface finish due to the nature of the silicone mould, the release wax spray and any other variables. I believe in this condition they would be perfectly acceptable and in line with realistic expectations of a moulded product. DLJoDY had a look at those waiting their turn and confirmed they were fine as they were, but knowing they can be better, i enjoy the process of further refinement. This involved laying the spoiler out on the flat bench surface and then effectively wet sanding it like car body work to even out the finish. Any actual blemishes are normally quickly sorted with 600 grit, but the general starting point is 800 grit - all stages are wet and with very soapy water. I tried to do it dry but observed that the paper clogs up instantly as the rubber tends to 'crumb', which then marrs the surface further. Wet sanding prevents this, although it feels very grippy and juddery, making it hard work. Adding pH neutral soap to the water solves this problem, but only with lots of it, circa 10% mix, far more than you'd use washing a car for example. Then it's just a case of going through the grits stage by stage. I also quickly learned that trying to short gut the grits when sanding soft rubber is futile, I have to go through each grit at a time and can't for example go from 800 straight to 1,500 for example as it just doesn't cut when the surface is too fsr removed from the next grit. Therefore I generally go 800, 1,000, 1,200, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500. Originally I was going to 3,000 but found it difficult and ultra time consuming to get into all the curves uniformly so resorted to 3M pads. There's a logic that says just stop at 1,200 for example, it feels smooth as glass. Whilst this is true, the matter black surface still shows the very fine sanding scratches which leaves the finnish in a dry looking, dull grey. Only when you get above 2,000 grit does the deep black finish re-appear. The final two stages again wet with very soapy water is to hand rub rub them with ultra-fine 3M Scotch brite pads which really do a great job of getting into the inner angles and curves. I use a hair dryer between each stage to dry the water off to reveal the actual surface finish as they look brilliant wet, but a dry state shows where I'm really at. Once satisfied they're as perfect as I can get them, I then give them a final non-soapy, but wet rub over with a 3M white cleaning pad which does not contain any specific abrasive, but does tend to even out the finish that last little bit, whilst also removing any soap residue. At this point they look superb (to my eyes) and I can then punch the holes. I only punch the holes after surface refinement as doing so over the punched holes would be as pain and result in inconsistencies around the holes. Also, the punch leaves such a precise and neat edge and finish, it would be a shame to smooth these crisp edges out. Once I've tried fitted it and photographed it, I give it a final IPA wipe over, then a quick coat of Autoglym Rubber and Vinyl Care spray as in my esperience, this is the best at richening the finish without leaving anything that could smear, smudge or attract finger prints, Once dry, I buff off with a dry microfible and insert into the plastic transport bags. I appreciate the above will be ultra boring to most, but thought Ild share why it takes best part of 4 hours to refine each one. Hopefully when you receive yours and slide it out the bag for the first time, you can appreciate what has gone into making it look and feel the way it feels. Then you can smash it into a speed bump and make me cry.

Surely when we smash them into speed bumps they’ll just spring back? More schnell. Glad to hear you’re still enjoying the process. Dangers with turning a hobby into a day job and all that… Also glad my bumper actually went on to be helpful to you. Really looking forward to what will be the finishing touch on what has turned into a mini restoration for me.

Your attention to detail is absolutely amazing IF Superb work, can’t believe how quickly you’re getting through them, BRAVO!!!

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Absolutely - the hardest part of modifying the resin was to ensure full dimensional recovery post deflection, without diminishing the high level of abrasion, crack or tear resistance. My tears reference is just that after such efforts to make them look as perfect as I can, it's heartbreaking to think of them out there in the wilde, doing what they have been designed to do. Yes, your bumper section has proven pivotal in both confirming alignment and sense checking which original spoiler is 'correct' for a road car - I thank you again, really appreciated. I will have to body work and paint it though. I just can't help myself. I once heard a wise man say that as soon as your hobby becomes your job, it no longer remains your hobby, echoing your point. I have zero intentions of going down that route as I am in the very fortunate position to love my day job, the company I work for and the people I work with, which get my absolute uncompromised priority and commitment. This is and will only ever be something to focus on outside of work. Covering my costs is my only requirement on any scale. I look forward to seeing your car back on the road!

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Thanks, I'm literally spending every spare hour I have in the garage, 7 days. (And loving it)

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One happy upside of this though is that they can be refinished after accruing the patina of speed, following your clearly documented process. It’s kinda twisted but I enjoy making things shiny and then getting them filthy, bug-etched and rubber smeared; only to go round the whole loop again. It’s like completing the 24h then not being precious about the dirt. I was in a bit of a rut with mine, but reading about your efforts genuinely helped me break that cycle and get back outside spending the hours on it. So, thanks.

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May I please request that it be Speed Yellow, Maritime Blue or Rubystone?

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All great colours, along with Mint Green and Miami Blue. But, I was thinking more along the lines of smoothing the crack repairs and using whatever rattle cans I have in the drawer. I didn’t quite plan on firing up the Devilbiss.

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But the idea has been planted now. It strikes me that you’re not a man to half-arse things.

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Yes, yes it has. No, no I'm not. I'll be having PPF fitted to it next!!

Spoiler Club Status 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (moulded) 6) tttc - #208 (moulded) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (moulded) 8) M1ke - #213 (moulded) 9) 996-aero - #217 (moulded) 10) Teilegott - #218 (moulded) 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (moulded) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick 38 - #277 18) Teilegott additional order - #218

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You sound like my kind of guy Klaus, smooth in more ways than one

@King Schulz Complete and boxed up ready to post.

@nick38 @Teilegott That's everyone's spoiler now moulded. Spoiler Club Status 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (ready to post) 6) tttc - #208 (ready to post) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (moulded) 8) M1ke - #213 (moulded) 9) 996-aero - #217 (moulded) 10) Teilegott - #218 (moulded) 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (moulded) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded) 18) Teilegott additional order - #218 (moulded)

Interesting day today as I tried to make my hole punch jig. This was all about saving time. It did not. Whilst it 'wasted' several hours to be left with some scrap wood in the bin, it did at least prove another concept. Up until now, I've been been using an original spoiler (on loan) as a hole jig where I clamp the new one and original back to back, mark the holes, then punch them by hand which is time consuming to make sure each one is in exactly the right position. At one end of my garage is a queue of spoilers that are doing a pretty good job of impersonating an airport baggage conveyor, each needing 11 holes punching in. Somewhat daunted by this,I thought it would be worth making a jig to speed up the process. The main challenge is that my hole punch is tapered, so whilst the inside ID is the correct 8mm, the outer body of the punch flares out to 11mm, hence it's not just a case of positioning it in the holes of the original spoiler - it's too big to fit in, hence I have to mark each out by hand. I needed something that would hold the punch in exactly the correct position, perfectly vertical and slide easily without play. After some head scratching, I realised that the equivalent of a valve guide was what I needed, so 3D printed one. The shoulder is recessed to allow it to fit into a larger hole that I needed to put into a template. With a dab of silicone grease, the punch slides within the guide beautifully with zero (detectible) play. I then made the base template using some pegs and bits of board to locate the spoiler in position. I didn't get any pictures of how I transferred the holes, but used my original bright green location finders which slot into the original holes and have a 3mm pilot hole drilled in the middle. I twas then able to open thesis out to the 13mm shoulder of the guide. I Did this slowly on the mill to get a precise and clean fit. The guide slots in perfectly with an..... (wait for it)........interference fit. Sorry. Where I went wrong was by trying to be clever by removing the little positioning pieces that held the spoiler in the correct place and replacing these with full perimeter boards to hold it more securing in place. It didn;t and actually introduced greater variability in hindsight as trying to peferctly match the radius both on the front and rear edges proved 'frustrating'. It did appear to work out well, n theory. However, it was still a faff, and trying to keep the spoiler cl;amped upside down in the jig was a pain and if anything took longer than moy original method, without providing any benefit. I guess the one benefit is that it allows me to return the spoiler on loan, but DJLoDY has said I can hang on to it for a little while so I'll continue to use it and my previous method of alignment. What I did notice was that despite my best efforts, even though the spiler was a snug fit in the jig, every time it popped out and needed reinstalling with the clamps moved down a hole, it introduced some positional variance that I wasn't happy with, hence it took longer than the previous method to punch them all in, having to make micro adjustments each time. Regardless, I'm pleased that the punch guide concept worked, even though its now temporarily redundant, albeit may come into play at some point in the future. Now everyone has their spoiler moulded, I can concentrate on final finishing and get them sent out.

I am learning so much from your write-ups. After 30 (over) years working behind a desk, it is such a privilege to read of your process - your experimentation and eventual progress. Thank you for taking the time, not only to produce your kit, but to write up your process. Educational and entertaining too.

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Looking fantastic! Thank you for such good customer care and for the continued thread updates. This has been a masterclass in project management.

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I appreciate that, thank you. It's been a steep learning curve and very much an education for me, too. The main thing I've learned is that it would have been WAY cheaper and easier to just 'pay the man' and buy one. I appreciate it's been a long and painful process, so thank you for your patience.

Looks brilliant! Fantastic project and Im glad you got it perfected after all that work. I guess this will not fit the standard 996.1 OEM bumper? Would be a great way to get a more aggressive front end for us without the sought after Aero kit

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It's highly flexible and the profile of the bumper underside is not all that different so I'm confident it could be manipulated slightly to fit, but I'd like to offer one up to a standard bumper first.

@tttc Got yours all complete, boxed and ready to ship.

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From a quick search on the web, here is a comparison between the two bumper profiles front underneath. Aerokit: Regular I think they are remarkably similar and I'd be very surprised if it didn't fit as the forward curve of the flat underside looks almost if not identical. Maybe someone with photoshop could do an overlay?

Received my front lip today. Unreal attention to detail during the design process it is absolutely great. Hopefully get it fitted this week/next will update the thread with fitted photos Thanks again @Interference Fit great to deal with too.

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Great stuff, I look forward to seeing it fitted. Make sure to press the front edge firmly against the bumper, as the adhesive is pressure sensitive.

@corneg1 All done and ready to post.

Spoiler Club Status 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (ready to post) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (ready to post) 8) M1ke - #213 (on the bench) 9) 996-aero - #217 (moulded) 10) Teilegott - #218 (moulded) 11) BigHammer88 - #219 (moulded) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded) 18) Teilegott additional order - #218 (moulded)

What a great read this thread always is The attention to detail, clean, clear and honest thought process and humour is very involving Chapeau

Fantastic - thank you very much! Can't wait for it to arrive

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Will post at lunch time. I shared the label and tracking info just now. Cheers!

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I just noticed in your middle picture that one end is slightly twisted. I can only imagine this is due to it being stood on end for a while in transit where it's own weight will have curled it slightly. It will settle flat again very quickly as it has full memory properties, but takers a short while to recover due to the slight plasticity included in the polymer to aide abrasion resistance. As you will have seen in the demo video, you can tie it in a knot and it will fully recover, but if left deformed, especially in a cold environment, may take a short while to fully level. It would mount up perfectly due to it's inherent flexibility, but just in case you wondered why it was not lying flat, straight out of the box, thought I’d mention it. It's given me an idea to tape the others flat to the surface of the box to keep it still.

It just occurred to me that at no point have I mentioned 'what if' scenarios. **For the avoidance of doubt** If anyone is in any way not 100% satisfied with their spoiler, its quality, value proposition or fit, just let me know and I can either fully refund or replace it at my full expense. Whilst this is not a commercial enterprise and very much just me as a hobbyist trying to help my fellow forum members not be wounded by supply and demand market forces, it is essential to me that everyone has a great experience that surpasses that normally experienced with many retail vendors. It's just something that matters to me, so to reinforce that with actions that are not just words, full no quibble refund / replacement is offered. Thanks

Quotes source post: 2725110

Yehh I did guess this I lid it out and just popped something on the lip to keep it down to pull it back straight and it’s all fine now

@M1ke Just to keep you updated, I've just completed finessing yours and aim to punch the holes and box up tomorrow night. I'll post pics once done as per usual.

@M1ke All done and ready to post. I've attached the protective sleeve to the inside of the box, so don't worry if it appears stuck inside. Cheers.

@996-aero All done and ready to fly free....

Latest status... 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (ready to post) 10) Teilegott - #218 (ready to post) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (on the bench) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded) 18) Teilegott additional order - #218 (moulded)

@Teilegott All done and ready. I’ll keep it safe until your second one is ready.

What's the collective noun for spoilers? A flow? A disturbance? Whatever it is, I assembled the patient troops for their trip under the laser to be branded. Which means it was time to play lasers again, only this time with the various components at least partially rack mounted and with adequate air flow round the cooling fans! The extrusion sections used for the homemade rack allow for hight adjustment of the head depending on the power and substrate being etched. They also can be used to make a carry handle! All the remaining spoilers received their birth certificate without complaint, including one I finally moulded for myself. Ignore the surface finish, this is mould fresh and still covered in wax. I'd run out of release spray wax when I moulded mine, so experimented on a different method where I polished the inside of the lid and applied carnauba wax. The results were interesting. The carnauba wax was not as good of a release agent as the proprietary spray, although I probably didn't use enough of it, or polished too much of it away. It took some firm words of encouragement to release it from the lid. It did however leave a rather, erm, ('ll let you decide) surface finish on the mating face. Good to know the resin blend is capable of this. I think. And finally, another opportunity to level up with a heat sealer for the protective sleeves I use. It gives a more satisfying appearance, so I'm pleased I have this now.

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Now you’re talking. I got mine out the box yesterday for a trial fit. Unfortunately, like one of the others above, it had been coiled up in the bottom for a while. Once on the car it has retained a bit of a wave, but I’m hoping it will come back slowly. I’ll let you know how it goes. It’s not particularly warm (or cold) in my garage, but do you think some gentle heat might help it along if it doesn’t come back of its own accord? It is, however, an absolutely beautiful thing.

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Hi, thanks for the feedback. It will (should) fully recover to its correct form in a short space of time, I've had them drooping over the edge of a shelf for a few weeks and once laid flat on the bench, are 100% flat again within 24 hours, 90% of the way there within a couple of hours. The material is not a thermoplastic so applying heat will not (should not) make any difference. Feel free to run a hair dryer along it a while but I doubt this would change anything. If it doesn't fully recover within a day or so, remove it and lay it flat on the bench and give it another 24 hours. Assuming removal will destroy the 3M tape, let me know and I'll send you out a new roll at my expense. If it doesn't recover on the bench, I'll exchange it for a replacement at my full cost. Based on this and previous feedback, all spoilers are now posted affixed to the box to prevent this occurring. If for any reason when removed from the box it does not lay flat, let it rest for 24 hours on a flat surface before fitting. As ever, any issues, let me know and I'll sort one way or the other, but the material should fully recover. Please post progress in the thread so others can see how we progress.

I agreed not to post the spoiler for @Mallone until he is ready for it, so have opened the box (standing on end for a couple of weeks now) to assess and like above, has assumed a temporary bend at each end whilst not affixed to the box. I've got this laid out flat on the bench and will report how it responds over the next 24 hours, as this will give clarity of prognosis to anyone else 's who's has gone on a bender whilst unsupervised. Additionally, I've taken one of the test mules (i.e fails) and clamped it to a workmate with the ends deliberately dropping over the side to form a bend. Once this has had 24-48 hours to assume the position, I'll then lay it flat and see how it recovers and cross reference this with the spoiler for @Mallone as a double sense check. @kaizengruppe @ryanwright91 @corneg1 @King Schulz @M1ke Please can you provide feedback on how your spoiler landed as I can see most of you have now received. Those since have been box affixed. Thanks all - this is one of those situations that you don't know what you don't know, but rest assured - a positive outcome will prevail irrespective.

Absolutely, will keep you up to date. Thanks. I won’t be sticking mine on for a few weeks anyway, as the car is yet to go back to the bodyshop for a final blow-over.

Quotes source post: 2726171

Ah, that makes life much easier. I suggest removing it from the car, removing the clips and laying in a flat surface (mating face down), manipulating it to the approximate correct curvature and then putting some weight on any raised areas, or taping flat to the surface with some masking tape. I've just been out to the garage to see how the experiment my end is getting on after 4 hours resting. I weighed down the left hand side with the label, but left the right hand side to just 'rest'. After 4 hours, the weighted side is about 80% recovered and the unweighted side aboiut 50%-60% recovered. Holding it flat just speeds uop the process it would appear. Let me know how you get on. My bet is that if you can lay it flat tonight, by the morning it will be pretty much there. Gentle manipulation of the wave by hand will encourage a speedier recovery. Compare these two images to those posted earlier.

Latest.... 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (ready to post) 10) Teilegott x2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (on the bench) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (moulded) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded)

Quotes source post: 2725269

Just checking, did yours fully recover after resting flat? Just want to double check a couple of days later, if for no other reason that reassurance to others.

Just a brief note to say thank you very, very much for the spoiler. I grabbed mine from the clutches of the post Office at the weekend and set to work putting it on my car. Perfect, straight out of the box! Went on without a hitch, fits perfectly. looks totally Factory and I am loving it! Brilliant job sir, top of the class and I can't thank you enough.

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That's lovely feedback, thank you.

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Hi I left mine on the dining room table with something weight on it to straighten it back out and seemed to have sorted it. Hadn’t been fitted yet but it did straighten back up though yeh I put it back in the box and taped it down after

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A couple of pictures attached of its state as of last night, hopefully you can see that it is coming back. I would lay it out on the bench but I’m currently in the middle of rebuilding my rear subframes on it, so the safest place for the spoiler is on the car for now. I will keep the updates coming…

Quotes source post: 2726278

Great stuff, glad its recovering. Some hand manipulation of the vertical fence will speed up recovery, but looks like it's settling well

Arrived safe and sound, have attached just with plastic inserts for the mo, will wash the bumper before pulling the tape backing at the weekend. Quality is spot on. I think the extra flex will be very welcome. Thanks again for all your hard work with this!

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Great stuff - thanks for the feedback!

Just over 24 hours resting flat and normal service has resumed.

Latest.... 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone - #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (dispatched) 10) Teilegott x2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (ready to post) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (on the bench) 13) wellsy - #230 (moulded) 14) Steve.S - #235 (moulded) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded) @BigHammer88 Yours is all ready to post

@Gixxer996 All done and ready to post.

Latest.... 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone X2- #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (dispatched) 10) Teilegott X2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (ready to post) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (dispatched) 13) wellsy - #230 (ready to post) 14) Steve.S - #235 (on the bench) 15) AntonyC - #243 (moulded) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded)

@wellsy All done my friend.

Quotes source post: 2726671

13...unlucky for some Looks fantastic. Top work!

A quick update on mine: I think it might have recovered as much as it wants to on its own. I’ll squish it about a bit on the weekend, and lay/stick it out flat when my bench is free again. From six feet away though you’d not know, and I expect that once out in the wild it will end up conforming to its environment somewhat anyway.

Quotes source post: 2726689

Thanks for the update. Looking at the pics, it may be that the slight 'bulge' in the mating face flange is encouraging it to stay where it is. The bulge will likely be caused by the smallest of hole misalignment between spoiler and bumper with one of the holes. What I've observed is that whilst all bumpers leave the factory the same, over 20+ years, they all distort and warp slightly differently which then shifts the holes slightly. If you remove it and lay it flat, with a book or something on the mating flange, my bet is it would return to form. When you refit, experiment with removing the clips either side of the area and see which clip (if any), when inserted, causes any distortion. For this hole, I'd take a 9mm drill bit and just open out that hole in the spoiler to accomodate any shift. You could try a circular file but the stuff is highly abrasion resistant and doesn't want to be filed! But... if you're not completely satisfied, all offers of refund / replacement remain.

@BigHammer88 sent you a DM just in case you don’t get notifications.

I've no idea what any of you guy's did tonight, but I'll take the Pepsi challenge that my Friday night was more fun, as I got to niot only wet sand, hand finish and punch holes is nearly 1.5m of abrasion resistant rubber, I also got to play making up boxes brom flat pack kits. Sometimes you have to stop, look around and appreciate just how privileged you are. @Steve.S. All done, my Porsche bothering compadre.

Latest membership status of Spoiler Club: 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone X2- #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (dispatched) 10) Teilegott X2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (dispatched) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (dispatched) 13) wellsy - #230 (dispatched) 14) Steve.S - #235 (dispatched) 15) AntonyC - #243 (on the bench) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (moulded) 17) Nick38 - #277 (moulded)

@AntonyC Now I know what you're thinking, "Did he refine two spoilers or only one?" Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement, I kinda lost track myself. But being I have no social life and a willingness to please, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" All done, buddy.

Hi…please add me to the list

Quotes source post: 2727014

Hi, will do. Thanks!

@Guardsredool @nick38 Got yours both completed today, ready to post - will Dm details. Guards.... Nick....

List Update: 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone X2- #17 (ready to post) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (dispatched) 10) Teilegott X2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (dispatched) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (dispatched) 13) wellsy - #230 (dispatched) 14) Steve.S - #235 (dispatched) 15) AntonyC - #243 (ready to post) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (ready to post) 17) Nick38 - #277 (ready to post) 18) SPT - #414 I'm getting pretty low on materials now so after this batch I won't be able to make any more without another bulk purchase, which would require both a another list of owners and another significant commitment of time. Whilst not off the table, it will be good to take a break for a little while and focus on some other stuff as I've not taken the cover off my car since September. Thank you all sincerely for your support and encouragement that has helped me get this far.

A fantastic job - thank you. For sure it's time to focus on your own car now.

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I can start by fitting a spoiler to it! It only occurred to me the other day, the MOT has expired, so my next trip will to be to address that, although frustratingly they gritted the local roads recently for some reason, so I'll have to wait for the next good session of rain to clear all that away. I've got my new QuickJackes ready to commission, so can look forward to spending hours and hours underneath with a plethora of brushes and a 12 pack crate of brake cleaner getting it minty-mint-mint.

Received mine today- looks great. Won't be fitting it for some time as I have a decent one on the car now. Thanks @Interference Fit

@AntonyC Just tagging here in case you haven't received a DM notification

Quotes source post: 2727260

Paid

List Update: 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone X2- #17 (dispatched) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (dispatched) 10) Teilegott X2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (dispatched) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (dispatched) 13) wellsy - #230 (dispatched) 14) Steve.S - #235 (dispatched) 15) AntonyC - #243 (dispatched) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (dispatched) 17) Nick38 - #277 (dispatched) 18) SPT - #414 (moulded)

@Interference Fit Received this morning- over the moon with it and aim to get It fitted this weekend. You should be extremely proud of all you’ve achieved with these.

Quotes source post: 2727373

Thanks, I'm glad you're pleased with it.

Mine arrived today. The Quality is AWESOME!!! I put it on a flat Table for 2 Days to make it straight and then i install it soon. I will report!

Last time i checked on this you were having a nightmare, what a joy it is to see that you've cracked it and sold many!

Mine has also arrived. Looks cracking! Will be a while until it's installed so will store it safely somewhere

Thanks for the feedback everyone, much appreciated.

@SPT All done and ready to post. Will send DM.

And here we are, all done, and hopefully mission accomplished. 1) DJLoDY - #8 (collected) 2) Mallone X2- #17 (dispatched) 3) kaizengruppe - #23 (dispatched) 4) ryanwright91 #100 (dispatched) 5) King Shultz #116 (dispatched) 6) tttc - #208 (dispatched) 7) corneg1 - #2126) (dispatched) 8) M1ke - #213 (dispatched) 9) 996-aero - #217 (dispatched) 10) Teilegott X2 - #218 (dispatched) 11) BigHammer88 - #21 (dispatched) 12) Gixxer996 - #225 (dispatched) 13) wellsy - #230 (dispatched) 14) Steve.S - #235 (dispatched) 15) AntonyC - #243 (dispatched) 16) Guardsredool - #265 (dispatched) 17) Nick38 - #277 (dispatched) 18) SPT - #414 (ready to post) But just one more thing...... It's been emotional.

Won’t have the chance to fit it for a few weeks, but my two @Interference Fit spec splitters arrived this morning and I can now echo everyone else’s comments - these things are beautifully made and immaculately finished This entire process (that we’ve been lucky enough to follow on here) has been a credit to your skills and patience. Bravo. Looking forward to seeing what you try and tackle next!

I fitted mine today, and wow! Amazing work @Interference Fit - thank you once again.

@Interference Fit are you making any more? I’d like one please

Quotes source post: 2728143

Thanks for your interest, it's really flattering and rewarding that people are interested in these. As it stands, I'm pretty much out of materials and I'd need to make another batch of spoilers to justify a bulk purchase. The master mould is just starting to show signs of deterioration also, and could do with retiring. Having looked at the pile of near misses that I discarded along the way (they don't all come out perfectly, most, but not all), it's yielded nearly 30 which I'm told is the upper limit for a mould of this material, so to be fair, it's done well. I've got some ideas for a version 2 that would require a new mould anyway, so if there's enough demand, I'll have another crack, but to manage expectations, this wouldn't be straight away. I've been flat out on this project for 11 months solid which has absorbed all my spare time, which I've really enjoyed I might add. I've had a big garage clear out and clean up today, putting a fair chunk of stuff up in the loft out of the way so I can focus on my car for bit. Perhaps if enough people register an interest I can go again, but for now, I need to take a short break. Rest assured, when the time comes, if you're still interested you'll be top of the list. Thanks again and sorry to disappoint.

Thanks for the reply, yep stick me at the top of the next list please when ever that maybe Cheers Paul

Quotes source post: 2728171

Will do

I've only just read through the entire thread, what a rollercoaster! I genuinely felt all the emotions with you, from all the failures to the final success. This definately deserves more recognition - wouldn't it be fantastic if Porsche read this thread? i wonder what they would take from it? Your ethical and moral compass are without question, sir. I salute you. Also, please add me to batch 2! I have a non-aero car and would be happy to be the first test mule (at my own risk) As for more ideas, i'm sure I saw you were developing the jacking mounts????

Please put me down for one when you go again. Let me know. Thanks

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Will do.

Guys those of you who have fitted theirs how easy was it to release the original? Had a look at mine today, a few self tapers in it where somebody has bodged it in the past other than that there are the original fixings in place but it’s not clear how they come out, no screw head as such to get the plastic plugs out, should they just pull out?

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There are two types of attachment clips depending on whether it is a 996.1 or 996.2 from my research. The Mk2 version uses the same push pin clips that are used to attached the wheel arch liners etc as per below: The Mk 1 uses the clips I've been supplying which are screw in low profile types specifically for the splitter: If the clips you have are the push pin ones for the Mk2, they are removed by using a trim removal tool like these, hiowever any robust non-damaging(?) lever should get them out. The plastic parts can seize in place and be a pig to separate so some penetrating fluid and a hair dryer on max can sometimes help. I always grease these if ever I refit so prevent future issues. If none of the above, can you post a picture?

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Thank you Sir, I'll make a new list.

Thanks, they look as if it’s the Mk 2 type but with no head to get hold of. Yeah I’ve got a number of trim tools, will have a go at them tomorrow. Thanks again

It would appear we may be heading for round two at some point down the line. I'll keep a close eye on 'Task Manager' and monitor my memory and CPU load and see what happens, but might as well start a new list. 1) pelsey197 - #434 2) Dombus - #438 3) Ginje - #439 (ask your parents, kids)

Better ask Ziggy…

Finally got round to fitting on Sunday. Thank you once again, what a work of art. Gurney flaps next?

Hi @Interference Fit , I missed this first time round, but read the whole thread.. wow! Please put me down on the round 2 list, would love one for my aero.

Got mine fitted this morning. Oh my lord it’s fantastic. A superb fit in every way, absolutely over the moon with it @Interference Fit thank you so much Has transformed my front end

Can you put me down on list no.2 as well please

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Glad you're happy with it, makes all the hours worth while.

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You're more than welcome, thanks for the feedback.

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986

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I've been looking for one of these for a while now. I would be interested in buying one if you made more. Thanks.

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1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv

Put me down

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1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister

Massive thankyou to Interference Fit...the quality and attention to detail is truly impressive and for such an incredibly generous price given the skill, time and effort needed to produce such a part he is a credit to the Porsche community

Quotes source post: 2730000

Thanks, I'm glad you're pleased, that's lovely feedback and I'm truly humbled.

Please add me to the list for round 2. Many thanks.

Could you please add me to the list for one if you make a second batch please? Many thanks and very impressive work!

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous

are you planning on developing any other "builds" at all? I was ultra impressed with the attention to detail on the work you completed but i dont have a car that would suit it.....................didnt stop me following with interest though

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There’s nothing on my radar currently as I’m not aware of any specific item that satisfies enough criteria between, a) high demand part, that is b) ludicrously (unnecessarily) priced from Porsche or no longer available, that c) the aftermarket doesn’t already cater for at a tolerable price/quality ratio, and that d) I need for my car I.e. there needs to be a problem to solve. Did you have anything in mind?

on that topic, do you think unless it's been mentioned, coming up with the 996 GT3 Cup Front Spoiler ?

Quotes source post: 2740634

If you're referring to the Mk1 version, it is essentially just a thicker, taller version of the road based item which would be no problem to make - I took all the dimensions from the one I had with me for a while. If you mean the 996.2 version, this is a far more complex design and already covered by the aftermarket

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You do it better than the aftermarket

It may have been mentioned early on in the thread, but what about a gurney flap? Something really small like the pic, but one that goes on the standard bootlid?

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Yes, this one is on my radar as I'd like one on my car.

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add me to the list for one please, I tried to order one but its discontinued

Perfect Fit, perfect look.

Gurney flap.......... nice, very nice. Great idea

Evening all! With the very first nod of autumnal chill in the air, we 'could' be approaching molding season, so I thought I'd ask folks how their spoilers are performing out in the wild? Anyone ground theirs out or benefited from the flexibility yet?

Had my name down for a front lip, anymore?

Quotes source post: 2757043

Possibly, SIr. Just looking for some feedback from real life testing to see if there are any implementable improvements I can make on a Mk2 version.

I’ve had mine fitted for some 5 months now and I lowered the car on coil overs so it’s pretty close to ground and it’s as new. I know it’s caught a couple of times over local speed humps and cushions and there is no signs of marks or damage so all good @Interference Fit

It Works much better than the own one. Got some scratches, but nothing wild. The oem one Looks much worse After that time.

001 is doing great! I am sure it must have been caught on some speed bumps or steep inclines slightly. I can't see any noticeable damage. I have managed to discolour it through, which I think it likely a mix of of the cleaning chemicals I use (citri-prewash + bolt hamber snow foam) I intend to re-coat over the winter, perhaps with a ceramic coating, as that seemed to sort out the greyed panel under the wipers. I am still over the moon about the quality and much better than the original.

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Interesting on the chemical reaction there. Hopefully some dressing will refresh the surface once more.

If I make a Mk2, a there are a few developments I'm considering. I'm looking at making them a few mm taller (deeper/lower), i.e the front vertical face to extend a little lower, as the original factory one I eventually compared against was just a touch 'lower'. I'm talking less than 5mm. I'd also mould them with the holes already in position, but 9mm diameter rather than the original 8mm, as this will give a slight positional flexibility on mounting position to accommodate for the small variances witnessed between one bumper and another which can exaggerate over time as the PU flexes and distorts in different climates and temperatures. The clips grip and clamp against the hole in the bumper, not the spoiler, so this dimension is largely moot from a security perspective. A final consideration is to make them slightly thicker in cross section, as they're currently just over 3mm in sectional thickness, whereas the original was just over 3.5mm as a mean average. Given their flexibility, the added 'strength' of a slightly thicker section would help keep the mounting plane a little more rigid and less reliant on the adhesive tape if I made it 4mm thick for example. More robust, but still fully flexible and yielding. Happy to listen to thoughts on all or any of the above as this is just bench racing.

Impressive work! I’d be in for a mk2 version like you described in that last comment

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy

I think all of your suggestions for a “Mk.2” sound spot on and can confirm I’m most still wanting one if you go ahead please!

[not sure how to delete comment]

Hi I'd love one if you go ahead with another batch. Please can I be added to the list. Regards Anthony

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76

To mark the first day of spoiler season, I rescued from the loft what I’m confident would be referred to on the arrest sheet as ‘associated paraphernalia’. The lonely and underwhelmed amongst you may notice a new element in play. For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not taking up hang-gliding. Allow me to explain. No sooner had the last spoiler kerplunked into the post box, I began plotting and scheming about making some incremental improvements, more toward the moulding process. One of the elements that ended up being a right old pain in the tailpipe was the mounting holes and their accurate placement. I got there, but the time and effort to do so is prohibitive. Whilst I had temporary custody of an original spoiler, I made another jig as shown above and affixed the original to it. I built a shallow wall around it and filled the ‘moat’ with silicone to give me a perfect mould to create an exact template to use for future models. As I want to mould the holes in place from the get go, I took a hand full of the little punched ‘pucks’ that were left when the holes were punched in the first batch. I then put a dab of cyno' on them and inserted them into the holes of the original spoiler to affix them to the jig base. Once the spoiler was removed, it left the pucks in place to mould round. I mixed up a rigid resin and poured this into the mould which then left me with a perfect replica of the original spoiler mounting plane. The next job is the order some more prototyping polycarbonate to make a new master buck. I can then create a new mould, for which I’m going to go experimental again. Watch this space.

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Quotes source post: 2759993

I have my Mk1 version - v happy with it! - but will be following your Mk2 journey with considerable interest. I learn from every post. Keep them coming!

Awesome work

I had a full day on the Mk2 today which was as much about planning and preparation than anything else. An alternative yet equally great philosopher also once wrote " There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply ", a poignant line I found myself using as a mantra while bodyworking the section of aero bumper I use for trial fitment and test fitting. Crazy and unnecessary? Perhaps. However, the Mk2 version and more importantly the process is where I want to make as many incremental improvements as possible. One of the issues I found was that due to the spoiler being black, and the donor bumper section also being black, it made quick and easy visual assessment, as well as photographing completed spoilers difficult. I did show some restraint though and decided against spending way too long fully perfecting it and painting it in Zanzibar with full clear coat treatment. Mainly because I'm not sure I've got enough base coat left, and secondly a gloss finish would hinder photos and alignment checks. After a root through my nail varnish draw, I picked out some satin green/grey which is ideal for what I need to use it for with just enough contrast to see issues, without being too contrasting to make reference pictures a problem. The first use in it's new field camo' was to test the fit and hole alignment for the base template taken from the most recent jig. Every hole lines up perfectly, so I know we're good to go if I use that as as the template to make the Mk2 master buck. I will radius the inner end corners as per the Mk1 though as it looks so much more finished and, well, it's my little touch. As the Mk1 silicone mould had rendered it's last, I wanted to try and use as much of it as possible to save having to visit the big orange box and purchase another wardrobe door's worth of baseboard. I swear, if Harland & Wolff had used this construction technique to build the Titanic, that iceberg would have bounced off. I spent a good while trying to dissect it piece by piece with various tools and implements. When that didn't work, I resorted to using a little more force. There, barely a scratch. She was a good ship. All was not lost however, I only really needed the base board, so I gave the open wounds a heavy coat of PVA to prevent moisture ingress and potential distortion or swelling, then flipped it over to use the other side. I laid out one of the many templates I have to position it so that the walls of the mould do not straddle any of the breather holes used in the previous vessel. Then I drew an outline just so I had a positional reference to build the new mould walls. Now this is the part where we deviate from the known and trodden path of using silicone as the master mould. Silicone has many advantages in that it captures almost unfathomable surface detail (e.g. 2,000 grit sanding marks), is really forgiving against damage, releases it's castings with ease as sod all sticks to it, and makes achieving a lid seal very easy. It is however not exempt from drawbacks, which in no particular order include, but are not limited to: Platinum cure silicone is highly sensitive to many chemicals and as I experienced more than once can ruin an expensive pour and weeks of prep. Has a finite and fairly short lifespan of 20-30 casts (at best). Requires additional rigid mould containment walls to mount the upper mould lid to. Is like 'The 'Princess and the Pea', where the slightest issue, bulge or damage to the outer mould walls can distort the silicone walls impacting the casting shape. Somehow uses about 150 meters of blue paper towel every time I even open the lid of the tin. To try and mitigate these issues, all of which bit me on the bum throughout the first run, I'm experimenting with a rigid mould made from aluminium infused epoxy resin which cures rock solid and is typically used for vacuum forming and some injection moulding. This does have some drawbacks, and possible many more I'm yet to discover, however the main ones are that not only is it very expensive stuff, much more than the silicone, it also requires a release agent to enable extraction of the casting. This may present a problem down the line as the spoiler profile does not have a draft angle and has a deep, narrow vertical fence for which to grip nicely on to the mould walls. The narrow slot of the spoiler fence will make getting any kind of release agent in there trickey, as not only will it need to be added, it will need to be added without leaving any uneven surface texture which would transfer on the the spoiler, leaving me a metric ***** tonne of rectification work to do on the final casting. And trust me, rectification work on rubber is less than no fun at all. I'm gambling on the elasticity of the rubber spoiler to give me enough stretch to help release it from the mould once cast. We shall see. However, the advantages are such that I'm willing to roll the dice and invest in the potential upsides, which are mainly: It will last for a long time It will be far more robust It will not require an additional mould wall to hold the silicone and screw the lid to It can be drilled and tapped, machined and sanded easily, making the upper lid mating face more controllable In order to create the mould, I will need mould walls to start with, but these can be removed once the mould has cured and is solid and self containing. To make the mould walls, I decided to use some 3mm thick polypropylene, which is essentially what car number plates are made from. Flexible, robust, relatively easy to cut and work with, will adhere to hot melt glue, but does not adhere well to most other materials which should make removing these easier once the mould it cured. I cut two long strips, wider than I need and them clamped them together in the 'workmate' to sand, level and make both wall the same height. You can see them here at the bottom of the next shot. I used some masking tape to hold them roughly in position whilst I took these shots, but will use hot melt glue to hold them in place when it comes time to cast the epoxy mould. So much easier than the chipboard walls which were necessary to give me something to screw the lid to. Being able to screw the lid directly to the actual mould and for this to not be made from damp Weetabix will be a revelation. I'll cat the mould a little wider than shown, but it gives an idea of what I'm aiming for. That's all I got done today, but it's a good start and heading in the right direction. I do feel a little like I'm building the aeroplane as I fly it with this one, but fingers crossed we'll get the wings done before I hit the floor of the canyon. This is all starting to feel remarkably familiar, so stay tuned for more of what I'm sure will be 'mixed emotions' over the coming weeks.

Small progress update. Lots of planning, scrapping of previous ideas and conjuring of new ones has been going on, in addition to a plethora of orders placed for raw materials and hardware. In terms of actual physical developments, I have taken a step forward, linked to a slight change in strategy. At this point I'll apologize for the dullness of the photos, but I sense that the step-by-step updates to these projects is part of the community journey. If not, do let me know and I'll restrict to edited highlights. Whilst staring at the ceiling during the wee hours mentally working through the planned production procedure, I came to the conclusion that moulding the spoilers with the holes already cast in place is likely to cause more problems than it solves. This being that the hole placement is the only critical dimension of the entire spoiler. Any other dimension can live with an element of artistic licence without impacting fitment. Should any of the holes be slightly misaligned during the moulding process due to an unforeseen issue, it will render the entire mould a write off at a cost of hundreds of pounds in materials and lots of hours invested. Additionally, if we imagine that the empty mould with holes already included would show the 'holes' in the negative format as little pucks rising out of the mating flange cavity, a further challenge presents. For this to work neatly, the pucks would need to seal firmly and completely against the polycarbonate lid. In reality, unless I screwed the lid into each hole to ensure a tight and gap free interface, the slightly flexible nature of the polycarbonate, in conjunction with the pressure exerted on it whilst injecting the resin would see resin creep between the puck and lid. This would result in an incomplete hole that would need to be punched clear again - i.e back to square one, albeit the main element of positional accuracy should be okay. Hopefully. See risk of scrapping the mould if not in the correct position. Back at the imaginary drawing board, I followed the previous process of punching the holes and how I mated the genuine spoiler (on loan at the time) back to back with the new one to position the holes. This was all about creating an accurate, repeatable jig. This is what I've come up with. I took an off-cut of the long polypropylene strips I'm using to cast the master mould and trimmed it to an appropriate width and length. Then using a hot melt glue gun, tacked it in place to the donor bumper section, firmly up against the base plate template I'd previously moulded from the original where all the holes line up perfectly. I'm glad I didn't waste any Zanzibar basecoat on the donor bumper now. The irony that it kind of looks like a spoiler in the making is not lost on me. With the base plate template now removed, this give me a 'fence' to position the newly cast spoilers up against to ensure exact and accurate placement on the bumper. Once in place, I can then turn th bumper the other way up and use the factory hole locations to mark the holes. If we cast our minds back (see what I did there?) to the very beginning of this journey, to help create the original first prototype I 3D printed some hole jigs that fit snugly in the factory bumper holes, which also feature a 3mm pilot hole in the middle. If I insert these into the 'inside' of the hole, it will give me perfect positioning to either mark the hole centre or drill / punch a pilot hole. Whether I actually need to use these little round pilot hole jigs will only be known much further down the line, but it does give me a guaranteed way of accurately locating the holes in the spoiler without all the messing around of 'back to back' referencing of the original that I no longer have. It could be that just having the new spoiler up against the locating fence will allow me to mark and punch the holes directly through the bumper, but I can play that one by ear at the time. Here and now I'm satisfied that the best compromise is to continue to leave adding the holes until the spoiler is successfully cast, then add the holes later with confidence that their location is spot on. The next time any of you are suffering with insomnia, remember to revisit this post, as I'm sure it will provide an instant cure.

Quotes source post: 2758941

12) Por1....please....

Quotes source post: 2760663

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1

Really appreciate the updates and insight into your process it’s all very fascinating, please continue with these posts at your convenience!

Quotes source post: 2760735

Why thank you, Sir. As you are the proud owner of post #496, please accept this very modest gift by way of 'mediocre to poor' weekday update of next to no progress. For any Stephen King fans out there, today saw the doorbell yield several 'needful things'. Firstly, a bag of brass M5 inserts to secure the lid to the new solid mould. I know I mentioned the ability to drill and tap the new experimental mould epoxy, but again, after some midnight reflection I decided the risk of pulling a thread of cracking the mould was not worth it. My plan with these is to fill them with wax and place them where I want them around the perimeter of the mould cavity walls, then pour the mould around them so they are perfectly set and cast into the upper surface which will be upside down during the pour. Once cured I can pick out the wax that prevented them filling with epoxy. Second up was another batch of shorter (to match the depth of the inserts) M5 flange screws. The third needful thing was a pack of 6061 flat bar that I'll use to make more load spreading washers. This time I'll cut them in longer strips than the ones I machined under duress following mockery and ridicule from my brother-in-law. These will cover at least two mounting holes to save me the nut ache of having to rotationally secure them as each screw was tightened. That got old, really quickly. For reasons I'm still not sure of myself, I poured another base plate jig template before I put aside the jig as it's always better to have a spare in case the first one accidentally got tripped over and broken.... I didn't bother adding black pigment, hence looks like a healthy urine sample. The best and most exciting needful thing was a cut to size 4mm thick sheet of polycarbonate that as per the Mk1, I'll cut to create the second prototype and master buck. Seen here having used the base template as a jig to draw round. As a final belt and braces, I removed the jig fence from the donor bumper temporarily (hooray for the hot glue gun) and drew around the template with a sharpie to give me a visual outline to use as a final double check reference later. Overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation, yet thwarted by the rapidly darkening autumnal evenings, I resorted to the power of fairy lights to cut out the initial shape. I deliberately left the rear cut until another day, as I've learned from bitter and expensive experiences that whilst trying to creep up on the profile of the more critical front edge, you've only got to slip up a tiny amount to suddenly find yourself 6 deep at the bar of the 'sand a bit back on' club. Leaving the rear cut until later gives that extra bit of 'oopsie' tolerance. It was then just a case of laying the rough cut sheet over the donor bumper to ensure the two traced lines matched up perfectly. Parallax error whilst managing reflections doesn't help, but it's bang on when viewed directly from above. I'll re-attach the jig fence to the donor bumper tomorrow and use this as my fitment gauge as I carefully sand back the front edge. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

Loving the updates on this. Can I please add my name to the list for a 2nd batch. Thanks

Quotes source post: 2760976

Certainly, Sir. Consider it your lucky day as I'm midst way through a day of head scratching and trying to sand a bit bit back on. There will be plenty to underwhelm you this evening. 1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996

I have a 996.2 and would love one of these. Pls add me to the list. Good work op!!

Quotes source post: 2760981

I'd be delighted to supply, but keep in mind the front bumper and splitter design on the 996.2 is different than the .1 and therefore whilst I'm confident it could be mounted up, it won't follow the curves of the bumper as appropriately as the .1. Especially if an 'aero' bumper. Let em know if you still want one.

Some good progress today, although the end position might not look like it, but to get there took a lot of head scratching, pondering, mistakes, recovery, more mistakes, more recovery and then finally a result. Today's learning curve looked like this. I'll apologize now for both the amount of photographs, and their rushed 'there and then' composure. I was on a mission to reach a certain point and decided that setting up a photo shoot was too low down on the priority list. I didn't realise I'd taken so many shots, but if nothing else, they serve two main purposes. 1) They show each and every step of the journey 2) They'll stretch your unlimited data contract to the extremes of any 'fair use' policy. So, with popcorn in hand, the story continues by refining the front edge to match the jig fence without any gaps to ensure the right shape and fit was achieved. It was reassuring to the see the rear straining edge lines match up between those on the bumper and those on the template. The next part was the most time consuming and tricky to get right - cutting the vertical fence. This started with some high tech cardboard aided design. A far cry from lasers, yes, however this time I have actual spoilers and a doner bumper on the bench to play with, not to mention a better understanding of the geometry than last time round. Using the original spoiler as an initial starting point gave me something to then modify to the planned dimensions of the Mk2. Which I then folded in half to make sure the initial cuts were symmetrical. First trial fit using the bench as my flat surface reference point rather than the laser. Plenty of gaps, but a starting point. I then used the first cardboard template to cut a new one of the desired Mk2 dimensions. Happy with how this was looking, I could then cut it out of the polycarbonate. This one was too embarrassing to radio Houston about and the first of the issues alluded to earlier. I couldnlt for the life of me work out why I;d ordered a 1,500 mm wide sheet last time round. I measure and re-measured everything before ordering and just thought to myself that I must have just been a bit overly cautious last time and ordered more than I thought I'd need just in case. Nope. The first time round I was not stricken with dipshittery and had already factored for the circumferential dimension of the spoiler fence and ordered accordingly. Not this time, no Siree. The dipshittery has in full swing. The choice was to either order another £70 worth of polycarbonate and call time on the a weekend of progress, or cut some small end pieces and glue them on later. The crowd voted for glue. With the fence rough cut in poly, I taped it to the jig guide fence and began the refining process. It looks like a wall of death here, but fear not, I cut it oversize to give me plenty of trimming room over the next few hours. The shallow guide fence jig also make it look excessively deep. A but like when you cut the rear of a kitchen worktop to match the shape of the kitchen wall, I ran a marker pen all the way round to give me a nice straight line to aim for, closer to the desired depth. And then it was trimming time. I'll foreshadow the second 'issue' encountered by mentioning now that as the polycarbonate is 4mm thick and not the 3mm thick used on the Mk1, it's not only 33% stronger and more rigid (because maths and all that), but also 33% more of a nightmare to sand. Don't get me wrong, we're not talking stainless exhaust manifold flange levels of FML, but still tough and abrasion resistant enough to make a belt sander wearing a 40 grit evening frock really work for a living. Once within a few thou', I invited Larry Long block to the party who had just about recovered from his exhaust flange hangover having declared 'never again'. A but like bodywork, I used a marker pend as a guide coat so I could monitor progress with the hand sanding until all the low spots had been sanded flat. This took an absolute age going back and forth to the jig to test fit and flatness, but my efforts were not wasted. Nice and flat all the way round. Next up was to clamp this to the jig fence ready for glueing to the base flange plate. After about half a bottle of ZAP's finest medium viscosity cyno', the fence was joined and we had what started to look like some of a spoiler. it's worth mentioning at this point that one of the reasons it's so tricky achieve flatness on the lower fence is that in service, the lower face of the bumper slope upwards and is not flat. Yet the front vertical fence is, well vertical. If the fence was just glued on, it would be at right angles to the flange and give the spoiler a bucked teeth look. In order to achieve the correct angle between flange and fence, the 'flat' lower edge actually needs to be curved when laid flat so that when set at an angle, it then becomes flat. This is why it takes some much trial and error sanding it correctly so it is not only dead flat with the reference datum (invisible floor, or workbench in this case), but also maintains a perfect join to the spoiler flange. Still, we got there in the end. Here are the little glued on ends. Thankfully, roughed up polycarbonate just adores cyno and achieves an immensely strong bond. I did some destruction testing on an incorrectly cut mk1 piece a while back and could not break the body whatsoever. I actually cracked the poly' in the end. The final width is yet to be trimmed back. Looking good so far. The black line is actually the fully 'wetted' adhesive bond. Lovely and flat. I was then able to double check the fit on the donor bumper jig. And also a final check against the base template cast from the original spoiler. I deliberately left the inner section in place until I was absolutely 100% happy with the shape and fit of the front end, as often you can sand and smooth to a degree that you exceed the boundaries of the rear dimensions getting everything right, so I left this until the end, using the template and jig to mark, then cut the rear profile. I'm really chuffed with that. Those aren't gaps between the spoiler and bumper, they are pale primer showing where the removal of the hot glue gun adhesive lifted the paint. It's a lovely precision fit all the way round. Here it is against the original Mk1 prototype for proportional comparison. The difference in thickness is not quite as dramatic as it looks, as the finished prototype not only looks thinner in black, but also has fully radiused edges which also mask some of it's thickness. But either way, it's definitely not skipped leg day. The slight additional fence hight can be seen here. It's only a few mm deeper, but can be easily observed when back to back. Naturally there's lof of edge finishing left to do as this is just the initial perimeter shaping. And that's where our story end for this evening. A lot of work and effort to gue two bits of plastic together, but hey, it's all part of the process. Tomorrow I'll begin the refining process, but won't bother documenting this until I've got it all done and ready for paint, as it's literally just hours of fine sanding and fettling.

I spent most of today sanding and rounding the edges of the master. Boy is this stuff hard. I'm talking Chuck Norris levels of abrasion resistance. I was deliberately trying to not overly round the edges, especially on the mating face. I also blended the inner join and smoothed that out, which quickly reminded me what a horrible process it was last time. This time round was no different, but a few learned techniques helped avoid some of the worm holes encountered previously. This is just a first initial sanding to get some primer / spray putty on to assess how much further body working it will need. And with a coat of high build filler primer. There's a healthy selection of imperfections to address, but it's nice to get it to this stage. A schoolboy error saw me run out of filler primer as I believed I had another can in stock, but alas, this was not to be, so this is where I left it for today. I had a good clean up of the garage which was starting to look like we'd suffered an earthquake, and being my clumsy self again, accidentally re-painted the bumper jig in a more fetching shade of leftover Audi Navarra Blue. The thankless and seemingly never ending magic roundabout of body working, what is a really awkward shape, shall continue once more materials arrive mid-week. In the meantime, be excellent to each other.

Wow …

Some great progress today, although with an early start I was able to get 11 hours straight on the board, so I'd bloomin' hope to get at least somewhere. Grab a tube of your favourite Pringles (Salt n' Vinegar obs.), a steamy cup of tea, and sit back to barely tolerate the ride. I marked out the perimeter of the spoiler onto my base plate and added the minimum depth of wall thickness as dictated by the destructions for the new 'turbo nutter granite' epoxy resin. Once done, and with a few mm extra for comfort, I cut to the perimeter wall. Remember those long pieces of polypropylene I cut? These were then screwed to the sides of the base plate to create the mould walls. With the mould box essentially ready for the mk2 master, I ventured outside to continue with the surface finish prep. Serious Deja-vu going on here. Guide coat was applied on top of the filler primer, then the wet sanding commenced. The patio table complete with glass top is rather conveniently both flat and curved making the ideal work bench for this sort of stuff. Mrs. IF is never impressed with this. No idea why as it's so handy. It's a nightmare to block sand due to its shape, so earlier in the week I made a couple of sanding blocks specifically for the occasion. One is a little T-section made from polycarbonate, which is ideal to grip and follow the inside of the base flange. For the inner and outer faces of the vertical fence, I moulded a very soft silicone block using an old business card box. Its firm enough to give a flat finish, yet soft enough to bend easily. I rubbed through in a couple of spots and needed to add another coat of high build, which once also flatted back, left me with a finished Mk2 spoiler for your viewing pleasure. I left it primer rather than painting it black because, well, there's no point painting it and also because I wanted a matte finish on this one to aide final refinement, and because I had to add a release agent anyway as I'm no longer using silicone which doesn't need any. With the spoiler waiting to have it's curves cast in resin for all eternity, I was able to complete the mould box. I removed the walls to give the access I needed for the next stage. To which I adhered the mk2 to the base plate using my go-to 3M double sided tape. I then spent an age sealing and refining the join to the base plate with sealing wax. This is critical as it will define the very base of the spoiler where it interfaces with the bumper and has to be absolutely uniform all the way round. I used a variety of little tools to achieve the desired profile. Before I reattached the mould walls, I had another matter to attend to which was positioning all the threaded inserts that I wanted to cast directly into the mould. This next part took the longest, as each brass insert had to be filled with wax and gently pressed against the baseboard where I wanted the lid screws to attach. The wax isn't very sticky in this application and the inserts could easily be knocked off with the slightest brush of a finger. Allegedly. There was no other way of positioning these as they have to separate easily from the base plate once the mould has cured when I flip it over to remove the 'base', leaving me with the mould cavity to add the lid, as per the previous design. From here, I applied several light coats for spray release wax which dries with a medium-fine matte texture, hence no point painting it. Trying to get a perfect finish with the proved futile, with tiny little spatter nibs and dots appearing here and there. I'll have to see how these turn out in the final mould as every tiny defect means a lot more refinement work post production which takes ages - try it on a tread block of a car tyre and you'll get and idea. With the wax applied and set, I reattached the walls. And here we are, ready to pour the epoxy. I'd calculated that I needed 4.8 litres to fill the mould and thought it rather convenient that the epoxy comes in one size only at 5.3kg. That was my first mistake. It's so obvious now with the benefit of hindsight, but when I opened the lid on the really heavy container, it was only two thirds full. I was puzzled for a moment, as the container felt full to the brim, suich was its weight. Then it dawned on me that the specific gravity was a country mile from the roughly 1 litre per kilo of most fluids. This is because it is saturated with aluminium powder. Would I have enough? Given the price of the stuff, there was no way I was going to order another tub just in case, so took a deep breath, mixed and poured. "Houston...." That was far from the minimum 10mm above the deepest part of the vertical fence. Thankfully, the pot life of this stuff is over 2 hours, so I had a little bit of time to consider my options, not that many were jumping out at me. Sometimes it's the simplest of solutions that save the day. As the spoiler is only at its tallest front and centre, and as it tapers away to just over 4mm thick at the outer ends, I tilted the mould box to the same angle as the taper and let the resin flow over the highest point. This naturally drained some resin from the outer ends, but with some careful experimentation, I was able to maintain the required 10mm depth above the vertical fence. And there we have it. Once the epoxy has fully cured to its ridgid form which for those who may be interested is Shore hardness 95D, so I'll be able to remove the walls, flip it over and then remove the base plate to see whether we have a useable mould or an expensive learning chicane. I'm not hugely confident as my gut tells me that despite the copious amounts of release wax used, the lack of any draft angle on the vertical fence element could cause me no end of issues trying to remove the master buck. We shall see, but I'm going 50/50 at best on this one, as the new design and materials have created an accumulative risk probability situation. Let's see what transpires.

The tilt angle was a moment of genius, I hope it pays off for you ! I’m still smiling at ‘sand a bit back on’ ..

Quotes source post: 2762187

And when I'm not sanding a bit back on, I'm torquing bolts until they shear, then backing them off half a turn. I swear there's days where I think I could actually cross-thread a spline.

With 24 hours in the bag, I was eager to see at what point disaster may have struck. (That's the spirit!) I removed the polypropylene walls leaving me with the bare mould and base plate as a single unit. it was a little raw here and there and had a few areas of thin resin creep under the walls and into the sides of the chipboard base locking them together. This was easily solved with a skim on the belt sander to reveal a crisp join line. A rather pronounced meniscus had formed around the edges which was lethally sharp, so I smoothed it flat with the DA, just to take the edges off. You can see near the middle where the surface tension had bulged over the top of the fence a touch. It was nowhere near the 10mm I hoped, but thankfully still just about thick enough, hence I abandoned any idea of sanding it further for risk of compromising the mould. My immediate issue was working out how I was going to separate the base from the mould without destroying anything, as the interface surface is what the lid seals onto during the casting process, so gouges in this area were not an option. After slowly baton-twirling it a few times (it's surprisingly heavy)and a period head scratching trying to fathom how I was going to do this, I tried to split one end with a razor blade. To my amazement, this actually worked. I was then able to to gradually and very carefully tease it apart, bit by bit. I'd almost forgotten the nervous tension that builds up during the big reveal. I have to say though that despite my fears, the release spray wax did a fantastic job. It's certainly didn't just 'fall out', but didn't put up anything like the fight that the silicone did. This shot was taken immediately after the split, exactly as I saw it. Initial observations: The prototype survived in one piece. All the brass thread inserts were all present and correct. There were no immediately obvious catastrophes. On further inspection I began to spot the few minor flaws, which if I'm honest was to be expected, as it was never going to be 100% perfect. I noticed that the primer had reacted with the epoxy within the inner radius over a few inches. Which left some of it on the mould. This did however clean off without leaving any evidence, so must have occured during separation. At this point it was difficult to properly assess the outcome as it was still covered in patchy release wax spray, yellow sealing wax, and some outer edge defects that where a little sharp and lumpy caused by the jigsaw chipping out the surface of the base plate. I put the camera down and gave it a thorough clean up, carefully picking all the wax out of the threaded inserts, smoothing out any bits on the outer edges and then giving it a good degrease with panel wipe. I'm delighted with the threaded inserts idea. The rest of the defects are detailed below. A small dimple in the mating surface which won't impact anything as it doesn't breach the mould cavity. There are some very small pinholes in the area where the sealing wax bridged the interface between the spoiler and the base plate. These are pretty much immaterial and will leave just the tiniest 'dot' on the very lowest edge corner that gets smoothed off in final post casting refinement stage. There are also few tiny pin holes in the actual face as can be seen here, but these can be filled easily and even if not, would again only leave a tiny dot that could be smoothed once cast. Disappointing, but not insurmountable. The only other issue I found was the one I foreshadowed previously, where the spray release wax left more of a heavy texture in the middle and centre of the inner flange area which I tried to capture below. So all in all, despite the few minor snags, I've got to consider that a win for a first attempt with a new material and technique. I say first attempt, but here and now I'm not sure it's worth trying again, as the pinhole bubbles could easily happen again (the resin TDS stated it was not necessary to vacuum gas, so could've been something else). They are also easy to correct, or even fill with wax pre-mould pour. The course texture in the last picture is a shame, but again, all is not lost as I can either a) ignore it as it;s only the front face that is ever seen, b) try to smooth it out on the actual mould, or c) rectify on the final finished spoilers. Ignoring it is not my MO, so not really an option. Smoothing it out on the actual mould means I've only got to do it once although it does risk inducing other issues into the mould that could cause more issues. Sorting it out on every spoiler would be a nightmare and takes hours and hours so again, not really an option. I'll sleep on it and give it some thought, but my immediate gut reaction is to continue as is and actually mould a first mk2 version to assess the new size, thickness, shape and what these 'issues' actually look like on the finished product. I can then make the call on how to most efficiently and productively address. What is clear though is that there's no way I'm getting away with a mould-and-go process. No matter what i do, there will be some hand finishing involved - it's just a case of how much. All thoughts and feedback welcome.

You are getting rather good at this - excellent work again.

Quotes source post: 2762417

"Maverick, that was some of the finest flying I've ever seen, right up until the part where you got killed" The more I screw up practice, the luckier I get.

Just a little bit more progress on the spoiler in between exhaust shenanigans. With Mrs I.F out on maneuvers, the coast was clear for me to use my favourite workbench to mark out and cut the upper mould lid. I also cut the aluminium flat bar into 'washers' again, although this time, thicker and longer to span two holes. This saves me having to rotationally locate them each time like the mk1 washers, whilst also giving me greater clamping force, spread over a wider area to help the lid seal against the mould and mitigate any resin creep. Once the joy of peeling the protective backing off had settled down, I spot positioned each hole with a sharpie. With the holes then drilled and deburred, I was able to perform a quick test fit to make sure all the holes lines up sufficiently accurately. The lid is intentionally wider than necessary to give me something to grip on to if I ever need to use a little force to release it, whilst also reducing the chance of edge cracking where the holes are positioned. I spaced the threaded inserts by hand when I poured the mould, which whilst reasonably consistent, did have sufficient variety to require me to slot the holes in the washers to accommodate variances. And that's where we are up to for now. I'm waiting for some new bits and pieces to arrive which will take the Mk2 resin injection process to a whole new level of unnecessary complexity, but hey, why not. Standing there with a trigger gun is sooooo last season.

Small mid-week update. I'll apologize in advance for the lack of photos on this one, as it's mostly theory, based on stuff that hasn't yet arrived in the post, albeit some has, hence the little video at the end. As mentioned previously, I've been looking for ways to improve both the spoiler and it's production. The thicker section of the Mk2 uses 33% more resin than the Mk1, which takes it well beyond the 400ml capacity of my tried and tested twin cartridge resin mixing gun system. If I were to use the same system again, this would mean I'd have to invest in a load of new 600ml twin cartridges and another suitably sized gun. This larger size is not common and starts to get expensive. Whilst the system worked perfectly well, it involved having to precisely weigh out each resin component, add and mix the pigment, then vacuum degas. Once ready, I had to carefully pour them into the cartridge dispenser, then degas again, before adding the pistons to the ends of the cartridge. Then there was the clean up operation afterwards, not to mention the safety margin of waste resin for each cast. All in all, a very time consuming faff. To combat this, I came up with a cunning plan which will either spectacularly fail and have me ordering a bigger cartridge system again, or will work really well and be an additional fun project. Whilst this doesn't include any lasers, it does toe-dip into electronics once more. My plan is to build an automated resin injection system that pumps the precise amount of resin at a perfectly controlled speed and pressure. This is typically how ingredients are mixed in high volume production environments within manufacturing, however CNC dispensing machines are BIG dollar. So I decided to make one instead. The end game is to be able to attach full size, large containers of resin that can remain plumbed into the mixer system with shut off valves, so that whenever I want to cast a mould, I just open the shut off valves and switch on the pumps. But one thing at a time. This starts with the pump spec. I'll need two geared pumps capable of independent speed control to feed each component into a mixing nozzle. I started with the ideal flow rate established from the Mk1, then reversed engineered this into the ideal pump specification, taking into consideration the volumetric efficiency of the pump for the given (differing) viscosities of the two resin components. After a lot of research, the ideal pump size came from rather close to home - the oil pump in a VAG DSG transmission. If you look hard enough, you can find a direct source for these high precision, Italian made pumps, along with all the technical data. Two pumps, added to cart, which should arrive in the next couple of weeks, fingers crossed. The next challenge was to calculate the speed of the pumps in order to deliver the feed rate required, and also the load this would create. Once calculated, this then defined the electric motor specification parameters. Given the need for precise volumetric control of each pump to ensure a perfect 50:50 mixing ratio, stepper motors were chosen, which can be precisely spun at very low rpms. The next requirement was a controller module to run the pumps and a display to show how much resin has being pumped, this was sourced from 3D printer kit and coded with the help of Deep Seek AI. Having full control of the pumps permits all sorts of possibilities including independent purge cycles to remove any bubbles via a return feed to the component vessel etc, as well as 'ramp up' and 'ramp down' algorithms to ensure the resin flown adequately into specific areas at specific stages of the fill., whilst not over-pressurising at the end when the resin over-flows through the tiny end vents once full. Here's a quick video of it being tested to make sure it's working as planned. Very much just rough and loose on the bench at the moment, but good to get this first stage underway. The next job will be to fabricate a housing to mount it all in, to which I can then attach the pumps and go from there, but one stage at a time. That's all for now.

It’s incredible how much effort you can put into making life easier for yourself!

Im a bit lost for words, im normally quite chuffed with myself if Ive make a bracket from scratch

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I think a similar ethos could apply to most hobbies and pastimes. Sometimes you've got to bleed, just so you know you're alive.

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Me too, but sometimes the very challenge and the beating the odds or ney-sayers is where the satisfaction comes in. I try this stuff on the basis that if it fails, as long as I've enjoyed the journey and learned new skills, concepts and techniques along the way, it's time well invested. Plus, if ever the transmission on my daily sh1ts the bed, I've got a couple of spare oil pumps!

Not a great deal to report this weekend, as the main hold up is waiting for the pumps to arrive before building and testing the injection system. We've come a long way from a comedic balloon, that's for sure. I've put a good many hours into the mould though to make sure it's as nice as possible. If you recall, there were some pin holes and coarse texture on the reverse of the mounting flange which I wanted to try and rectify. As I was now getting into the fine detail work, I had to clean my work bench as it was absolutely rotten with ground it grime, scratches, scuffs and drill holes that would easily trap debris and risk scratching the finish of the mould. It was so heavily soiled and marked up, there was no option other than to hit it with the DA and smooth it out. It's not perfect as it is a working wear surface, but at least it's now presentable and free of foreign object matter. The beauty of this new epoxy based mould is that it can be machined, sanded smoothed and polished like bodywork, making small rectifications possible. With silicone, iany defects require the mould to be scrapped and to start from scratch again. I filled the few pin holes with dots of cyanoacrylate and left them to fully harden. There was no other option than to sand out the coarse texture, but it's imperative that an even, uniform sectional thickness is maintained throughout the mounting flange. Well, when I say imperative, what I mean is 'in order to make this really nice'. It would've been perfectly serviceable as it was. To achieve this, I made a new, thicker sandling block from polycarbonate and carefully radiused the inner concave wall to match the inner radius of the mould. I also added a matching radius on the base of the wall where it meets the horizontal plane to ensure uniform sanding all round. Wrapped in wet 'n dry and drenched with soapy water, I could then glide the block left and right, over and over using progressively finer grits of paper until I had it glass smooth. I stopped once I'd got to 1,500 grit, which is plenty smooth enough and beginning to reveal a reflection. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Other than a final polish and wax to act as a release agent, that's the mould ready to go. It's not totally, utterly perfect, but is at a standard that will hopefully reduce the number of hours spent on finish refining the actual spoilers once cast. The Mk1 took an average of 4 hours just to address mould imperfections, plus the time it took to then add all the mounting holes in the right place. The only unanswered question at this stage was how much resin would the Mk2 use? Rather than guess, I filled a jug of water and weighed it. I then carefully filled the mould until the first signs of meniscus appeared around the walls. I then re-weighed the jug to see how much water had been used. This difference between the two being pretty much 422 ml. I'll need to add a little to allow for the fill and vent ports, plus the mixing nozzle volume and an initial purge of the system, so I make that 500 ml, give or take. I shall report back once I've got the pumps to play with and go from there.

Amazing work, watching all your work I’m tempted to ask to be put on the list even though I don’t have a bumper for it to go on !

Anyone up for a mid-week mk2 update? I'll take that as a yes.... The postman, by way of customs, (always a pleasure, never a chore) delivered a brace of pumps today. When used for their intended purpose, they bolt to a receiver plate within the transmission that has corresponding ports and O-rings. As I'll be using these as stand alone pumps, I needed to remove the port plate and machine them for a threaded insert to act as an adapter for the resin input and output tubes to attach to. These are the four knurled hose attachments in the middle of the picture. Once machined and tapped for the correct depth, I Loctited them in place. With the stepper motor controller concept proven, it was time to design and 3D print a basic mount for it all. The four slots in the top wall of the stepper motor mounts are just to secure the feed and return lines to and from the pumps. A quick sanity check confirms all is as it should be before final assembly. A & B markings are just to ensure I always add the same component each time to mitigate the risk of mixing two components in the same pump system. I just need to mock up the pumps next, but I'll leave that until the thread lock has set. Another area of head scratching involved creating an interface between the pump output hoses and the static mixer nozzle, as previously this was handled by the 2 component resin cartridge and gun thingy-ma-jig. I wanted to use the same static mixing nozzles as these had proven reliable, sufficient and consistent, but I needed to conjure up a suitable interface. I made a (very) rough prototype by sacrificing a twin cartridge, amputating (no anaesthetic) the end element which is where the two components were forced into an arranged bond. To this I then massaged the ends of some 8mm copper microbore to fit, to see if this would work in practice. Satisfied with the plan, this was drawn up in CAD with a refined design, including a mounting flange that may, or may not come in handy further down the line. I couldn't find a published specification for the 'G-series' static mixer nozzle thread, so this was copied by taking precise measurements with a digital vernier. Here's a quick 3D print to make sure the CAD file is not corrupt and that the reality matches the drawing. The acid test was to mount up a fresh nozzle to confirm all is present and correct. Happy with that, and given that a 3D print is not appropriate for either solvents, nor any kind of fluid pressure, I've sent the CAD file off to have one made in 316L stainless, and just in case, a handful made from nylon. That's all for this week from a spoiler perspective, as I'm currently multi-tasking trying to wire up my switched PSE valved exhausts to operate as per 996.2 protocols, but I'll cover that in my main ownership thread when I've got slightly more than sod all to report. Stay tuned for more "don't talk about this at speed-dating" updates coming soon.

The controller board and display are now mounted to the printed chassis. Also installed is the stepper motors and flexi couplings that connect to the drive yokes. These are housed in simple bearings just to keep things secure and precise. Next job is to connect up the motors and do a dry run to test for pressure, flow rates, pump bypass etc. Might be a couple of weeks before the stainless mixing nozzle is ready though.

I double tasked again today whilst wiring up the PSE dash switch in my other thread, but still managed to mount and plumb the pumnps to the main chassis. And a quick test to make sure nothing is binding. Next will be to pump some resin through each side to test operational performance.

I honestly don't know where you find the time! Excellent work, as per usual.

The attention to detail is on another level keep up the good work

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Thanks bud, no social life helps.

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Thanks. Neuro diversity has many disadvantages, but I try to maximise its upsides.

Today was somewhat a bit of a let down when I tried the pumps for the first time. I edited the rest of the 20 minute video of faffing and messing about, however the first 10 seconds sums outcome. After a fair bit of head scratching and trying to manually prime the pumnps, just in case they were not generating sufficient vacuum to lift the resin, I found the problem. On the input side, a significant amount of air was leaking past the input shaft, directly into the pump housing. Puzzled, I stripped it down again and noticed the smoking gun. The pumps are designed to run submerged in oil, therefore do not require a shaft seal, as if any oil gets past the shaft, it won't be a problem as it feeds directly into the negative pressure port and would therefore be sucking oil in to the pump. Not all is lost, I'll just need to machine in a recess in the top, outer face of the shaft housing to accept an o-ring to act as a shaft seal, as well as refining the finish of the machined input shaft to somewhere in between 8-16 RMS finish - fine, but not polished. All part of the journey.

I'll just leave this here....

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996 Tracy Island .. ?

Apologies for the lack of progress, I had to wait for my brother-in-law to return from holiday before I could access his small, yet precision CNC mill. In the interim period, the 3D printed stainless and nylon custom mixer nozzles turned up, which I'm really impressed with. Black home test print on the left. Next up was to machine out an o-ring recess in the top of the pump plate, but first a test to check the fit and in-situ measured ID of the selected O-ring to ensure it was the desired size for the shaft. Next was to polish the machined finish of the shaft to the minimum required surface finish to achieve a good shaft seal performance. This ended up going a bit further and finished up at 1 micron, because, well, because shiny. Started off at 240 grit and worked up to 2,000 grit which yielded a 10 micron finish. This was then followed by some diamond grit paste to finally achieve the 1 micron finish. Next was to machine the pump housing to accept the o-ring. O-ring inserted.... I then needed an o-ring retaining piece - 3D printer to the rescue. These were a press/glue in fit and can easily be removed if I ever need to replace the o-ring. Both pumps reassembled and now sealed against shaft leakage. I was then able to set up a test rig to see if it worked.... The video below is extremely dull, bordering on hyper-dull, but at least shows it works. Be thankful I edited out the first 10 minutes whilst I got it to initially prime. The video starts with the resin most of the way up the delivery tubes into the empty bottles. Please feel free to skip through to the end which is even more underwhelming than the ending of 'Lost'. I ran the pumps for two complete programmed cycles to give a more accurate measurement of actual fluid delivered, versus the theoretical number programmed in to start with. As further testing continues, I'll be able to calibrate this far more precisely. As you can see, the thicker part A resin is delivered at approximately half the speed of the thinner Part B. Neither resin achieved the anticipated volume calculated. After rechecking with the volumetric efficiency charts for the pumps, this difference should not have occurred, at least not to any material degree, which means something is not quite right. I revisited some old fluid dynamic theory and came to the conclusion that the narrowness of the inlet pipes are likely causing the restriction at these viscosities. As you can never achieve a vacuum on the inlet side of more than 1 bar, the inlet flow rate is dictated by the viscosity of the fluid at (max) 1 bar through the prescribed medium. If this is too restrictive for the desired output flow rate, it will hinder the pumps VE. That's my theory at this stage anyway. I've ordered new larger bore tube and fittings with a 125% increase in cross-sectional area, including larger pump fittings, which in conjunction with a much shorter inlet tube run I have planned, should mitigate any inlet restriction sufficiently to enable the appropriate output flow rate. All good fun and learning.

Hi. I might be too late to the party. But I'd like to put my name down for a Mk1 996 front splitter.

I think that i speak for many on here when i announce that you sir, are a bloody genius.............!!!!

this is still mesmerising - i admit most of it goes over my head but its like being back in CDT at school, but for grown ups and engineer types..............once again, excellent work!!!!

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No problem, thank you, however you are already on the list at number 6. 1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996

Quotes source post: 2767926

Very kind, but far from it. I'm just a mild mannered clerical gentleman who keeps on throwing mud at the wall until some of it eventually sticks.

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) Ste.Wal.

Today was one of those days that you look back at what you achieved and suddenly feel sufficiently underwhelmed to start berating your own lack of productivity. Still, progress was made and progress is progress I guess. Essentially, today I made a frame to house the dispensing vessels, plumbing and shut off valves. 3D printing is great for small stuff, but when you're prototyping large stuff that can take multiple attempts, it's just too slow, so on this occasion I used some 18mm marine ply. The key cha;;enge to overcome was to mount everything securely, with the shortest run of tube to the pump inlets, from vessels that had at least double the capacity of each component (to allow for degassing expansion in the vacuum chamber), and for ti all to actually fit in the vacuum champer. It turns out that 10 lbs of ***** doesn't fit in a 9 lbs bag. Who knew? For the delivery vessels, I needed something with a drain at the bottom so I didn't have to suck up the resin from the top. I also needed to be able to seal the vessel air tight to stop unused resin partially curing if left exposed, not to mention collecting dust and or debris. However I also needed it to be vented to enable resin to flow out the bottom. You can probably guess what I came up with.... Yep, 600ml spray gun cups are perfect for the job, if not at face value a ***** to mount and house with stability. I decided it was easiest to suspend them from the top and work downwards. I used some adapter barbed nozzels to screw directly into the base of the cups, which with a very short length of tube, I then attached to small 1/4" ball valves. This will allow me to seperate the pumps for servicing without losing resin, as well as another hugely convenient fringe benefit which I'll come to in a moment. I drilled and filed out the appropriate keyway slot to snuggly hold the valves and used epoxy to hold them in place. Getting the hose barbs to align took a little 'effort'. At this point, I'd built the frame as tall as I could whilst ensuring it still fits within the vacuum chamber. However, when I positioned the pump and motor assembly underneath, there simply wasn't enough room to get the tubes from the pump outlets curved tightly enough to meet the valve barbs without them either fouling the drive shaft couplers, or kinking. I messed around with it for an age trying to find the best compromise, but in the end decided to make a two stage frame which would allow me to seperate the pump assembly from the resin cups for degassing, then reassemble to give me sufficient height. To do this I simply used dowels to locate the upper frame on the lower base mount. It rests on top snugly, yet comes apart easily. The pumps are not fitted here. And yes, I will live in deep regret, torment and turmoil that I didn't align the ply layers correctly. I am deeply ashamed. With the pump ports replaced last night with the larger 6mm bore and the entire plumping rig upscaled to match, I now had sufficient working height to permit a smooth bend to meet the valve tails. I got fed up wiping off the sharpie marks on the pump body, so used the engraver instead. Next is to mount a cross bar to the rear base frame to rout the output hoses through, at which point I can then look at how I interface and position these with the mixer nozzle. Hopefully I'll be able to test the rig tomorrow and see if the increased diameter of tube and shorter routing has addressed the flow variations.

Oh, and just before I forget, I've been multitasking again as preparation for an initial lip spoiler prototype continues.... A huge shout out to our forum family member @Gixxer996 who kindly took some very precise measurements of his own lip spoiler to ensure I made a faithful replica. The 3D printer is running now, so in the morning I'll have a small section to offer up to the car for a visual gut check to see if any fine adjustments need to be made. Don't get your hopes up on this one just yet, it's very early days, but I'm trying.

Seriously impressive

Today, I mocked up the spoiler mould in position with the pumping station on the bench, trying a few locations to see where it was easiest to use and manoeuvre round. None of them were what I'd call 'optimised'. I quickly came to the conclusion that the best place for it was mounted on the wall. Which meant remaking the base frame. This allowed me to improve the design and mount the pumps vertically, both relaxing the tube run from the pumps to the cups, whilst also enabling the pump ports to be also vertically positioned, which will help reduce the risk of bubbles. I re-did the location pins in steel, as the large wooden dowels weren't a great first attempt. I thought it wise to add some labels to help mitigate the chance of "I can't believe I just did that" occurring. With the location now set, I was able to add a front guide bar for the output tubes. This provides not only some strain relief, but also prevents the tubes kinking enroute from the pumps. Nothing fancy, but it does the job. I used some heat shrink to keep the two tubes running parallel, for no other reason than ease of management. Out came the old faithful, tried and tested mixer nozzle, attached to the new 3D printed nylon 2-1 adapter. The end is semi-flexible thanks to the silicone joiner sleeve that holds the aluminium tube. This snuggly press fits into the hole in the polycarbonate lid to inject the mixed resin. The silicone wall of the tube serves as an appropriate depth stop, as wells as providing an added seal. And there we are, my new resin mixer pump ready for proper bench testing. It would've be nice to make something really high precision, rather than just out of bits of wood I have lying around, but for a very low volume prototype proof of concept, it'll serve it's purpose. I did run it up just to make sure all was still operational and discovered that pump B was stuck. I had no choice other than to strip it down to investigate. Opening it up revealed the ports gummed up with semi-cured resin. Whilst not chemically cured without part A joining the party, part B does have a reasonably high level of anaerobic cure in the presence of aluminium which is something I'd overlooked. Not a disaster, I just needed to strip, clean and rebuild it. I'll need to make sure that I flush the pumps with solvent after each casting. Just before I wrap things up, there is the little matter of a 3D print from last night.... It's really small and in shadow from the garage lighting, but it was great to be able to have a first eyeball assessment of the proportions. It's dimensionally correct as the original was measured using digital calipers, but I always like to see something for the real world 'eye' test. Rather pleased with that so far. As you were.

Marvellous work - can't wait to see it in action.

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oooo your work is amazing buddy, if you going to start a list for the taco gurney flap. add me to it please.

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Thank you, Sir. It's too early to say on the Gurney at the moment as despite it's smaller size, it's a more complex shape to mould as it doesn't have a flat mounting plane so will need a different approach. It also need the option to be paintable so I'll need to mould it from a different material and the PU rubber blend I'm using for the splitters can;t be painted. I've got some plans but would want to get to the point where I've made a couple of prototype replicas first before getting any hopes up. But, if I'm successful, you may have number 001.

It's been a tough week due to a combination of not feeling very well, coinciding with a project in work absorbing most of my time, energy and focus. However, I'm feeling a little better now and committed to not going to bed tonight until I'd completed my calibration test. It took about four runs to get the calibration correct where the resin dispensed in exactly the same quantity, at the desired rate to fill the mould within the pot life of the resin, and for the display to accurately reflect the quantity dispensed. Whilst a quick visual check is possible with the measuring cups, I weighed these at the end of each test and applied the calculated specific gravity of each component to compensate for their volumetric differences to ensure the ratio was spot on. Reassuringly, once dialed in, this was repeatable between runs. I took a video of the new rig in motion for the forth, and final test, hence the spillages and 'evidence of activity' on the bench from earlier runs. The sanding block on top of the measuring cups is just a weight hold them still and level until the weight of the resin was enough to provide stability, otherwise they were tipping over due to the presence of the input tubes. I'm really pleased that it worked so well, so early in the development phase. One of the things I was considering is how to clean the rig out in between moulds, as it's not good to leave the resin in there for any length of time without it gumming up the tubes and motor. The answer is of course to flush a gallon of solvent through it until it runs clear. The problem with this is that it would use scandalously wasteful and ruinously expensive amounts of solvent before running thoroughly clean, as the nature of the gear pumps means that the toothed gears hold resin on the rear of the gear teeth for a long time during one way flushing. I pondered how to overcome this and reverse engineered what I'd do if this was a manual setup without the pumps. The reality is I'd fill the tubes etc with a quantity of solvent, then slosh it back and forth so it had longer to dissolve the resin per volume of solvent, whilst also back purging areas that are shielded when flow is unidirectional. A cleaning cycle code was added which runs the pump backwards for a second at a relatively slow speed so as not to create a positive pressure on the input shaft o-ring seal I'd added, then run forwards at a faster speed. Then reverse again, then ramp up the forward speed a little more - and so on and so on until the forward speed was twice as fat as the rearward speed. This yields a NET position of positive flow that cleans the rear side of the pump gears, as well as the valves and various union connectors. At the same time, it's giving the solvent longer to do its job to reduce waste. Effectively sloshing the solvent back and forth as I'd do manually. The plan would either fail spectacularly, or work a treat. I took a video of the cleaning cycle to better demonstrate the theory in practice. I'm really please how this turned out, fully cleaning the system with less solvent than I'd have used if I'd have done it manually. The end of the delivery tubes looked like this after the cleaning cycle had run its programme. I'm pretty much ready to try it for real and mould the very first mk2 this weekend. Wish me luck.

Right, lets dive straight in - I moulded the first mk2 today. This would reveal several insights. 1) Is the new mk2 an improvement? 2) Is the new mould material and wax release suitable for this shape and application? 3) Is the new mould of sufficient quality / refinement? 4) Does the new pumping system work? First job was to apply the wax release coat. The mk1 silicone mould didn't need a release agent as nothing sticks to silicone, but with the epoxy mould, this was an essential step. I used Collinite as it has a high proportion of carnauba wax. I used a mixing stick inside a thin strip of microfibre to apply down within the vertical fence. The removable cup stand of the pump rig came into its own here as I degassed in the vacuum chamber. The thinner viscosity component on the right foamed up first with it being thinner. Time to take a deep breath. The pumping system allows single handed use. Here's a short montage of the fill. If nothing else, I'm really happy to have reached this stage from nothing only a few weeks ago. I had to go out for a couple of hours after the clean up and returned to the garage later on and was intrigued by the separation gaps between the spoiler and the lid, especially at the outer ends. The resin shrinks a little as it cures and I've seen this before, albeit not in little blobs, more in islands and areas. Maybe the rigidity of the thicker lid was responsible for the more divided separation from the lid? The lid removed really easily and at first glance, all looked great. However very quickly I saw that the areas that appeared to be shrinkage separation were more than just that, they were actually slight depressions. I also noticed that the shrinkage had sunk the level on the overflow fill tube beneath the level of the lid. This was just because I didn't leave enough of an excess in the fill port tube which is just a little ring rust creeping in on my part. To my relief, the release wax helped the spoiler de-mould without too much effort. As it takes a full 7 days for a full cure, I rested the spoiler on top of a previous template so I could ensure it was resting in the correct form as it cures. This is why the base element looks really thick in some images, it's just resting on the black template. Sadly, some of the sunken areas appeared on the front face. Pleased? Yes. Disappointed? Yes. My best guess as to the cause of the collection of depressions is contamination of the various solvents. Thinking back, after I'd cleaned the pumps from the calibration test last night, I ran a small amount of white spirit through them to just add a small film of lubrication after having solvents run through them. Whilst I cycled the pumps until the white spirit was as purged as I could before calling it a night. There will no doubt have been some residue left in the pumps. If I'm honest, I neglected to flush the pumps through with solvent this morning. Schoolboy error. What gave me confidence in this theory is that they're not actually air bubbles, just areas where the resin has shrunk more than the surrounding material, a tell tail of contamination. Additionally, the issue is concentrated toward the outer ends on both sides which would correspond with the highest concentration of contamination coming first and diminishing throughout the process, hence the centre element which was last to be filled is pretty much clear. Lets revisit the questions that I hoped would be answered. 1) Is the new mk2 an improvement? - I think so, but will need to see it on the car to cement this. Either way, my guts says it's nice. 2) Is the new mould material and wax release suitable for this shape and application? Yes, better than I hoped. 3) Is the new mould of sufficient quality / refinement? - No, not as it stands. There are some micro bubbles that will need to be filled, which if not successful will require a new mould to be made. 4) Does the new pumping system work? Yes, and if nothing else, I feel a sense of achievement here. I'll strip down and inspect the problematic pump B which feels like it wants to seize, either through excessively tight tolerances, or the resin is not getting along with it. We'll see where that takes us. It was naive to think that a brand new mould and resin injection system would yield a perfect result at the first time of asking, however I am remarkably close to the end goal after just attempt number one. Like Mr. Ballboa in 1976, I feel like I've lost a hard fought split decision, yet somehow enjoyed a few crumbs of moral victory. From here, we learn and grow.

Incredible work mate, wow.

In a thinly veiled attempt to build some much needed anticipation and excitement, what with the winter evenings closing in fast, whilst the garage heater spins the electric meter like a Vegas roulette wheel, I'm out there right now as I type, preparing to mould 2.2. I got up at dark o'clock, cleaned the mould and then spent a while attending to all the tiny imperfections with some 2k dolphin glaze. I've just finished refining this back, following by going over the entire inner mould back to 3,000 grit again, before applying more wax. Parts A & B are revealing their innermost secrets from within the vacuum chamber and the kettle has just clicked with a reassuring and bubbling clunk. Don't wear out your F5 keys just yet, however I will post an update later, either from behind a snotty handkerchief, or whilst wiping ticker tape off my keyboard. Place your bets.... Or

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Quotes source post: 2769514

Always gamble responsibly.

Sadness and disappointment can present in many different shapes and forms. Today it presented in all of them. There's a saying, "Don't tell people your problems, as 80% won't care and 20% will be glad you've got them". One in five are in for a real treat! As pump B was giving me all kinds of heartache again, symptoms akin to it beginning to seize, I stripped it down again. The results set the tone for the rest of the day. It was gummed up to the point of almost being solid. This was despite running all kinds of solvents through it to purge, clean and flush. Further research has confirmed that chloride ions within the catalyst component are chemically reacting with the oxide layer on the pump's aluminium surfaces causing the catalyst to cure in the pump. There's not a lot I can do about this with the current pumps, so for now, I've stripped them both down and cleaned them, reassembled, and de-commissioned the pumping rig for another day. The pumping rig has been a great project and one I'm calling a success, as not only did it conceptually work well, I learned a lot on the journey so I'm happy to park this in the 'another day' bay. I don't want to use up any more time at the moment as we've got spoilers to mould! With this, and following a morning spent finessing the epoxy mould, I reverted to the original hand pump method which had served me well. Having observed the amount of resin actually pumped on the previous one, it was touch and go whether I'd be able to get enough in the original sized cartridges I had. With nothing to lose, I rolled the dice. The 'luck virus' must have worn off about 50ml too soon. I forgot to include the resin used in the mixing nozzle and also the wasted resin necessary to purge any incorrect ratio pre-mix that initially occurs until both components are flowing to the nozzed equally. With less than two minutes remaining on the pot-life 'cure clock' for the first of the resin that reached the mould, I had to disconnect everything, pull the pistons out of the cartridges, add more resin, reassemble, purge the air out and re-insert the nozzle - all without introducing any air into the fill port. Good. Luck. With. That. Needless to say, it was a very messy affair and it's a good job that I bought another six pack of blue roll yesterday, as it was put to good use. Still, at the end of the day, I had another spoiler curing in the mould and a lot of cleaning up to do. As it was at a 45 degree angle during the fill, when I removed the nozzle to add more resin to the cartridges, resin began to ooze out of the mould, hence the mess. There's ten points up for grabs to anyone who can guess what the two odd shaped washers/clamps are from in the picture above. Another experiment I tried on this pour was to not use spray release wax on the lid, but instead use more of the Collinite wax, given it was doing a great job of releasing the spoiler from the mould. It did work, but was hard work getting the lid to peel off the top of the spoiler, requiring me to run a spatula along the mould as I gently prized the lid up to encourage separation. I'll revert to the spray wax going forward. What this did however leave me with was a very smooth and reflective surface on the bottom of the spoiler - this one was looking nice. That was until I spotted the air bubble that must have been introduced when I removed and replaced the nozzle during the top up. Dammit. Along with the smaller ones that also made their way in. Double dammit. Still, all was not lost as these were on the hidden mating face, meaning there was still hope that this second attempt could be one I use on my own car for testing, as long as the rest came out okay. More snake eyes. In fact, enough snake eyes to give even Medusa's hair stylist nightmares. I still had a healthy series of contamination areas. Less than last time, but still plenty. Worse still were the new marks on the inner fence, almost certainly caused when I was sanding back the putty this morning and must have accidentally scratched the surface on the inside, vertical fence area as I tried to blend from the horizontal to the vertical plane. You can't really see these in the mould as the angles are too tight to peer clearly down into this area. I won't lie, this could have been described as somewhat dispiriting. Whilst pulling a series of stranges facial expressions, staring naively at the train wreck that lay before me like Arnie Cunningham standing in front of Christine, hoping everything would somehow sort itself out, I had a thought. I positioned the two spoilers back to back and noticed that there was a suspiciously similar pattern and position to many of the contamination areas. At little too close to be coincidental. This got me wondering if the epoxy mould is the source of contamination, which despite me very thoroughly cleaning it earlier, may have remained as contamination often does. The truth be told, I won't ever truly know, and as it stands, whilst the refinement process this morning did improve the finish from the mould in several places, it was still far from perfect. This, in conjunction with now two contamination related failures gives me a decision to make. I can carry on trying to rectify and find causes which may never present, whilst still leaving me with a mould finish I'm not really happy with, or I can start again. I'm starting again, but reverting back to the silicone mould. Yes it has it's disadvantages and makes creating the mould box another world of pain, but it's a process I've proven works and I know how to go about it successfully. I'll discard the rest of the resin mix, as whilst there's maybe three or four spoilers worth left, the risk of contamination with all the testing and pump calibration is not worth the risk. So, with a lot of further learning and experience under my belt, not to mention about a month of worth, it's five steps forward and five steps backward again. However, I've been here before and know full well that perseverance, commitment and granite determination will yield success. As Rudyard himself once wrote - "Dare to be honest and fear no labour".

What a project you’ve taken on there, hats off to you, how frustrating after all that work to have these niggly problems with the end results. How many times have you heard people say “how much? .. How hard can it be to make that ? “ Well actually, now that you ask …

I said I'd be back.... Whilst I plan, plot and scheme for the difficult second album, I wanted to assess the overall visuals on the mk2 and seek gratuitous validation some feedback before progressing. Hence I took the second pre-production sample, punched the mounting holes in it, and attached it to the bumper section for a look-see. The tape is just left over reference points from when I made the prototype. With a LOT of hand finishing, I'll make this a useable spoiler and fit to my own car for further pondering. I'm chuffed with it. But wait..... there's more..... In order to maintain sufficient downforce as we speed gallantly down 'Gurney Boulevard', several pits stops have been made along the way to gather information and data. Whilst this has been super helpful and massively appreciated, giving me a very good steer in the right direction, I was left feeling uncomfortable that I'd be (to a certain degree) making it up as I go along. With any organic shaped form, as the relative size and proportions decrease, accuracy and detail become exponentially more important. I'll need many more reference points to work from, and these are not easy to come by. I pulled several more faces, looked up at the sky whilst shaking my head, took a deep breath and invested big into project 'stiff upper lip'. As you were.

Do you ever get that feeling of dejavu? The morning consisted of refining the mk2 prototype further to round off the edges and corners some more to give it a slightly more organic look. As the release from the epoxy mould pulled some paint off, I stripped it back and began the long and laborious refinishing process and got as far as high build primer and guide coat, before putting it to one side to fully cure before blocking back. The observant amongst you will notice I've contradicted myself again and drilled the mounting holes. The reason for this is that with the added cross sectional thickness of the mk2, punching the holes became much more of a physical affair. Setting up my alignment jig once more reminded me why I promised myself to cast the holes in next time round. I spent an age aligning the master with the mould I took from an original spoiler base plate to ensure absolute hole position accuracy, then drilled them out. This time round I've opened them up by 0.5mm, just to give the slightest additional positional flexibility. This will help accommodate for wavy and distorted bumpers which will slightly alter the relative position of the holes. I'm pleased to say that It lined up to the donor bumper like a glove. Next was to start to build the new mould box, required now I;ve reverted back to using silicone. This provides a rigid frame to maintain dimensional accuracy of the silicone. Yet another furniture board was purchased and slided up accordingly. The black template is the casting I took from the base of an original spoiler. It's great to use as both a hole template and to draw round to indicate the required shape and mould wall thickness. Allowing for a 10mm minimum wall thickness all round, I could then build the mould walls. The previous moulds I've built this way were always a bit of a pain, as the furniture board is not flexible, and therefore required cutting into multiple sections, carefully slicing and dicing angles to get a reasonably compact mould wall. This, by its very nature was wasteful as it created areas far wider than 10mm, consuming a lot of very expensive platinum cure silicone. What I needed was something curved, but still rigid in compression. I thought I'd use this new mould to experiment with a different technique. I thought I;d have a crack at applying a series of kerk cuts across the width of the walls to permit some flex, without actually cutting all the way through. Following some experimentation on some of my many old scrap pieces and off-cuts, I set up the chop saw depth stop to establish just the right amount of cut depth to produce some flex but without cracking. Essentially this required leaving barely more than the melamine surface between blocks. Cutting all these slots was a nerve wracking and very time consuming process. The kerfing favoured bending the board in a convex manner which permitted a greater angle of flex than trying to bend them concave, which pretty much cracked the melamine instantly. Allegedly. Another example of experience gained seconds after you needed it. On the longer side, to give the silicone something to grip to, I drilled a series of small holes as per previous moulds. Drilling all the holes in the opposite wall was not required as the kerfing slots provide a perfect anchor for the silicone. This pleased me as drilling all those holes was 'Blue Peter' levels of dull. I dropped in one of the first two moulds to check fit and alignment. This design should reduce the amount of silicone needed to fill the mould. That's all for today. Next up is to make the lid, which will probably involve buying another sheet of polycarbonate as the lid used on the epoxy mould has the holes positioned too close to the edge of the spoiler for use with silicone. This really does feel like starting from scratch. It's a slow and painful process, but a process that cannot be avoided to make what I hope will be a quality item. Tune in next time for more of the same old regurgitated nonsense.

Just a small update from the weekend and a couple of evenings. I'd forgotten just how much work goes into creating a silicone mould, but it's all come flooding back again with absolute clarity. I'm trying to stick to what I know works, whilst also making small 'quality of life' incremental improvements based on past experience. I decided to pause progress on the lid beyond cutting a rough shape, as I want to drill the holes for it at the same time as I trill the mounting holes inn the perimeter walls to ensure they are perfectly aligned. With this in mind, the next job became filling as much of the dead space of the mould as possible to reduce the quantity of silicone required as platinum cure silicone is not cheap. The mould isn't fussy about what absorbs volume, so long as the minimum prescribed thickness of silicone is maintained all over. I used what I had lying around, the first of which was all the leftover polycarbonate sheet. I cut this into appropriate width strips and laminated them together with CA up against the inner wall. This was to take up the void of the internal right angle cross section of the spoiler. Next up was to compensate for the tapered ends. For this I just layered up various bits of wood and polycarbonate scraps I had to achieve a roughly similar profile of taper. It was then time to add some fill and breather ports. Last time round I recall a single hole not being large enough to pour in sufficient silicone within the pot life window, so not only added two more, but made these elongated in shape to facilitate a faster fill rate. The small breather holes re just to prevent trapped air as the mould fills, whilst also giving me a spy window to see where the level is up to at the outer ends whilst pouring. Super fans may recall that challenge I faced trying to screw the lid into the chipboard more than a few times. It's weak and voided structure not lending itself to holding threads, even threaded inserts. This time around, I've switched to using furniture connector bolts with barrel nuts which will anchor much more robustly in the walls of the mould. Key to using these successfully is to ensure the most precision fit possible for the barrels, in addition to achieving precision alignment between the bolts hole and the barrel hole which is at 90 degrees. As the mould it is too big for my drill press and my ability to drill a straight hole by eye sufficiently poor to grant me an automatic successful audition for a new band "The Wandering Drill Bills', I thought it prudent to make a jig for the 50 holes. The first part is a piece of scrap angle that positions the bolt hole dead centre in the wall of the mould frame. There is a corresponding hole in the perpendicular leg to position the barrel hole precisely beneath it. I won't use this to drill the full holes as all this does is give me accurate centre positioning. To ensure I drill the hole straight thereafter, I took a perfectly square block of tool steel and drilled the same size hole all the way through on the drill press. Similar to how the exhaust manifold jogs function, when leveled on the flat face of the mould wall top or side, the initial spot drill will give me accurate position, whilst the high depth of the block will keep the drill straight. That's the theory anyway. We'll soon find out if it works. Depressingly, there's three full days worth in just that post. Still, we march onwards.

I hope you have a good heater in your garage at this time of year

Quotes source post: 2771131

It's very well insulated, double glazing, sealed doors etc so never gets really cold, but the woolly hat and padded jacket have made a re-appearance. I've got an electric heater that I'll have to use when it comes to pouring the silicone and casting the spoilers as the these perform and cure best at about 20 degrees. Last season's electricity bill had a significant spike above a usual winter due to my 'spa day' approach to garage work. This winter is on a needs must basis!

Bit more progress from today. I used the jigs to drill the bolt and securing barrel holes all the way round the mould walls. This worked out well and made lining up the bolts and barrels a simple process, without having to hog out any holes to compensate for misalignment. The barrell holes broke through the inner mould walls which cemented the decision to seal up the external wall holes with the sealing wax to prevent any silicone leakage. Given the kerfing slots are perilously close to the inner containing walls, I also filled the top of these slots with wax to give the lid a little more to seal against along the wall mating faces. Seeing the lack of precision around the barrel holes breakthrough and general space filling elements does grate on my nerves, but I have to keep reminding myself, this is just a method of containing the silicone as it creates a mould around the spoiler and spending a week perfecting it would be a total waste of time. I was then able to cut the lid to size and match up the bolts holes, shown here in position with a couple of bolts just for effect. Where the attention to detail is really needed is in the final preparation of the master spoiler. It was last seen wearing a guide coat to begin the final finishing process. Bodyworking just eats hours, but I eventually managed to get all the surfaces, corners, edges and radii where I wanted them. A couple of coats of high build and another guide coat saw me able to apply the customary satin black. I was pleased with the finish which was good, but not perfect. The beauty of black is that it highlights every imperfection which whilst likely would be hidden underneath the texture of any mould release agent, I didn't want to take the risk. I flatted this back a little more until I was happy, but rather than repaint it black, I reapplied some high build primer, as I'm considering casting the silicone with this finish for a more matt surface texture. We'll see. I've left it to fully cure over night and hope that after a quick de-nib with some ultra-fine Scotch pads, I can mount it to the lid and hopefully pour the silicone tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

fingers crossed nicely done

I was determined to get the silicone poured today, so started out early and began preparations. I attached multiple strips of 0.1mm thick double sided tape to affix the spoiler top the lid. Picking and peeling the backing of this is like trying to thread a needle whilst wearing boxing gloves. As this is the first ever spoiler mould I've cast with the mounting holes in place, I was conscious that there was a very real risk of the silicone seeping under the spoiler through the holes, so made sure I added a very thin ring of sealing wax around the perimeter of the holes. I was then able to mount it to the lid, making sure I positioned it to sit centrally within in within the mould walls. With it turned over, I then carefully removed the excess wax from the holes using various implements to leave a clean, yet sealed hole. After a final and thorough degrease and dust down, I sprayed multiple fine coats of the release wax, doing everything I could to maintain an even, fine texture over the spoiler's surfaces as the platinum cure silicone will replicate this to an astonishing degree. Hyper-vigilant against suffering cure-inhibition due to contamination again, I gave the mould box a final vacuum and degrease, then mounted the lid ready for the big pour. The yellow stuff around the perimeter is where the sealing wax pushed right into the very edge of the spoiler when tooling, and is a reassuring visual cue that the spoiler is sealed to the lid to prevent silicone creep. I now remember why I experimented with the epoxy mould. Building, setting up and preparing a silicone mould is very time consuming, laborious and fraught with opportunities for failure. Eventually, I was left with a spoiler nestling in the mould box awiting it's silicone bath. I was feeling a little extra fruity, so added a touch more red pigment than usual and couldn't resist taking this shot as I began to mix the silicone, pigment and catalyst together. This stuff is like treacle and is a ***** to mix by hand. I'd calculated the quantity needed and was rather chuffed when this worked out as I'd hoped. It was a relief to see the silicon rise up through the vent ports in the outer end corners, confirming it had made its way all the way to the furthest extremities of the mould. The TDS advises to wait 24 hours at 20 degrees C before demoulding, so I'll give this a full 48 hours before attempting to remove the lid and spoiler. This is always a very nerve wracking moment as it's only then you discover whether all the work and preparation has paid off. There's no second change or rectification with silicone, it is what is is and if there's flaws or issues, the entire mold box and silicone is scrap. My breath is bated.

Fingers crossed for a good result mr fit !

A quick inspection this morning indicates that at face value, things look good so far. The spoiler is still attached to the lid, there are no obvious voids and I can't see any silicone creep around the edges or the holes. This is encouraging. Incredible that a fluid or such high viscosity and relatively short pot life can find its way out of threaded holes, top centre. No biggie.

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Shortly after my last post, I stashed the mould box down the side of the airing cupboard where it was very toasty and warm. At lunch time the exposed areas felt pretty dry, if just a slightly bit stick tacky, but not enough to leave a fingerprint. By the time I'd finished work it was fully cured thanks the elevated temperature, so I did what any normal person would do. Normally, pulling the master out of the mould is a tough gig that requires a lot of effort as the mechanical grip the silicone holds to the spoiler thanks to being perfectly moulded around is very strong. I've often wondered what will break first - the lid, the spoiler or the mould box, such is the force required to release. On this occasion, the lid came away from the spoiler first with little fuss. It looked okay so far... With the lid removed, I had precisely nothing to grip hold of in order to pull it out. I had to carefully insert a trim tool at one end, using the compressibility of the silicone to enable me to get enough leverage underneath to prise it up enough to get my fingers around it and pull. Cue the music to the 'Marvelous Mechanical Mouse Organ'. It came out one one piece and unmarked, too. I'll not tease any longer... I'm pretty chuffed with that. It's not 100% utterly perfect - there's a tiny amount of micro flashing around the hole posts and a couple of miniscule imperfections that will be no issue to sort during the final finessing stage, but it's the best mould I've produced so far and as good as I could've hoped for when casting silicone on this scale. it's only really meant to be used for things that would easily fit in a shoe box or smaller, so I'm stretching the boundaries of what's possible here. Perfect timing was the arrival of two boxes in the mail from two different vendors. One was from China with my not easy to find 600 ml 1:1 resin cartridges. The original 400ml is on the right and has notably smaller rocket boosters. The only fly in the ointment is that these new 600s don't fit in my twin cartridge gun which in 600ml capacity are also very difficult to find in Europe for any kind of sensible money. I've got one coming from China of the same design and construction as my original one. This was only dispatched yesterday so might be a few days before it arrives. As for the other box, that was far more interesting, but I'll need to update my other thread for that.

Wow - what a result. I am pleased you got over excited with the pigment - that's a great colour mould you have to work with now.

It is slightly alarming how much vicarious pleasure I obtain from each significant step forward. These posts are a treat to read - thank you for documenting the process.

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Thanks buddy, I appreciate the feedback. I do fear that the somewhat repetitive process becomes dull to the reader and wonder if I should just stick to the outcome, rather than the methodology. I find it equally alarming how much I forget the level of ball ache and emotional jeopardy involved in the process and ponder why the 'never again' syndrome has not presented yet. I'm deep into planning and preparation work in readiness for the Gurney flap project.

again IF - i am dothing my cap with intense interest although most of it is way over my paygrade. one query i have is why are you not including a vibration "tamping" without the tamp to help eradicate any possible bubbles etc - a la curing concrete - would this indeed help with the viscosity of the resin or serve no benefit at all?

Quotes source post: 2772289

It's way over my paygrade, too! Vacuum degassing is faster and more effective than tamping for removing air bubbles, albeit whilst there is come cross-over, the two processes have application specific, mutually exclusive benefits. Tamping is particularly useful for evening out particulate matter to provide a more consistent distribution and saturation of the substrate components, with removal of air bubbles a welcome by product.

Just a small Gurney flap update to show this other project is not just a figment of my imagination. Whilst real people may be out having a nice time on a Friday night, I like to spend mine freezing my nuts off, cutting and sanding wood in the dark on the patio. You should try it, it's awesome. The colder the better. After an age of double cross-checking measurements, I transferred the template I made of the lower taco element trailing edge to a piece of taped masking paper and adhered this to a sturdy off-cut of marine ply. Once cut roughly to shape, within a millimeter or so, I then began an almost Japanese endurance game show process gradually sanding it back, a tiny bit at a time until it closed up to the rear of the taco element perfectly. I'd be amazed if I didn't offer it up and sand a bit more off at least 50 times. I'm always looking for ways to improve something and marvelled (in disappointment) that the mind meltingly expensive original Porsche part doesn't come with the correct curved profile, instead it comes completely straight, with just the slightly curved ends. It's up to the installer to set the correct curvature to match curve of the spoiler to the rear of the taco by bending it to suit. Hmmmph! My small element of improvement and added value for want of a better word is to mould mine with the correct curvature already in place. This will make mounting an easier process and put less shear force on the double sided adhesive tape that is used to attach it to the taco. The purpose of the wooden jig is to line the master up against this when I mount it in the mould box so the master mould forms to this correct arc. That's the plan at least. I'll make a start on the mould box over the next week or so whilst I wait for the larger capacity resin gun to arrive before I can cast my first test front lip spoiler from the new mould. If it turns out satisfactorily, we're at the races.

My wife says that I’m on the ‘spectrum’ You’re off it

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I might be partial to a rubber keyboard, yes....

Amazing work, enjoying watching your progress, the new silicone mould looks great, hope it delivers the results you want!

Quotes source post: 2772389

Thank you, me too. I could make another ten moulds and one, maybe two could be slightly better, but not to a degree that would impact the end product outside of what I can finesse during final finishing. On that basis and factoring the law of diminishing returns, unless it births a family of 'Side Show Bob' wigs, I'll be good to commence fulfilling requests.

Grab your pop corn folks! The moment we have been waiting for is upon us

Steve Walshaw. Please add me to list for next batch

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Not sure whether it's popcorn that is required or stimulants, but one way or another we'll get there. Whilst I wait for my new resin cartridge gun to traverse the globe, there's not much else I can do on the splitter, so I'm now focusing on the Gurney flap for a bit, at least until the cartridge gun arrives. With the wooden arc template now cut and correctly shaped, I wanted to cast a proof of concept from a new resin blend that should be far more rigid than the front spoiler, whilst retaining the ability to bend a little and also be suitable for painting as most of these are color coded. I'm thinking (at least at the moment) to offer these fully painted and ready to fit, as going to a body shop and asking them to paint one would be a chunk of cash - just a quarter of a litre of paint mix is a dear do these days, plus minimum labour costs etc. As I have the gear and no life, it would be more efficient if I prep, paint and clear coat them in a single batch, all at once. We'll see. Studying the fitment of the Gurney flap, they are not mounted flush with the very rear edge corner of the taco lower element and instead sit forward by a circa 2-3 mm, depending on who fitted it. If I mould my spoiler directly as per the wooden template, it will only fit correctly if it is perfectly flush at the rear. If I move it forwards, the gap in the centre will increase more than the gap at the outer ends due to the lack of concentricity of circumference, i.e. off set rather than reducing radii. Yes, there will be more than enough flex in the spoiler to compensate for this - the original has to be fully bent from straight, but that's not the point. If I'm going to the trouble of moulding it pre-curved to fit properly, I need to compensate for the forward offset on the wooden template. As there's a slight radius on the rear of the taco plane anyway, this, along with say a 2mm forward offset from the edge corner means I need to add a 3mm thick spacer to the wooden template. Thankfully, I have plenty of leftover polypropylene from the sheet I used to create a bench top for my tool cabinet, which is both flexible also 3mm thick. I scuffed up one side and adhered this to the wooden template with some thick CA, effectively offsetting the spoiler the correct amount whilst also tightening the radii at the outer ends appropriately. That's the theory at least. I pressed the original up against the new 'guide fence' then sandwiched it tightly with another strip of polypropylene, in this case using hot melt glue to fix it to the base board. This doubled as a seal to prevent resin leakage. With the original spoiler removed from the impromptu mould walls, I was left with a close dimensional frame (in plan form at least) of the original spoiler. I donned my witches hat, mixed the new brew in my cauldron whilst delivering a magic spell that sounded similar to a teenager's Starbucks coffee order. After a quick degas in the chamber of suck, I poured it into what is a simple open top mould. I'll pull this in the morning and test both its shape against the taco element on the car to see if my theory and hours of intricate sanding have paid off, as well as the flexural strength of the resin should any slight adjustments be needed to fit. The outcome of both these tests will dictate whether I go straight into a making a master mould for casting my own Gurney's, or whether further work on the shape or resin blend is required. Fun? I nearly paid my TV licence!

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) Ste.Wal. 16) swracecarhire

Would love to be stuck on the list if possible!

1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) Ste.Wal. 16) swracecarhire 17) Mdy6246

I couldn't wait to get out to the garage this morning to see how the new resin had cured and whether my theory and calculations had been in the ballpark. It demoulded easily and after a quick clean up and rub over with a Scotch Brite pad, it looked pretty good to be fair. I refined the ends to make sure they were a match for the original so I could check the fit against the taco wing. I'm pleased with that I must say. The resin still hasn't quite fully cured as it's presenting a small element of plasticity, likely due to the colder temperatures. I'll leave it resting on the car until tomorrow, as the last thing I want to do is break or deform it whilst the polymer chains are yet to fully cross-link. Until then I can't assess whether this is the correct blend, but from what I've observed so far, it's looking good.

Wish my car had a taco wing.... So I could get one of these beauties..

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Hold that thought.....

With a few days off work to use up some annual leave, I've been out in the garage most of the time (no ***** Sherlock?) and will report progress a little later. This little interlude is just some ironic musings whilst the kettle boils. Short version (without 39 pages and thousands of pics), I drilled through my index finger with a brand new razor sharp cobalt drill bit the other week. The electric shock twanging of an elastic band that shot through my arm as it drilled through the main nerve was somewhat unnerving (sorry) and whilst a tiny wound, took far more CA glue than usual to stop the bleeding. Anyhoo, fast forward nearly two weeks and whilst the immediate pain and swelling has subsided, the end of my index finger is cold and numb. Doc said it should regrow and sort itself out over the next 6 months, but might not fully recover. The ultimate irony being that I play the guitar and did this on the same day as my new guitar arrived that I've still not been able to play. I've never looked at E.T. with such envy. Right, that's another Decaf Yorkshire tea bag fully spent - I shall go back out and continue spoiling things. Update later.

Ah Mr Interference, with all these updates you are really SPOILING us.............

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I'm pleased with the progress made today as I experimented with a new concept of mould box design, enabled by the slightly smaller scale of the Gurney flap. I started out with one of those shrink wrapped, pack of three, loft flooring chipboard kits, as the dimensions were ideal and gave me enough material to cut them in two, lengthways to create six pieces, although I only needed four. Naturally I trimmed off the T&G edge profile splinter dispensers. First up was to glue two of them together with some instant grab adhesive that I'd previously tested to make sure it did not introduce any cure inhibition in the silicone. Then it was just a case of positioning the spoiler centrally, then drawing around it, leaving the prescribed minimum wall thickness required for the silicone. I've always done this with multiple measurements and a somewhat 'join the dots' freehand approach, however this time I thought I'd try and be creative by using a washer with the correct all thickness as a guide for the pen. That tittle trick worked a treat, although I did notice the pattern was frowning at me, so I turned it round for a more encouraging grin. The jigsaw gave me a rough cut, which I then refined with various tools. Frowning again. Next up was to glue the baseboard in place. I piled on an old trolley jack and some of my heaviest other hardware to ensure a good bond whilst I ventured indoors for the umpteenth cup of tea that day. By pure accident, I stumbled on a great non-slip and insulating coaster for my brew but peeling out the left over silicone from the mixing pot, with less than zero attempt of cutting it nice and circular as cutting a uniform curve in silicone of any depth is positively futile. My tea took a lot longer to reach that point when you tragically remember you've got a cup of tea that has gone cold. With the baseboard now adhered, I cut the third and final piece which will form the lid clamp (all will become clear). We now have a precise and solid perimeter wall to pour the silicone into of sufficient depth to house the Gurney flap. I'll use a polycarbonate lid as per the other mould designs, but this time, rather than an endless series of elongated washers to spread the clamping force as evenly as possible round the mould walls, this design allows me to screw another layer on top to clamp the lid in place with uniform contact pressure all the way round the perimeter of the mold. Here a piece of blue roll is simulating the polycarbonate. I'll just screw through from the top clamping piece into the lower layers. The beauty of this design is that I don't have to faff about making solid but curved or as close fitting as possible mould walls that have been a source of much chin scratching previously. I did however spend far to long smoothing and sanding these pieces so the edges were all perfectly aligned and the corners radiused etc, but I just couldn't help myself. As chipboard is a pain for absorbing moisture which degrades it's mechanical properties significantly, in addition to me wanting to be ultra belt and braces trying to mitigate cure inhibition issues, I gave the full mould box three good coats of acrylic matt lacquer to help seal in the wood and act as a barrier coat for the silicone. Hence it looks dark / wet in the pictures below, when it's actually dry. The last job was to cut the fill ports in the base plate to add the silicone once the lid is mounted and sealed. Just for good measure, I dropped in the 2D shape template to check for clearance and general positional alignment and fit. I'm really quite pleased with that and hope it works out as planned. The only other thing I want to check, just to be certain is that the acrylic lacquer doesn't cause issues with the silicone. Acrylic is listed as a safe compound but to be certain, I sprayed a couple of coats into the base of a mixing cup and then added a small amount of silicone. I'll know in the morning whether this has caused any issues with the cure. It will also give me a more appropriately sized thermal coaster for my cups of tea that don't look like a half eaten pizza. I left it on the radiator to accelerate the cure which should be nicely cured by the morning. That's all for today. I've ordered some more polycarbonate, so until this arrives, along with me new larger capacity cartridge gun, there's not much else I can do. (Saturday morning edit - there was no sign of cure inhibition from the lacquer, so the thermal coaster is a win. And I guess the mould, too) Anyway, enough about me, I just hope this hasn't been boring for you....

Right then, all the stars aligned this weekend and I'm sure at one point, delivery vans were double stacking like a badly timed F1 pitstop. All the outstanding needful things to mould a spoiler using the new silicone mould arrived, including my new larger double barrel cartridge gun from China, which got here much faster than expected. The aviation nut in me likes to think that somewhere, a 747-200 freighter that can't remember it's last 'D check' rattled the crap out of it's fowler flaps as it slammed into the tarmac in a flareless, spar fatiguing 'impact' that even Ryan Air would be envious of. My original 'long term borrowed' vacuum pump was not performing as it should and was struggling to pull byond 95% vacuum. I had neither the time or inclination to strip it this weekend, so I levelled up with a new more powerful version that could suck a golf ball through 20 feet of garden hose (10 points for the film, another 10 points for the name of the character referenced). Working single handedly prevented any actions shots, all of which you've seen before, however I now have the first version 2.1 curing. The process went as expected and I was pleased that the lugs that create the holes retained a reasonable seal against the lid, with very little under-creep. These should clean up easily. I was disappointed to see a few small air bubbles along the upper edge as I'm not really sure how they got there. I'd taken every precaution to thoroughly degas, as well purge any air in the mixer before attaching to the lid. Dunno, will ponder that one. EDIT: On reflection, I need to check the interface seal between the nozzle and the lid as I suspect there's a chance some air may have crept in. We'll see. All part of the shakedown process. That's all for now. I'll pull it tomorrow and see what's what.

That's some kit you've managed to get yourself there! Looking forward to seeing the end results it produces. P. S. Full Metal Jacket. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. "Five-foot-nine? I didn't know they stacked ***** that high." Great movie! With some of the greatest quotes ever

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Thanks, hopefully there is no lingering doubt that this is a non-profit endeavour. Good shout on the film, but it's not what's written on the card... " Hey Ace, I'd like you to meet Judy...... " - Opening scene, Beverley Hills Cop 2.

Apologies for the late results, I came down with a nasty bug and have been in and out of bed the last 24 hours and only managing a few minutes at a time in the garage to grab a few shots. Still feel very rough and dosed up on meds. After almost 24 hours to cure, the natural shrinkage of the resin (miniscule) created auto-seperation from the lid thanks to liberal coatings of release wax spray. This creates the dull grey look as it it no longer sealed up against the lid. The lid came off easily and revealed a mostly beautiful mould. Shame about the small air bubbles we knew about. It removed from the mould with little fuss and after the quickest wipe over with a micro-fibre to remove the few bits of gossamer thin flashing, produced a spoiler that conceptually at least, I'm really pleased with. Delighted with in fact. I'm especially pleased with how the holes turned out, as these could easily have been a bit of a disaster. The small air bubbles are right on the edge, which is a shame, but not a disaster on a sample I can keep on the shelf as a spare for my own car. Ignore the rough edge on this particular hole. I tried to clean it up with a deburr bit which didn't work - they prefer a rolled up tube of 1,200 wet n dry and a quick plunge to clean up any flashing. The holes lined up with the bumper jig perfectly, the clips slotting into place like precision jigsaw pieces and the spoiler fitting like a glove. The only fly in the ointment other than the small bubbles is a combined problem at the front centre of the mould beneath the fill port. You can see this in the picture below as the two patchy areas on the front face of the vertical plane. There are two independent things going on here. First, the visual reflective issue is where I was too eager to insert the nozzle into the mould to being injecting where some of the first resin to mix after an initial couple of trigger pumps, failed to remove all of the not quite perfect ratio of the A:B components as they first transition from the cartridge to the mixer nozzle due to their differing viscosities. This has resulted in a couple of areas either side of the port that are not the perfect 50/50 mix and feel a little softer to the touch than usual. I can easily correct this with a little more wastage before inserting the nozzle to make sure all air bubbles are purged and the mix is correct and consistent. The second issue which can't really be seen in the pictures is a slight depression in the same area where the surface face of the spoiler has the very slightest concave element to it. You'd never see or notice it on casual handling, but under close examination and the finger feel test for sectional consistency, I can feel the depression. I've seen production items with more significant surface distortions on a rubber component, but it's not perfect and shouldn't be there. I'd not be comfortable sending these out the door like this as whist most wouldn't notice and some may not care in the grand scheme of things, it's not how I work and needs to be corrected. On close inspection of the mould, I discovered a slight deformity in the surface of the mould wall exactly where the depression is. At a guess, we're talking perhaps less than 0.25mm and is very difficult to capture in photographs, but the below shot hopefully highlights with the shadow variation what I'm talking about. The depression is perfectly concentric with one of the captive mounting lugs in the mould wall. I have no idea how this has happened, as the lid was tightened down and everything set and stable when I poured the silicone, which should in theory have perfectly confirmed to the face of the spoiler. I've removed the captive barrel nut and cleaned out the hole for an investigation but there's nothing that stands out. This is somewhat dispiriting as there are only three options to correct this. 1) Drill a self tapper partially into the silicone from the outside of the wall to bite into the mould wall a touch, then pull this outward a fraction to bring the wall flat again. I have my doubts whether this would work sufficiently, but worth a go. 2) Slice away that front section of the mould about 50mm wide right to the bottom to fully remove the deformed wall. I could then re-insert the master original prototype spoiler which will be a perfect precision fit and pour more silicone into the void to correct the issue. I've done this before and been suspicious of whether it would work, but the incredibly fine detail the silicone pics up left a seamless join from one part to another that did not leave any visual witness mark on subsequent spoilers moulded. Quite incredible. The only challenge here is making sure the surface texture of the front of the spoiler to be re-cast is not disturbed from when it was removed. I think it might have some vertical drag marks from initial removal that I'll need to finesse carefully so as not to create a map of the new area purely by surface texture, albeit that can be find refined post production if necessary. Just more work. 3) Dig out the silicone and pour a new mould within the existing walls. This is messy as I'll never clean out all the old silicone as it it well and truly toothed into the mould walls, however if I can dig out enough to include all the mould surfaces, it will give me another shot at a full, uniform re-pour using less silicone and without having to make a new mould box. 4) Start again. I'll attempt these in that order, but rest assured, I'll get it right and do whatever it takes. The great news is that the Mk2 is a beauty, the holes perfect, and the general additional sectional thickness and fence depth what I was aiming for. Once I'm feeling less wretched, I'll rack on and keep you all abreast of progress.

this looks fabulous - i think you are chasing perfection when what you have achieved is far better than most production runs - you should be chuffed with yourself!!!!!

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I'm trying my best, thank you. As this is not a commercial venture, the important part to me personally is for it to be as good as I can make it, and currently, this is not the case. I will succeed.

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i have no doubt - the workmanship is terrific but can tell you will not be happy until perfection is achieved and replicated

I dont need perfection for my use, as such if your interested in selling a prototype with small bubbles let me know

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Noted. I've tried to clean up the front where the depression is which is still a little rough at the moment, but if I can clean it up sufficiently, I'll let you know. If not, do you want to be added to the list? In other news, sorry for the delay in any progress recently, I had to go to have a short stay in hospital, as what I thought was flu on Sunday was getting worse and turned out to be a kidney infection. I've only just got out and still clearing the infection, but as I improve, I'll carry on with gradual updates.

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bloody hell - wishing you a speedy recovery!

Thanks bud. Out of the entire ordeal, the absolute worst bit (by some margin I might add), was that my I.V. trolley that I had to shuffle about with every time I needed an agonising pee, had..... wait for it..... not only a squeaky wheel..... but also pulled to the left!

Hope you carry on with a speedy recovery there bud and enjoy your Christmas best wishes Hooner.

Dito @Interference Fit - hope you are on the mend. And that you can be fully recovered for Chrimbo.

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Cheers bud, I'm hoping to have a little potter about in the garage tomorrow - light duties only.

Thankfully, with the heater on in the garage, tinkering with spoilery stuff is not very physically taxing, so I did manage to make a little progress today. To try and distract myself from discomfort the other night, I had a bit of what I hope will turn into a clever idea regarding correcting the small depression in the front face of the spoiler mould. This related to an improvement of option 2..... "2) Slice away that front section of the mould about 50mm wide right to the bottom to fully remove the deformed wall. I could then re-insert the master original prototype spoiler which will be a perfect precision fit and pour more silicone into the void to correct the issue......The only challenge here is making sure the surface texture of the front of the spoiler to be re-cast is not disturbed from when it was removed. I think it might have some vertical drag marks from initial removal that I'll need to finesse carefully so as not to create a map of the new area purely by surface texture, albeit that can be find refined post production if necessary. Just more work." Like a kid taking an exam, I'll show my workings in the hope of earning enough points to scrape a marginal pass. I'm no Dentist, but whilst shining a strong light on it and asking repeatedly 'Is it safe?', I carefully extracted the the tooth that was hiding the swollen gum. The little pegs are the "grab on here" holes I drilled in each tooth help stabilize the silicone against detachment when removing the spoilers as the grip is strong. The larger ring is just the other side of the captive barrel nut. Still no idea what caused the depression. I even checked the original spoiler for the defect but was relieved that I'd not scored an own goal. Maybe I'll never know. A small bit of enamel on the neighbouring tooth suffered separation anxiety during the process, but a nice smile will only get you so far. As I was going to be adding more silicone here, I added a couple of relief cuts to provide greater 'Z' axis stability. This is the point my new idea kicks in. The next stage would've been to carefully cut away the entire face of the gum to reveal the spoiler face void, then insert the spoiler and fill in the gap with fresh silicone. The problem is that on inspection, there were indeed some marks in the sealing wax from original extraction which would necessitate reapplication of wax. This would inevitably bring a much higher risk of 'ghosting' where the new section had been added, as there's no way of perfectly replicating the texture of the wax spray (fine matt mist) on the surface of the spoiler, especially as it would need to be inserted again and likely cause further drag marks anyway. Instead, I added a small relief cut (not strictly necessary but can only help) into the outward face and then reinserted the spoiler. The spoiler forces the existing 'domed' area that caused the slight depression outwards into the void until it perfectly conforms to the shape of the spoiler once more - the relief cut aiding this movement and to hopefully reduce any inherent tension in the material, of which there will be some. If it fails, it will be due to this. If I pour the new silicone into this void, it will bond to the existing (no slightly displaced rearwards) silicone and its surroundings, which in theory should then hold the depression area in it's 'forced back to shape' position once cured. This saves me having to disturb the front face texture. I made a quick containment fence to support the new silicone and also pour through when filling, held in place with clamps whilst the CA glue dried. I think Dentists call this a bridge? The rough cross-cuts at the base of the cavity are intentional, to aide anchorage. The large hole is to fill from when stood vertically on its opposite edge. The small holes are just to give further anchorage and stability. With the lid secured around the impacted area and with a bead of sealing wax to prevent silicone seeping through any tiny gaps at the top of the containment fence, I mixed an aerosol can lid's worth of silicone and poured it in. The little metal peg in the hole is just a sealing plug to stop the silicone leaking out of what was a mounting bolt hole into the now missing tooth. I'll brace across this with a longer 'washer'. I'll have to wait until full cure tomorrow to see if it's been successful. I'll only be able to tell when I remove the lid and spoiler and see if I can see the same slight depression in the wall face. If it's worked I'll be chuffed to bits. If not, I felt it was a decent enough idea to be worth trying. For other light tinkering, I tried to address any risk that the air bubbles introduced last time were introduced by a less than idea nozzle to lid interface. A quick whizz through the lathe at my brother-in-law's house (round the corner) turned some ali stock into a new and improved filler nozzle attachment. I might still be poorly, but I'm never too poorly to polish something, especially a turd. The rounded end is to make sliding the flexible silicone couple on to the end a bit easier. The tapered shoulder provides a wider flat base to ensure a good and perpendicular 'seat' for the short end section to correctly insert into the lid in what I hope you'll forgive me referring to as an interference fit (sorry). Here it is attached to the lid - a very snug fit that should give added insurance against the introduction of any air bubbles once the nozzle is thoroughly purged of air. The inserted element sits flush with the other surface of the lid. I also improved the adapter to take the end of the mixer nozzle down to the correct size bore by replacing the 3D printed one with some plumbing fittings which just happened to have the perfect dimensions where it mattered. Here is the final assembly with the key flexible silicone tube section to enable movement of the hand held cartridge gun, whilst maintaining a rock solid and stable interface with the lid. It's a fair but of effort to go to in the interests of bubble prevention, but an essential design element nonetheless. The final belt and braces insurance policy was to make sure that the diameter of the tapered shoulder was a perfect sealed fit within the walls of the PVC hose sections used as overflow areas around the fill and vent ports. I 'hot melt' glue these to the lid before each pour. This will make sure that no air even reaches the interface, let alone breaches it. Once the mould has filled and the vent ports are at least half full, I lay the mould flat with the gun still attached, then carefully withdraw the nozzle whilst simultaneously squeezing the trigger to fill the void with resin to save drawing any resin back out of the mould. It wouldn't do any harm and would self level anyway thanks to elevated levels in the vent ports at each end, but it's another approach to prevent negative pressure in this cavity inviting air in from somewhere, no matter how unlikely. Whilst feeling a bit sorry for myself, I've decided to buy my own lathe. I turned down the opportunity to have my Dad's old Myford Super 7 as it was both too big for what I need and would have taken took up too much real estate in the garage for the very little use I'd have for it - at the time I made with woefully poor decision. In the last 18 months, I think I;ve needed a lathe at least twice a month, so I'm going to treat myself to a small hobby bench top, similar to my Brother-in law's. I'll report back tomorrow once I've removed the prototype and inspected the mould wall for the results. Fingers crossed. That's all I could manage today I'm afraid, but it was nice to get out there again.

Attention to detail, it's what makes the difference. You can't keep a good man down.

I left the mould against the radiator last night so the heat would reduce the cure time. With the lid removed the implant looked good, although I'd no clue as to whether the concept had worked yet. There's a bit more red pigment in the 'implant' due to the very small quantity mixed - one drop is more than enough for colour saturation. I gingerly removed the spoiler again and peered tentatively down into the abyss, curious to see if the sea monster had read the eviction notice. I was cautiously optimistic, but honestly, the only way to tell is to cast another spoiler and find out. I used this next one as a two fold experiment to not only to see if project 'anti-depressant' had worked, but to also test my other batch of resin last used in the grey epoxy mould. If you recall, there were all sorts of strange soft and shallow craters that I thought could be contamination within the resin from pump testing. When the second spoiler to come from the mould had a similar issue, the defects being in similar places transferred the smoking gun into the hands of the mould, rather than the resin. The jury are still out debating this. I'm hoping it was the mould as the resin is expensive and I'd only just bought and mixed that batch, so to have to discard the rest of it would be a real shame if it's the resin that's contaminated. We'll see. I pumped all the purged and excess resin from the last casting into a mixing cup so I could remove and weigh it once cured, to see how much material I had over committed to during setup. Based on the density of the cured resin, that's just over 100ml volume more than I need, albeit 25ml is essential to purge the nozzle and ensure a consistent mix is coming through before inserting the nozzle into the lid. I cautiously reduced the next mix a little and will repeat the exercise as I don't want to be wasting resin unnecessarily. The new nozzle insertion adapter worked a treat and produced a very solid 'snap' as it clicked into place, akin to an old metal toggle switch. The shot below was taken about 45 mins post casting. Whilst the resin was still soft like chewing gum, I sliced off the fill and vent ports to make life easier when I come to remove the lid. Slicing through when cured is very tough. I made a longer 'washer' to bridge the missing tooth. On close inspection, I can spot just a couple of tiny micro bubbles that are nowhere near the edge. I'm comfortable with this as they are within the mating face to the bumper and very tiny. Trying to eliminate every single 'full stop' sized micro-bubble would be beyond the scope of this moulding technique so as per the mk1, I'm happy with this as they are not visible flaws and as good as I am capable off with this set-up. Let's wait and see if the depression is fixed when it's time to release it into the wild.

Still very much having to pace myself, I ventured out to the garage to inspect the second attempt. I looks great* I must say, here are a few pics. After a straightforward birth without the need for forceps, I was able to inspect and clean it an initial clean up for public viewing. Looks a little streaky on the front where the depressions had previously been, but it's streaky all over as I can't refine and finesse the finish beyond this stage until it's had the full 7 day cure period. *When I say it looks 'great', what that actually translates into is 'looks great after four hours of experimental rectification to try and address the now two (minor) depressions'. I got there in the end with it but the amount of labour to do so is not viable on multiples. The mould needs to be right. My emotions when from elevation when my eyes darted straight to the area behind the repair section and saw it was spot on, to only then get flushed when I felt with my fingers, two mild depressions either side. I did glance up at the sky momentarily and ask Satan whether he was testing me but got no reply. I guess actions speak louder than words. Upon examination of the mould again, sure enough, there were two barely visible, but definitive deformations in the mould wall behind the two teeth supporting the bridge. I can take a set back plenty in fact, but the ones that sting a little are the ones I don't understand. I do a fair bit of root cause analysis as part of my day job and tend to default into that mindset when trying to investigate the underlying cause. This was clearly not a hard wired, static issue with the mould walls and more like a transient, environmental proximate cause. Coincidentally, my milling machine decided to retire one of its drive belts in the pulley head, so I took this opportunity to step away, head of out to the local industrial area to come away empty handed, without replacement V-belt. Today was going great so far. The journey did however give me some thinking distance to analyse the problem. Then it hit me. Wobbly teeth! I went back to the mould and applied some medium pressure to the teeth that were either side of the filled gap. As they no longer had the adjoining facing strip linking them to their nerfed neighbour, now evicted, they were quite unstable and could flex a little under pressure, despite being adhered to the base. With there lid clamped down, the various forces moved these two teeth a little and in turn created a slight wave in the mould wall. At this point I was pleased I'd found what I believed to be the culprit, yet frustrated that it looked at face value that I'd have to start again and build yet another mould box. On ther basis that unless I did something the current one was facing the scrap heap, I tried an experiment to further prove and explain the theory. I knocked out the next two teeth that had neighboured the original offender. Sure enough, the slight deformation now appeared in front of the next teeth either side. Great, that at least proves the theory. But why here, why front and centre, why is this always the areas I struggle with the most. It then hit me again..... it's because that is the area that the soiler front fence is deepest, which means that there is a tall and relatively thin wall to the mould without any surrounding silicone to provide stability as there is toward the outer ends and on the rear side. With nothing to lose, I gave it an upper-cut that even 'Iron Mike' would've been proud of and knocked out all of it's front lower teeth. I kept removing teeth until there front fence depth was sufficiently shallow to provide enough wall support to prevent distortion without supporting teeth. As a final acid test, I manipulated the top of the unsupported wall which cemented it. Very floppy. We're talking playing snooker with a length of rope here. At this point and with nothing to lose, I thought I'd try one last experiment to save this mould as intrinsically, it's a great mould. What I needed was to find a way of supporting the flimsy front lip whilst backing up with some anchor points to screw the lid to that were the exact same height as the surrounding teeth. To do this I cut a piece of polypropylene to act as a uniform pressure fence to support the mould wall, rather than add a series of new teeth which would risk introducing a 50 pence piece look to the front. This can be seen in the below pic where I'm prodding Mr. Soft. To ensure the polypropylene support fence gave even pressure all along the wall, I had to slice off all the little anchor points with a razor blade. This was a pain in the backside, but I got there eventually and without slicing too many of my fingers. The previous repair had to be surgically extracted, too. With the lid secured and the fence roughly in position, I could then add some new teeth, this time more robust and rigid as I no longer needed to nerf them. Like any good dentist, your work should be invisible and undetectable to the untrained eye. I shall book my flight to Turkey in the morning. Joking aside, without the hard points pressing against the fence, the mould wall wanted to sag away from the inserted spoiler a touch, so it was important that each one was pushed up against the plastic fence using enough force to close the gap, but without inducing any inherent compressive force in the silicone wall. If this were the case, the wall would spring backwards into the cavity as the containment pressure was released leaving me back to square one. With the glue dry, I removed the lid and the spoiler to see if I'd managed to recreate its beautiful smile. Ik looks good and feels good if I run my finger around the upper edge, but really needs ther holes drilled and the lid clamping shut top assess whether this will be a last minute equalizer, or whether it's doomed to the relegation zone. I ran out of energy at this point so will pick up this hornet's nest of vipers in the morning. I sure hope all that made sense.

I woke up this morning and decided to take some of my own advice, along the lines of : "Take the stone out of your shoe at the start of a marathon, not the end". For context, this meant starting again with a new mould. Yesterday was all about discovering more about the mould and engineering potential fixes, but my gut told me that whilst you can't polish 'one', you can roll it in glitter. It may have worked, it may not, but I just felt I'd be chasing my tail rather drawing a line under a prototype mould design that was inherently flawed. A learning experience. I was quite chuffed with the layered concept deployed for the Gurney Flap, but mindful that the cost of using this on the spoiler would be prohibitive and terribly wasteful due to its size and proportions. The compromise was rather than to use full rectangular sections, to use perimeter wall shapes that I can more economically nest into one sheet whilst retaining the inherent design benefits. I traced round the lid to see what width I'd need to nest 5 sections - the base, the clamping lid and three middle sections to give sufficient mould depth. This confirmed that all five sections could come from a single 8 x 4 sheet. A visit to the local orange box resulted in some cut to size (and to fit in the car) plywood. I'm not using chipboard here - we're levelling up across the board. Comedy moment - the plywood pictured below almost unbelievably went in the back of an Audi TT coupe, the largest piece measuring 1,000mm x 1,500mm. This did however necessitate the seats to be on their foremost setting with near vertical backrests. I'm 6'4 and must have looked like a crash test dummy 'mid' impact as I drove home, my forehead pressed against the sun visor and steering like I was unbuttoning a shirt. Thankfully, I live close to the orange box. This is where a large bandsaw would've come in really handy. It's a piece of kit I've wanted for a while, but research shows one that actually cuts thick hardwood, straight and without any blade wander (guitar projects) is an expensive bit of kit. Ultimately (albeit slowly), my jigsaw put in a shift to cut these out of 18mm thick ply. I cleaned up the rough sawn edges with a skim along my hand held belt sander, clamped on its side and squared. Any sane person would be content with rough cut externals, as the exterior walls serve no purpose whatsoever other than to provide physical containment. I was unable to choose this path due to 'reasons', so ended to repeating the same process that I used for the Gurney flap mould box and bolted them together for a uniform sanding session. The little drilling block below is a recent purchase and one I wish I'd bought years ago. Using the same principle as the exhaust manifold jigs, it ensures you are drilling holes perfectly straight and perpendicular to the work surface - something I'm not particularly skilled at, despite years of unsuccessful practice. The belt sander and then the DA palm sander took care of the rest, leaving a more pleasing mould box to handle. Next up was to mark out where I need to cut within each layer to provide adequate clearance all round whilst minimising the amount of silicone required. To maximise the minimum use of silicone approach, measured and marked out the curvature of the front fence so I could cut out each layer appropriately. I'm sure my finger sander will be useful here, also. This sure beats having to cut endless strips of leftovers to fill the wasted space. I'm still fighting this infection and quickly ran out of energy, so feeling a little rough, I called it quits for the day. Hopefully I can cut out the internals out tomorrow to produce a ready solid, sturdy and stable mould box. Another 5kg of silicone is with FedEx as I type.

Good grief Charlie Brown.. I’m not surprised you ended up in hospital after that lot ! Get yourself better .. ( Mental note to self, never ever ever try to make your own lip spoiler, just pay the man what he wants )

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Cheers bud. It's the last 5% that is 95% of the work. No different than bodywork and paint spraying, or most things with a quality finish. It's all in the prep. I just hope I can deliver the goods as per previous billing.

There is no doubt that you will deliver a high quality product.

Hope you are on the mend superb effort Can I be on the list for a splitter once in ‘production’

I sat down to catch up on this thread after a busy couple of weeks; hadn’t expected to miss such an eventful period. Get well soon. Actually, get well first - selfishly, I don’t want to you to risk a more prolonged delay between your posts(!). R PS Robert Pirsig would recognise many of your thought processes…

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Certainly, Sir. I'm feeling better now, just drained of energy. I can't pull 12 hour days at the moment and tend to run out of steam after about half a day, but I'm sure I'll be up to full speed over the next few days. I've got a decent break off work now until Jan, so I'm aiming to be production ready before the holiday is over. 1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) Ste.Wal. 16) swracecarhire 17) Mdy6246 18) crash7 19) Fadeel

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Cheers bud. Mr Pirsing was somewhat of a genius, his intrinsic intelligence and curious mind the foundation of his achievements. I just blindly have a go hope it works out. It's nice that people are still interested in the development process - I bore myself sometimes! I'll hopefully have a decent update by the end of today.

I made some reasonable progress today. The modular, multi-layer construction makes cutting relief areas to match the spoiler front fence depth much easier. This is just to minimise excess use of silicone which is now more than £100 a tin. After a couple of coats of matt clear to serve as a sealer, we were ready to go. The spoiler will mount to the lid and sit in position during the silicone pour something akin to this. This next part absorbed the best part of three hours. Mounting the original to the lid in exactly the correct position, then sealing it to the lid with moulding wax is a laborious job, taking multiple attempts to get the wax correctly shaped on the inner edge. There's a fine line between leaving too much wax on that creates a 'flared skirt' appearance on the final casting, versus filleting too much away and creating an undercut similar to coving. Keeping it in the right zone, uniform and smooth is tricky. With a couple of coats of spray release wax, it was time to mount it to the mould box. The far more robust plywood compared to chipboard makes the use of large screws a realistic option for clamping the lid to the box, without the need for those aluminium spreader bars. The full plywood perimeter clamping frame serves this purpose. Inverted and ready for the big pour through an extra wide filling port. This permits a faster flow rate of silicone without the threat of a closing pot life window. My new vacuum pump was very short lived. I used it for a second time earlier in the week when repairing the previous mould and it quickly developed an internal leak. I guess that's the random Q.C. of many Chinese goods these days. Returned to sender. I just had to bite the bullet and stump up for a decent Italian DVP pump, which is a huge step up in quality and performance I must say. Great vacuum performance. As I was in the mood for every incremental gain I could find, I changed the colour of the silicone pigment to white, as it will be easier to spot any dust or debris in between casting spoilers that may otherwise get missed. The anxiety watching the silicone expand to more than 5 times it's volume before vacuum collapse never gets old. I got it wrong once and spent 'some time' picking red silicone off the insides of the chamber that resembled a particularly violent crime scene. The pour went well. And now we wait.

Good luck !

Very little done today chaps as I ended up having to go back to the hospital as my symptoms flared up again with 48 hours of finishing the antibiotic course. Thankfully I was not detained and sent home with a different type of AB, now they know what the infection originally was. E.Coli. Anyway, five hours later and I was determined to inspect the new mould. At face value, it looks really nice where it matters. I had to do a little more trimming than usual around the very upper most perimeter edges as the sealing wax had indeed generated a little bit of an undercut which presents as the silicone appearing to slightly creeping under the edge of the msatger spoiler a touch. Nothing that wouldn't get sorted anyway as part of the final finessing process, but one that took some steady hand work with a razor blade to make sure I didn't slice into the mould. I might even be able to try and use it in anger tomorrow.

Hope the new tablets can get you sorted this time...

Fully dosed up on meds, I was keen to cast the first spoiler from the Ultra-mould 2000 . Given it's not exactly a rectangular shape, I first had to make a little jig to hold it securely at the correct angle. All was going swimmingly until I realised I was going to run out of resin before the mould was full. Very close, but not full. I'd found that I had a fair bit of waste resin left over from the most recent Mk2 castings. I deliberately collected the leftover waste resin in aerosol can lids, which I then weighed to calculate how much less resin to use whilst still leaving a little wiggle room. I cut it too fine. There was enough left in the nozzle to fill the mould, but with the cartridge pistons already at their end stops, there was no method of pumping this in. With less than a minute left on the ticking pot-life clock, I had to gamble. I unscrewed the nozzle from the gun whilst leaving it attached to the lid so as not to introduce any air, then laid the the mould flat on the bench so I was not fighting gravity. Trying not to experience the putrid taste of polyurethane resin, I gently blew down the end of the nozzle until I saw resin appear in the vent ports at each end, indicating the mould was full. There was no resin left in the nozzle that I could see, which on removal from the lid showed the level just at the top of the hole in the lid. Talk about close to the wire! Thanks to the observations of Blaise Pascal, the port levels equalised at about 3 mm above the lid as it cured. Had I escaped a disaster? By the time I'd cleaned everything up, an hour had passed, which is the minimum cure time before I can lift the lid without risking damage to the upper surface. To quote our good friend Denzil Dexter: "The results were disappointing". I'd obviously blown air into the mould, creating a barrier reef of air blisters on the rear edge. Oh well, I had no choice but to roll the dice, but on this occasion, rolled snake eyes. It happens. Given it was a write off, I pulled it from it's nest there any then to at least assess how the new mould had performed. Pretty bloomin' good to be fair. Despite the obvious Goodyear blimps attempting to smuggle their way into the Porsche scene, the rest of the spoiler looks great. These pics are as it released, with no clean up whatsoever. I think (famous last words) we have a winner. Whilst it's always disappointing to have a failed casting, each one serves a purpose to support the ongoing learning curve and experience database. With this in mind and with all the gear still out and ready, I cleaned everything up, prepared the mould and lid once more and had a second crack at it. I made sure to add little extra resin to prevent the car equivalent of 'coasting into the petrol station'. it worked out great and I know have the definitive amount of resin required dialed in. We'll know if this has been successful tomorrow where it is scheduled for a morning elective Cesarean. And with that, I'm bushed. <Clock card punched>.

Right then folks - SPOILER ALERT - this is a long post. If it were a movie, we'd be giving 'Heat' or 'JFK' a run their money, so grab a brew and family sized bag of your favorite treats and settle in for some serious spoiler shenanigans. PART ONE: The day started with a burning determination to finish the Gurney flap mould, so this is where we begin. The first priority was to mount the original to the lid in the middle of the mould void, and curved to match the lower taco element rear edge shape. If we recall, the 'you're 'avin a larrrrrrf' priced original comes as a straight piece and has to be bent to shape during attachment to the wing which all feels a bit lame to me. I wanted to mould them pre-curved from the get go, hence all the work that went into making the profile template of the taco. With everything marked out, I positioned the profile template over the lid. The idea is that I use 3M 'nutter bond' tape to secure it to the lid in the correct bent form to match the profile template. As a frame of reference in case I ever need to check myself, this is the underside of the Porsche original, complete with rough belt sanding marks where the injection moulding ports were hurriedly ground away. Also note that the mating surface is not flat, but is concave where the shrinkage in the mould has created a meniscus around the edges. This would make adherence to the car more difficult. Also note the hundreds of bubbles present. You be the judge. It's fine from the top. This stuff is mustard. I affixed a perpendicular straight edge to the profile template to ensure flatness and then clamped it to the workmate. The ensured everything was held snugly in place for affixing the spoiler, whilst bending it to meet the profile curve. I was rather chuffed that this plan worked out as intended, the spoiler attached firmly and correctly positioned on the lid. Yet again, my least favourite job which took just as long as usual ,was to fillet the mating face of the spoiler to the lid with sealing wax to prevent any of the silicone creeping under the spoiler. Seen here from the underside with a reassuring ring of yellow all the way round the perimeter. With the lid clamped firmly in place, it was time to turn it over the for the big pour. Just as I'd removed the silicone from the degassing chamber ready to pour, my lovely Sister arrived for an impromptu visit. Committed to the cause and aware of her perfect timing, she rode shotgun and grabbed the camera to capture a few action shots of the fill. As Sister's go, she's the best. She also had a 997 Turbo 6 speed a good while back. Due to being so unfathomably thick, it takes a good few minutes for it to slowly appear further along the mould as it creeps toward the outer edges, patiently yet unstoppably determined like a lava flow consuming a landscape. I made sure I didn't run short and after approximately 20 minutes of holding the mix bucket in position, we reached the point where a fuel pump nozzle would cut off (pending the rounding up to the nearest pound game). I had a hard time convincing Mrs. IF that I'd installed a new rustic shelf above the radiator in the kitchen, complete with tea-light candle holders. The additional heat from the radiator reduces the natural cure time by about 50%. And that brings PART ONE to a natural close. I'd take this opportunity to grab a comfort break and reboil the kettle which will likely be getting lukewarm by now. Hurry back for part two in a moment..... PART TWO Welcome back those who decided not to use the interval to escape and spare themselves more tedium. The best is yet to come and you'll be delighted to know there aren't any cats in this part either! With the Gurney flap mould simmering indoors, I took a deep breath and lifted the lid on the most recent attempt at moulding a successful mk2, following yesterday's emotional rollercoaster, forever cemented in the history books as 'bubble-gate'. I'll let the following pics do the talking. @pelsey197 Behold the joyous wonder..... I'm utterly delighted and It's absolutely the finest I am capable of making. Nothing is perfect, but this is as close as I'll ever get, that's for sure. This is what I was chasing and aiming for and why I kept on trying again and not accepting 'good enough' when I knew better was possible. I'm especially pleased with how the holes turned out, not only in terms of finish, but also positional accuracy. I took a short video of the clips clicking into place against the original domor bumper jig. It's only 24 hours old so I can't do any final refinement work for 7 days once it's fully cured, but for now, I'm calling that 'done'. <and breathe>

I can’t wait for no.2! (Sounds wrong, I know)

Awesome @Interference Fit let us know when you want payment

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No rush. I need to order a load of bits and pieces to prepare for posting - custom ordered boxes, fastening clips, adherence tape, sleeve bags, IPA wipes etc, so for now I'll put it to one side to fully cure and crack on and mould as many as I can over the coming couple of weeks until I run out of material or the mould retires. I'll also need to do the hand finishing / refining work which is a good few hours on each one. Once I've got it boxed up and ready to post, I'll give you a shout.

Fantastic work and results - really impressive.

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Thanks buddy. I still haven't tested your new cats yet. I hope you like them.

Question to the room...... Gurney flaps - would it be helpful if these were supplied pre-painted in the colour of your choice (properly painted, base + 2k clear coat)?

I had another productive day today, starting with removing the second spoiler from the new mould, which also turned out great. Number three is incubating as I type. I didn't take any more photos of these as there's nothing new to see - they all the same. Perhaps more interesting (for now, until the novelty wears off) is the progress I made in the name of this fine gentleman, who is sadly no longer with us. Somewhat dissatisfied with it's secondment as a radiator shelf, I rescued Mr Gurney's tribute mould and returned the the garage, observing some expansion caused by the forced higher temperature cure. With the taste of Bonjela lingering on my palet following the wobbly teeth incident, I used the experience gained and added little spacers to the base of the mould to avoid adding pressure points above the swollen vent holes when it's laid in the correct orientation. The swellings protrude beyond the base plate and would be compressed when laid flat. A little like the the story of "The Princess and the Pea', the silicone transfers any deflection through an astonishing depth and I didn't want to take any chances of this impacting the mould. For this, I just glued some skewer sticks either side of each hole to act as standoffs. With the lid and clamping ring removed, the mould looked great. Happy with the mould, I set about preparing to cast the first Gurney flap, the angled jig working just as well on this mould as it did on the front spoiler. I used the same proven method of filling from the lowest centre point whilst venting from the upper most outer corners. The different resin used for the Gurney flap has a much lower viscosity than that used for the front spoiler and is more akin to 0W40 engine oil. This made the attachment and removal of the nozzle a messier affair! The process went smoothly and I'm excited to see the results in the morning. All in all a pretty productive day and a first for 'Aero Alley' as I now have two spoilers cooking at the same time. This gives me a sense of sound aero balance. That is all.

Fantastic, hats off to you for sticking with it, I’m happy that you’re happy with it after all that work. I’d like to be added to your mrk 2 list if possible?

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Thank you, it's certainly satisfying to achieve an objective. Added to the list. 1) pelsey197 2) Dombus 3) Ginje 4) Hoebag 5) MrC986 6) ryanonv 7) Frenchmeister 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) Ste.Wal. 16) swracecarhire 17) Mdy6246 18) crash7 19) Fadeel

Hot off the press - the first Gurney flap has been demoulded and it's awesome. I'm especially pleased with the pre-moulded curve so it's shaped to directly fit, without having to put it under tension whilst adhesive or bonding tape sticks. I've not cleaned it up properly yet, this is fresh out the mould with just the flashing rubbed of the edges and loosely resting in place. Chuffed to bits!

Fantastic work and thank you for taking the considerable time and effort in posting all these updates.

If anyone is interested in a Gurney flap, I'm offering them painted and delivered for the same price as the front lip, £150. Please add your names to the list if interested and state the colour name and the factory code. Gurney Flaps: 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red 2) 3) 4) 5) .......

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Hi Andrew, Matthew from the WhatsApp group- please put me down for a gurney in guards red! Thank you

Yes please - one in black for me

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No problem, please can you provide the colour code from the service book or bonnet sticker - just so I can be certain? Some colours have multiple codes for example. Solid or Metallic?

Gurney Flaps: 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red 2) BigHammer88 - Black

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I'll grab one in Ocean Blue Metallic (Code L3AZ). How do they go on as a matter of interest?

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Sure, name added. I can supply them with pre fitted with 3M VHB tape which is 0.64mm thick, or you can bond them on with an adhesive of your choice such as Tiger-Seal or Sikaflex. Just let me know as and when. I'll be using tape on mine as it can be removed with care and patience, whereas bonding is as permanent as you'll get and can be destructive if you try to remove at a later date. Gurney Flaps: 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red 2) Mdy6246 - Ocean Blue - L3AZ 3) swracecarhire - (Steve Walshaw, aeroclub X2) - Matte black 5 )swracecarhire - Matte black 4) Lukersvich (Luke WA) - Matte black

Front Lips: 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) Ste.Wal. 16) swracecarhire 17) swracecarhire 18) Mdy624617 19) crash7 20) Fadeel

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Could I be added to the list please for a Matte black gurney flap also (Luke from WhatsApp) Thanks!

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Sure thing - edited the previous list.

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I can’t see my name on the list there mr fit, forgive my forum ignorance am I suppose to do something to add it ? Many thanks

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I'll go for tape, as I don't wanna go down the permanent route

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Sorry, that's my error. Added below Front Lip 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous 10) Dozzy 11) Aog76 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) swracecarhire 16) swracecarhire 17) Mdy624617 18) crash7 19) Fadeel 20) Pernicketybert 21) AI N

Hi . Not long registered here, but what a great bit of engineering!! Well done! Question for you tho re the gurney flap, I have the full aero kit inc the rear taco and have the little lip on the lower rear part of the spoiler. Does the gurney go on top of this? Many thanks Al

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Hi, welcome to the forum and thanks for reading along. If your lip on the lower rear part of the spoiler looks like the black element in the pics I posted earlier, then you already have the Gurney flap. I only use the term 'Gurney' to separate discussions from the the front lip spoiler to avoid contextual confusion. For the avoidance of doubt, here is a picture without the Gurney flap.... And with the Gurney flap (lip)... Hopefully that helps? Cheers!

Brilliant, helps a great deal! I indeed do have the ”gurney” flap! I would like to purchase the front lip spoiler from you tho as it’s missing on my bumper. Shall I pm you? Thanks again Al

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No worries, I've add you to the list ^^

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Thank you

Small update - I've not been spending time taking multiple repeat photos of the same thing, but I have been beavering away,moulding them consecutively as much as the processing and curing time allows before returning to work next week. So far, there's been five trial runs / failures, (left), but since then, eight good moulds (right). The eighth is still in the mould curing. I want to get them all moulded before starting the refinement process. There's a rhythm to it that I don't want to interrupt whilst it's working. I did manage to get my Gurney flap prep’d and painted, applying the clear coats just now. As you were.

Wowsers! That gurney looks fantastic!! Out of interest, what do you do for a living?

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Thanks. I work in finance, but I always wanted to be an airline pilot - thwarted by poor eyesight.

Looking at what you have done with this spoiler and gurney, plus what you’ve achieved with your own car ( I’m in awe at your level of detail and accomplishment) you must have some brilliant natural skills. I thought I had dedication on things that interest me but this is on another level.

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That’s very kind, but I have autism and ADHD, so whilst I play life on hard level, I’m able to engage hyper-focus cheat mode on things that interest me.

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Can you pass a Class 2 medical and get a PPL, if so that might help scratch the itch along with a decent flight sim? I’ve just landed back at LHR a few hours ago after a 14 hr flight from KUL, sleep required before trying to fix my HID main beam for the MOT, I hope the day warms up as the car was covered in ice.

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Yes, PPL not a problem, but it was the career I wanted flying big jets having grown up in the golden age first gen wide-body era. I lost count of the number of DC-10s, 727, DC9s, One-Elevens etc I few on as a kid thanks to my father's job at the time. I'm in my 50's now and that ship has long sailed. I have a couple pilot contacts who tell me they're happy to be retiring now as the job has changed so much. One particular chap knew the writing was on the wall when they introduced performance analysis debriefs criticizing some of his approaches where his report of weather conditions didn't match the ops data, therefore calling into question his approach etc. No thanks. The rose tinted romantic nostalgia that hooked me as a kid was from times when you'd firewall the throttles on the JT3Cs, hot and high, water injection and scream a shallow climb from a fully analogue three crew cockpit. <sighs>. Working in finance is a very close second.

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Comedy moment (not funny at all), whilst moulding another spoiler last night, I knocked over a small bottle of acetone that splashed over my freshly painted Gurney flap, blistering the still not fully cured paint. Will have to re-paint it from scratch. FML. Still to cheer myself up, I'm off out this morning to collect a new piece of equipment for my garage that I've wanted for a long time.... pics later.

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Oops, been there, done that…. Did it with a rear bumper, all freshly painted, gently put it down to be refitted on the car, whoosh, wind caught it and gouged the whole of the top along the drive .

This was the treat to myself that I collected this morning. Finally got one of my own.....

Nice little myford- had one of those. I'll have a dig around to see if I still have any spares

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Bless ya!!

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Well done. As they say Work Hard Play Hard. No doubt you'll have hrs of enjoyment with it. Enjoy

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I'll probably just clean and polish it.

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If able, I would like to get in on this. My OEM version is all chewed up and new ones are very expensive now.

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No problem, Sir. Yes, the cost of the new one is the direct motorvation behind this project. Lovely car.

Front Lip List 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 13) Gary996aero 14) Gixxer996 15) swracecarhire 16) swracecarhire 17) Mdy624617 18) crash7 19) Fadeel 20) Pernicketybert 21) AI N 22) Diddy2003

Can I also be added to the gurney list? not sure on colour as I’m still undecided on a colour change so matte black please sir Very impressive wish I had the time to do this!

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No problem. Gurney Flap List 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red 2) Mdy6246 - Ocean Blue - L3AZ 3) swracecarhire - (Steve Walshaw, aeroclub X2) - Matte Black 4 )swracecarhire - Matte Black 5) Lukersvich (Luke WA) - Matte Black 6) Fadeel - Matte Black

Please add me to the gurney flap list - matte black. Thanks!

I've been so close to getting a Super7 , they're a work of mechanical art themselves and made in Nottingham I think (like Raleigh and me). Is that a brand new one or reconditioned It looks fabulous. Fantastic work as usual

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Don't miss me off this list buddy. Matte Black thanks.

Gurney Flap List 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red 2) Mdy6246 - Ocean Blue - L3AZ 3) swracecarhire - (Steve Walshaw, aeroclub X2) - Matte Black 4 )swracecarhire - Matte Black 5) Lukersvich (Luke WA) - Matte Black 6) Fadeel - Matte Black 7) Big ammer88 - Matte Black 8 Damo996 - Matte Black

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It is a thing of beauty. It's of 1988 vintage and has been in the single ownership of a retired standards and calibration test engineer from new. It's had light use and has been cherished. Wiped down and oiled after every use and kept under a cover when not in use, hence is pretty much immaculate. A rare find.

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That photo needs to go on "Lets see your 996s" post for all to see. Looking good

Not much to report other than I've been busy moulding spoilers and getting through the initial moulding stage at a steady rate, working every night pretty much since Christmas. This afternoon, with another spoiler poured and curing, I started tinkering with another side project to help with the gurney flap. My new spray gun has arrived which is always a treat, along with a witches brew of various matte & gloss clear coats, primers and their associated harders / catalysts. I really don't like painting with 2K but it's the only way to get decent, long lasting results, so I take every possible precaution (within reason) regarding PPE. I try to paint outdoors whenever I can, or right next to the open garage door if the prevailing wind is in the right direction drawing gasses away from the garage, however at this time of year it's real pot luck trying to find a dry day with relatively low humidity. Even if I'm using regular 1k materials, I try to follow the same 'outdoors whenever possible' approach. To combat the weather induced lottery, I thought I'd have a crack at making a VERY makeshift extraction spray cabinet so I can paint inside the garage and extract the gasses outside if the weather is too cold or damp. This is just a very quick mock up proof of concept using literally whatever I had in the garage to hand to see if in concept it would work. Essentially it's a tapered box with dimensions suitable to fit a gurney flap inside, mounted on a plinth for me to shoot paint at. As I say, just a rough mock up at this stage - please don't judge. I've placed up a Gurney flap in there at mid-height and pretended to spray it from end to end at all angles and I'm confident it's the correct dimensions. For extraction, I'm planning to use a high flow inline extractor fan, typically used within ducting to vent wet rooms, bathrooms, showers etc, as these have much higher flow rates than those normally found within a window or wall. Something like this, which in this case flows up to 1,080 m3/hr or 300 l/s. The cross sectional area of the cabinet is 0.6 square meters which, (theoretically) would see the air flowing through the open face at 0.5m/s or 11 miles an hour. It would likely be two thirds of this due to ducting, bends and other inefficiencies, so call it 8 mph, which is a sensible and decent draw. Next step will be to design a manifold on the rear to attach the ducting to that draws air through multiple holes across the rear wall of the cabinet to even the flow out as best as possible. We'll see, it's a fun experiment. This is not an attempt to circumnavigate any PPE requirements, more to enable painting in poor weather without the risk of creating spray dust inside which drives me nuts. The reduction in harmful gasses will just be an added bonus to aide with the existing PPE. Anyhoo - as I say, I've been busy and progress with the front lips currently looks like this. 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) Gixxer996 - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) swracecarhire - moulded 17) Mdy624617 - moulded 18) crash7 19) Fadeel 20) Pernicketybert 21) AI N 22) Diddy2003

With another spoiler incubating nicely, and my bulk size containers of various resins feeling much lighter than when Fed-Ex drop-kicked them in the approximate location of the house, I scratched my chin a little further on the spray cabinet concept. I ordered the the aforementioned extractor fan which turned up today. Have you ever ordered something from photographs in a brochure or catalogue, knowing full well the dimensions, yet somehow letting your subconscious form a mental image of the item in the intended environment that bears no resemblance to the realities of scale? The extractor fan is, erm, how can I put it, a little larger than I expected. I looked long and hard on the casing expecting to see Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney, or GE, but couldn't find anything. I'm pretty sure there's a new Airbus NEO missing an engine somewhere though. At least I can be confident it will persuade a few fine dust or paint particles to change their intended velocity. With this, I was able to mark out the basic dimensions of a manifold box for the rear of the cabinet, with measurements calculated to ensure there is no reduction in cross-sectional area that could restrict what could well be very marginal flow rates..... The ultimate irony is that the sheet of aluminium I used was left over from a project of nearly 15 years ago where I made a bespoke rear wing for a drag car and used the aluminium sheet to skin it. Here's a few nostalgic pics from way back, as hey, it's a spoiler..... I was rather pleased with that at the time as it was literally the first spoiler I'd made. Who knew all these years later the leftover skin sheet would be linked to more spoiler craziness? Back to the present day, I think it was Alanis Morissette who once sang, " It's like 10,000 spoons, when all you need is a press brake "...... In the absense of such, I had to resort to the very basics of a hammer and some makeshift dollies to try and form some bends. Mid-way through the first bend, once I'd given up looking for a press brake... A sheety I most certainly am not, but with a little tap here and a tap there, I got the first bends in the ballpark to at least continue with the build. I can finesse them later on once I know it fundamentally works. There's a couple of hours there I'll never get back, but with little more than hopes and dreams, it's where I am so far. More as it happens.

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FYI, I posted this thread in another thread on Rennlist regarding the splitter. 996 Supercup Lip - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums 996 Forum - 996 Supercup Lip - https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/693x492/996supercup_3724761c0ce690a975749e0b0135456ae34e6cd6.jpg Anybody know where I can source this same lip that's on the 996 Supercup car? I love how subtle it is. Can't seem to find anything online that's... rennlist.com

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Thanks for the heads up. Just in case any non-UK residents are unfortunate enough to stumble upon this thread of my amateurish fumblings, in the interests of full transparency, any postage outside of the UK will need to be quoted and charged in addition to the standard charge. Last time I checked, basic services to mainland Europe were circa £20 GBP, with the US starting at about £50 GBP. Please just DM me if you would like a quote. If you would like to conduct your own research, the box measures a maximum of 1,400mm x 310mm x 55mm and weighs approximately 2.5kg.

Front lip update - just two more to do now. @Gixxer996 has requested something unique which carries a risk of finishing the mould's useful life so by mutual agreement has moved to the end of the queue. I'm hoping to get everything moulded by the middle of next week upon which I can then start the refinement process ready for shipping. Realistically, working as many evenings as I can, I'll probably be able to get through about 4 or 5 a week fingers crossed, so would like to think that you'll all have youer spoilers by the end of Feb. I'll reach out individually via DM to confirm postal addresses and payment details, but for the avoidance of doubt, having back solved the numbers and finding a couple of elements where bulk purchase has mitigated inflation, I've been able to keep the price the same at £150 including delivery to UK mainland. 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 22) Gixxer996

I have been wondering that, thank you for clarifying in advance

Exciting stuff thank you ! Oh no don’t ruin your mould !!

Is there any room left on the list for a front splitter? If so, can you add me please?

can i ask a curiosity question about the "spray booth" and why you are only using a single vent for the suckmaster 6000 fan and not ducting it to say two ports, one either side to reduce possible air drag in the middle?

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No worries my friend. Sadly, the moulds only last a certain number of castings before the silicone degrades. Generally 20-30 castings is considered good going. Given I've already got a handful of 'not quite' prototypes, I doubt there's too many left in it to yield. The experiment for @Gixxer996 isn't a guaranteed destruction job, more of a raised contamination risk that would render further casts compromised, and I wanted to get everyone else's done first so as not to risk jeopardizing timescales.

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I'll certainly add your name to the list. 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 23) Gixxer996

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A very sensible question Sir, which is hopefully answered in tonight's update. I'll start this post with somewhat of an apologetic tone of voice as I am far from happy with the 'creation' which follows below. Functionally I'm sure it will be fine, but from a precision and aesthetic perspective, this is a country mile away from anything I'd want to associate myself with. The lack of a press brake, and that I sold my old set of dollies rendered me woefully ill-equipped to perform any kind of precise metal bending or folding on meter long lengths. I rough formed it to shape using literally what I had within reach, struggling for consistency due to a lack of a suitable edge form that was long enough, or sufficiently practiced skills to compensate with the blocks of machining slummy I had lying around the mill. I could spend several hours making it look much better, but given it's literally a very temporary lash up to aid painting a small number of Gurney flaps should the weather be inclement, coupled to the fact that'll I'll be attaching to a effectively a cardboard box, I decided to settle for function over form on this very rare and quite frankly unpleasant occasion. If it works as planned and proves successful, I'll develop the model and make a proper one with a level of finish I can look at without wanting to vomit. I completed the folds on the rest of the manifold box and cut out the hole for the adapter flange. In order to provide the smoothest, consistent laminar air flow with minimum turbulence or vortices, I cut a long slot in the opposite face of the manifold to draw the air more evenly down its length, a little like a floor attachment for a vacuum cleaner. The slot is the same area as the diameter of the exit port, as is the combined cross sectional area of the manifold either side of centre to try and prevent vacuum hot spots which could disrupt flow. The roughly hand beaten return flange on the slot is for both rigidity and a fient nod toward aiding smoother airflow, although based on the rough numbers I ran, the transition radii would need to be significantly larger which was outside the scope of diminishing returns for this lash up. I attached the flange to the inside of the manifold with double glazing unit sealing tape. The 5 meter vent pipe attaches to the manifold and connects to the Rolls Royce RB211. This is the face that will attach to the rear of the cabinet, once I cut out the rear section, larger than the slot. Just loosely in position... I'll continue this rough prototype in between moulding over the weekend and see what transpires. That's all for now.

Hi, Have you shipped any to the USA? If so can I be added to the list, I would take 2-3 if you can fit them in one box to ease the cost of shipping. --Aaron

Hi, I've not shipped any to the USA yet, but have one USA request on the list already so was about to do the first anyway. Consolidation of shipping no problem. I propose I cast another three with your name against them and we can then look at the logistics and go from there, but it sounds perfectly feasible. 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 23) Gixxer996 24) rennpart 25) rennpart 26) rennpart **List temporarily closed** This takes the total run to 26 which sees me out of multiple bulk order items, included custom ordered boxes etc so at this point, I'm going to have to close the list. That's not to say I won't make more in the future, just that for now I need to complete the requests above which is a solid 2 weeks worth of work, see to the the Gurney flap requests and then take a breather, as this (willingly and with a song in my heart) is taking up pretty much every spare moment I have.

After pouring another splitter, I felt happy that the clear coat I applied to the first Gurney flap for my own car was cured sufficiently to be cut back and polished. If you recall, I spilt acetone on it last time before it had fully cured and had to strip it back and start again, so I was extra cautious this time. it turned out great and I must say I did feel a small flicker of pride adhering it to my car where it belongs.

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What is the experiment?

Looks perfect!

Ah, I wasn't thinking about the other part of the extraction unit, excellent work sir!

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Never question the master at work ! He's shown us all up. (Only having a craic)

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That's very flattering, but really it's just a hastily 'tin bashed' box made from scraps, attached to the rear of what looks like the protective cardboard wrapping for a B&Q bathtub.

… but if Heineken made “a hastily 'tin bashed' box made from scraps, attached to the rear of what looks like the protective cardboard wrapping for a B&Q bathtub” it would be like yours!

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Very kind, Sir. I've been a busy boy today with not only some spoiler shenanigans that I'll detail in the post following this, but also progressing with the Suck-O-Matic. I could help but spend just a little extra time with a small hammer and lump of steel to at least straighten the worst of the offending, erm, let's call them 'witness marks', and after a quick scrub up, it looks just a slightly less 'run over by a lorry', to the point I was able to mount the 'mouth' face. It was then just a case of mounting it to the rear of the bathtub protection packaging. It now just needs the extractor and hose fitting and wiring up to test.

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A very good question indeed. Our learned colleague @Gixxer996 who already has a Mk1 version contacted me and asked whether I could make one in a different colour, as with his beautiful car being black, he wanted something that would contrast and stand out, but without being OTT. Silver or grey was the brief. We discussed a few ideas and I began the experiment. The polyurethane rubber of the front lip spoiler cannot be painted, and even if it could, it would flake off quickly due to the highly flexible nature of the rubber blend. Any coloration has to be added to the mix as a pigment, similar to when mixing the silicone. You can buy pigment pastes for polyurethane relatively easily, however metallic elements are not suitable due to their comparatively larger particle size. A large particle size in suspension is not a problem in an epoxy or thin, translucent medium, but where polyurethane is concerned, in order to maintain the structural integrity of the cured resin, you cannot use large particle sizes which interfere with the bonding of the polymer chains. Any additional additive must have a sufficiently small particle size to be considered in 'dispersion'. Gixxer and I settled on a target RAL code of grey and I mixed some black and white pigment until I was happy with the colour, mindful that it would dry as a slightly lighter shade. To try and spice things up, we experimented with some fine pearlescent mica powder which is fine enough in particle size to work with polyurethane. Whilst it was being mixed and wet, the difference was clear, however as a stand alone cured item, it;s hard to tell any difference. There is some iridescence to it, but this is mostly masked by the matt surface finish. To try and show the colour properly, I've photographed it against my black car cover, and also the pale bench top. THis pictures were taken seconds after it was released from the mould so I've not addressed any of the ages, flashing or other peripheral elements that need to be addressed during the finessing stage. Looks very pale here.... It's hard to believe it's the same spoiler in these pics where it looks much darker. I think it'll look great on Gixxer996's black car. The fear of mould contamination was the use of the mica powder as silicone can be incredibly robust, yet highly sensitive and I wasn't sure how it would react, but I'm pleased to say it came out the other side without issue. To celebrate, I poured another black one to keep the progress flowing, although I think they're starting to breed..... "One of these kids is doing their own thing, one of these kids is not like the others....." Update: 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 - moulded 23) Gixxer996 - moulded 24) rennpart 25) rennpart 26) rennpart **List temporarily closed**

Absolute legend mate- appreciate the extra effort and as always, the attention to detail. Efforts like this that make the forum great. Very grateful- thank you.

That looks great. Thank you.

Dedication!

I finished mocking up the spray cabinet tonight and was determined to test it before punching the time clock. Mindful of what I was planning next, I hastily fitted a temporary grill over the inlet, just in case anything got ingested. I wanted to check the various flow rates across the width, and also see if the design of the slot and manifold dimensions had mitigated turbulent vortices. To do this I went old school and suspended a series of paper strips along the opening to visualise the air flow. It bloomin' well works, too! It has just the right amount of tapering for the Gurney, shown here on a temporary makeshift stand to position it roughly where I'd paint it. I experimented with a little director vane on the inlet to see if I can further fine tune flow rates in specific areas, should I wish too. This made a significant difference compared to the other side, without. I can play around with all sorts of vanes and flaps to my heart's content, but to work so well straight of of the, er, box is a great result. The bit I'm most pleased with is the lack of turbulence. The air flow is so smooth and uniform. I took a short video to demonstrate.

The gurney flap and splitter are looking amazing! What an incredible job you've done

Hi, could I please be added to the gurney flap list? I would like seal grey please (I will confirm the paint code). It would be the perfect compliment to your excellent front splitter that I have. Thanks again. As a random favour, could I please ask for a photo of the underside of the deck lid grill on your car when you are next under the lid? My car is missing the black divider bar that sits in the holes below the taco and I wanted to see both sides before I approach Porsche with my wallet open. Thanks again and excellent work.

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Good Morning, King. No problem on either front - I’ll take and DM those pics to you tonight when I get home. Gurney Flap List 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red 2) Mdy6246 - Ocean Blue - L3AZ 3) swracecarhire - Matt Black 4 )swracecarhire - Matt Black 5) Lukersvich - Matt Black 6) Fadeel - Matte Black 7) Big Hammer88 - Matt Black 8) Damo996 - Matt Black 9) King Schulz - Seal Grey

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That part is discontinued. I tried to by one from design 911 recently part number 99651298500 I believe £230. I've not tried OPC yet though.

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@Interference Fit - your mission, should you choose to accept, is to replicate this part next - this message will self destruct at some point in the foreseeable future, i couldnt work out how to set the timer..............

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you also need a m4 nut part number 900360001 [td][/td] [td width="7.1942%"][/td]

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Hmmm, interesting. From memory it's a thin aluminium blade, and looking at the parts photographs has an angle section bracket riveted to it? The thin dimensions wouldn't make it suitable for moulding, and to be a nice piece it really wants making from its native aluminium and then either powder coating or painting. Absolutely not insurmountable, but to make it nice and precise would want to be laser cut and then bent on a jig for accuracy and repeatable consistency. Likewise the bracket. Making one or two by hand would be easier, but would take a lot longer in hours. To recover the cost of laser cutting and powder coating as well as time and materials invested in a bending jig would require a minimum quantity to make it viable to reproduce. But perfectly doable, and as they say, never say never.......

Latest update on the splitters. I'm hoping to be able to mould the last three by the end of the the weekend, at which point I'll not be moulding any more until I've completed and shipped to everyone on the list. If I've got any resin and other consumables left after this, and if the mould is still 'in the chat', I might be able to squeeze the odd one or two extra, but will have to see how it goes. 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 - moulded 23) Gixxer996 - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) rennpart 26) rennpart 27) Limey

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Looking forward to seeing the final product and getting it on the car! When it comes to fitting, is it a bumper off job?

Can’t wait to see it fitted!

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No, just clip it in place with the new clips provided to secure it in the right position, peel off the backing from the pre-installed adhesive tape and press into position, then add the screws to the clips - 5 minute job. If you go back to post #322, you can see the first one being fitted.

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Perfect, cheers! Appreciate it. Also, post #322 - this has been one hell of a thread

Edit - double post.

The first Gurney commission was born this morning and is doing well. @Guardsredool This is yours, buddy. Please can you confirm the paint code as there's two for Guards red. Should be on the under bonnet sticker and inside cover of your service book. I'm nowhere near ready to paint as I'll be doing them all in one go (sealers, primers and clear coat at least) so would be good to have all the data for when I order a box of base coats. Likewise @King Schulz when you get chance. This is just the mould fresh finish, pictured moments after the umbilical cord was cut, so ignore any edge flashing. All will be fully body worked as part of the painting process.

Got the last of the spoilers moulded this weekend. I've got a lot of work ahead of me starting next week in the refinement and hand finishing process. I'll get through them as fast as I can without compromising on quality of finish. In theory I should be able to do one per day, but that's if I work 3-4 hours every evening for a month, which is not realistic, so please bare with me. 1) pelsey197 - moulded 2) Dombus - moulded 3) Ginje - moulded 4) Hoebag - moulded 5) MrC986 - moulded 6) ryanonv - moulded 7) Frenchmeister - moulded 8) a1topdog - moulded 9) Dagerous - moulded 10) Dozzy - moulded 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 - moulded 23) Gixxer996 - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) rennpart - moulded 26) rennpart - moulded 27) Limey - moulded I'll be in touch individually as each one is complete and ready to ship - all I ask is that you reply to the thread with your feedback to give others either confidence, or the opportunity to back out without commitment if you feel these are not as expected. On that note, I can confirm that spoiler season (front splitters only) is officially closed. Thanks everyone. Happy to take any more commissions for Gurney's over the next few weeks.

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Your commitment & attention to detail is amazing, I really commend your efforts, it's much appreciated looking forward to receiving my splitter.

Fantastic work. if your not too far from me ( the Wirral) I can even pick it up to save you boxing and posting

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Hi, the paintcode for mine is L6B4 (seal grey). Thanks again, can't wait!

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Thanks King. I'm having some ongoing health challenges post my recent hospital holiday (been in 4 more times since) which has seen me with little time or energy to do much in the garage other than cast a couple more Gurneys. I've not been able to start the splitter refinement process, which is more of a sleeves up manual process, although they are all patiently awaiting their turn. I'll also need to laser etch them all in sequence, too. Hopefully I'm back in the game soon as I'm as I'm keen to complete the project.

Gurney Flap List 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red (L84A)- moulded 2) Mdy6246 - Ocean Blue (L3AZ) - mounded 3) swracecarhire - Matt Black - moulded 4 )swracecarhire - Matt Black - moulded 5) Lukersvich - Matt Black - moulded 6) Fadeel - Matt Black 7) Big Hammer88 - Matt Black 8) Damo996 - Matt Black 9) King Schulz - Seal Grey (L6B4)

Damn, hope you start to feel better soon! Please take as long as you need with mine, your health is far more important than a piece for the car

I fully agree, get better first. We will all patiently wait.

Cap doffed, great work .. Get yourself well Mr Fit, car bits can wait, no pressure from me.

get well soon Mr Fit - you have your admiring public to entertain - just kidding, get plenty of rest and recouperation and back to 100%.

Completely agree with the rest of the team. Get well soon, Mr. IF. The spoilers can wait, being healthy can’t. All the best

Take your time to get fully fit - no rush on your garage work. Better to get fully recovered. We all need your garage adventures too.

I hope you get well soon. We all greatly appreciate the hard work you have done here. take your time and rest up.

Get well soon

Wishing swift recovery! Thank you for the excellent thread so far.

Hope you're feeling better soon. Spoilers can wait. Health is more important.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I'm fine, just very run down fighting this ongoing and still unresolved kidney infection. I did manage to get out into the garage today for some light duties, all in preparation for finishing the splitters. The next stage was to laser etch all the serial numbers. The Suck-O-Matic proved useful, drawing the rather unpleasant smoke and fumes away admirably. A quick shot mid scan. I decided to change the font of the letters to something a little more dynamic and contextual, I hope you all like it. A couple of hours later, I had them all lined up awaiting their spa day. Note the growing stack of Gurney flaps on the right. The feng shui police are giving @Gixxer996 a real 'Paddington Bear stare' right now. I hope that Gixxer996 doesn't mind, but I couldn't help myself.... As I'm all about small incremental gains, rather than hand write a thank you note to stick on each spoiler as per the Mk1, I decided to level-up and leave each owner with a little something, and with the laser set up and looking for another project, I set about etching these from 0.15mm alloy. Continuing down the path of incremental gains, one of the things that stuck in my memory from the Mk1 run was how difficult it is to handle the spoiler during the refinement process. The flexibility and awkward shape makes it really difficult to keep therm in a fixed, ridgid position to work on them. I then had a cunning plan. Remember the solid grey epoxy mould that I made that left me with what looked like contamination spots, that actually turned out to be a chemical incompatibility? I found a great way to put it to good use. First up was to drill a series of small holes all along the bottom of the trench for reasons that I'll come to next. This was so I could accurately identify where the bottom of the trench ran from the underside. Ignore the holes closest to the perimeter edges, they were from the captive nuts. I then cut the mould in half along its length using a jigsaw to join the dots. This left me with two rigid mould halves, although I had to soften the cut edges as they were razor sharp, such is the density and hardness of the epoxy. If anyone remembers 'tilt-gate' from when this mould was originally poured, this next shot shows just how close to the wire I was. Even in 'tilt-mode', there was little more than 2mm wall thickness at the bottom of the trench! I then drilled a few mounting holes in one of the halves.... These allow me to clip the spoiler being worked on directly to a perfectly formed, rigid frame that I can work against, making the refinement process a little easier and more consistent. Each half gives me solid and supported access to the corresponding opposite faces of the spoiler. The other half enables me to process the other two faces. That's all for today, but at least I'm now in the best position to begin the refinement process, which was looking to be a bit of a mountain to climb. If I continue to feel a little better next week, I'll dive in and can then begin to ship them out one by one.

Just bloody superb!! Nothing else but

Love it! Epic work as always! Especially the custom text!!

Hi all, just a quick update that I'm feeling a little better and hoping to get out in the garage again this weekend and commence with the refinement, boxing and shipping of all the front splitters. I'd love to commit to one per day, but I have some hospital appointments scheduled and other associated commitments so cannot guarantees this, nor my wellness until this illness has fully passed. Rest assured I'll get these out to you all as soon as I possibly can. With a tail wind, I'd like to think I could get the first two or three done by close of play Sunday and will report progress.

Legend

GWS absolutely no pressure from me

Likewise gws. No rush this end either

Thanks all. I got up very early this morning to try and get a head start as I'm in hospital on Monday and have no idea how I'll be feeling afterwards, and wanted to make hay whilst the sun wasn't shining. I've just finished now but made more progress than I hoped thanks to the jig, which made a big difference in handling the spoilers during refinement. Unlike the Mk1 where everything was new and exciting (at least for me, anyway), I'll not be posting the same repeat shots over and over again, other than the serial number for each one, tagged to the new owner. As @pelsey197 was first on the Mk2 list, his spoiler (named Gertrude) gets to feature on the cover of this months edition of 'Spoilt Rotten' magazine. Eagerly awaiting a night out on the tiles and following a thorough exfoliation, Gertrude sat patiently for her make up to be done. I have left a tag of excess backing film on the 3M tape, which allows it to be clipped into the correct position before peeling away for final adhesion. I left a tag on each end just in case the film where to snap mid way through, providing an extra opportunity from the other side. Each spoiler comes with a 100% IPA wipe to clean any oil, grease, wax or other product from the bottom of the bumper which might reduce the strength of bond. She's a stunner. I'm really pleased with the how the Mk2 came out, and I hope anyone who has requested one is equally pleased. As per the Mk1, the very nature of the moulding process results in the occasional very small micro bubble, however these only appear in the top, flat mounting surface which is the hidden mating face to the bumper. There are no imperfections on any of the other faces. Any which did suffer an issue were scrapped. I may have mentioned bulk purchases in previous postings. My garage currently looks like the prep room for an episode of Blue Peter. For example, the correct mounting clips..... Each spoiler will come in a sealed sleeve, and with a zip-lock bag containing the clips and an IPA wipe. To prevent the spoiler shifting in transit, I have stapled the ends of the sleeve to the box, as well as adding cardboard brace at the top centre for further containment. My little thank you note is attached to this with a dab of hot-melt glue. All boxed up and ready to go in a custom ordered box. I only remembered at the very last second to increase the depth of the box to accommodate the deeper front fence of the Mk2. That could've been an expensive mistake! This was not the only spoiler to be completed and boxed today... @Dombus - meet 'Heidi'. @Ginje - Meet 'Nina'. @Hoebag - meet 'Annika'. @MrC986 - meet 'Kerstin'. That's five today and I'm knackered, but satisfied. I'll try and get a few more done tomorrow. As each one is completed, I'll send a DM with payment details, which once received, I'll aim to get posted within 24-48 hours. Thanks all.

I've tried to DM @Ginje @Hoebag whose names don't auto-fill when typing into the recipient bar. I'm not sure if this means they are still members or not? I also tried to DM @MrC986 however the name was removed with a 'Limited Reach' flag before deleting itself. If anyone can shed any light, or the members can contact me, that'd be great.

If there is one or two GT3 Front Lips left (or someone dont need it anymore) pls let me know.

Quotes source post: 2785163

Will do

Beautifully prepared @Interference Fit . Hope you are feeling better and steadily improving.

Quotes source post: 2785154

Email received and replied to!

If yesterday was highly productive, today was not. In fact today was bit of a wet sock at the start of a hike. The next spoiler in the salon, whom for the benefit of the tape shall only be referred to as #026, had a bit of an attitude problem. All was going well until about 2 hours in, where I discovered a personality flaw. It was 50/50 whether it was recoverable, but with two hours already invested I figured that with a fair bit of work, it could be rectified. I did my best, but the flaw proved more challenging that I anticipated. The longer I tried to work it, the worse it got, to the point where no matter how much effort or time I put in, it just wouldn't be 'right'. So with a heavy heart and four and a half hours of a Sunday up in smoke, '026' was deselected from the team, dragged out of chair and put out of its misery. It happens sometimes. Despite the setback, and with every ounce of me wanting to just call it quits and go indoors, I carried on in the name of progress. To provide some much needed moral support, I 'borrowed' the radio from the kitchen (one way ticket, no return journey), cranked up Bob Seger 'Old Time Rock n Roll' and in invited #027 in for a thorough going over. @ryanonv - meet 'Sabine'. With the time now edging toward 'knackered o'clock', I was about to call it a day with the consolation prize of completing at least one spoiler, when out of nowhere, another uplifting cracker belted out of the wireless. This time it was 'Creedence Clearwater Revival 'Down on the Corner'. If that doesn't get you in the mood to 'spoil', nothing will. @Frenchmeister - meet 'Dagmar'. That is all.

You are a different breed, I salute you

Quotes source post: 2785320

I get that alot, just without the salute

@a1topdog - meet 'Ursula'. Apologies for the 'wrapped' shot, only when I'd finished loading the box sis I realise I'd forgot to take a graduation photo in the typical pose.

@Dagerous - meet 'Petra'. @Dozzy - meet 'Lisbeth'.

Splitter Status Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - awaiting payment 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - awaiting payment 7) Frenchmeister - awaiting payment 8) a1topdog - posted 9) Dagerous - awaiting payment 10) Dozzy - awaiting payment 11) Aog76 - moulded 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 - moulded 23) Gixxer996 - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) rennpart - moulded 26) rennpart - moulded 27) Limey - moulded

Loving the updates on these as well as your amazing attention to detail. Fantastic work

@Aog76 - meet 'Martina'. List Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - awaiting payment 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) Frenchmeister - awaiting payment 8) a1topdog - posted 9) Dagerous - posted 10) Dozzy - awaiting payment 11) Aog76 - posted 12) POR 1 - moulded 13) Gary996aero - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) swracecarhire - moulded 16) Mdy624617 - moulded 17) crash7 - moulded 18) Fadeel - moulded 19) Pernicketybert - moulded 20) AI N - moulded 21) Diddy2003 - moulded 22) Russ996 - moulded 23) Gixxer996 - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) rennpart - moulded 26) rennpart - moulded 27) Limey - moulded

Well hello Martina Thank you.

@POR 1 - meet 'Anita'. I've tried to send you a DM with details etc however the system says I cannot send you a direct message. Please can you contact me when you can? List Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - awaiting payment 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) @Frenchmeister - awaiting payment 8) a1topdog - posted 9) Dagerous - posted 10) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 11) Aog76 - posted 12) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 13) swracecarhire - moulded 14) swracecarhire - moulded 15) Mdy624617 - moulded 16) crash7 - moulded 17) Fadeel - moulded 18) Pernicketybert - moulded 19) AI N - moulded 20) Diddy2003 - moulded 21) Russ996 - moulded 22) Gixxer996 - moulded 23) rennpart - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) rennpart - moulded 26) Limey - moulded 27) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded @Gary996aero someone doesn't need their spoiler currently so 'Anita' is now all yours!

I'm getting through these as best I can and making good progress. These two are for @swracecarhire - Meet 'Thelma'. And 'Lousie' List Update: List Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - awaiting postage 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12)swracecarhire - moulded 13) swracecarhire - moulded 14) Mdy624617 - moulded 15) crash7 - moulded 16) Fadeel - moulded 17) Pernicketybert - moulded 18) AI N - moulded 19) Diddy2003 - moulded 20) Russ996 - moulded 21) Gixxer996 - moulded 22) rennpart - moulded 23) rennpart - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) Limey - moulded 25) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded

Can’t keep a good man down, hope you’re doing ok health wise.

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Very happy to welcome Ursula into the fold

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I believe she arrived today?

I received mine today, all good Thanks again.

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Thanks buddy, I'm doing ok but I'm now on some 'elephant dart' antibiotics for 4 weeks which has sorted the primary symptoms, just leaving me systemically weak and 'run down' so can't go at my usual pace. I find myself running out of steam earlier than I'd like, but I'm definitely better than a coupler of weeks ago. Hopefully these will do the trick. I'm generally fine though.

Quotes source post: 2786488

Great stuff, glad you're happy with it.

@Interference Fit My name's coming up pretty close on the list but I was wondering if I could push off getting/paying for mine until closer to the 25th (payday!). Just bought a new car and paid for my 996's restoration this month and truth be told, I'm skint until then

Quotes source post: 2786493

No worries, SIr. I'll box it up and keep it safe until you're ready.

Thanks, you're a gent. I appreciate it (and so does my wallet!)

I made good progress today and managed to get into a rhythm, completing another six. I’ll not post photos of individual serial numbers as a) it’s very dull, and b) there’s a couple of requests that have not yet replied to the completion message who may not wish to go ahead, meaning it will put the numbers out of synch with the order on the list. I’ve started to add additional straps to hold the spoilers flat in the box to mitigate any temporary distortion if stored ‘on-end’ when in transit. As well as a staple at each end, I’ve also added a dot of hot melt glue in the adjacent corner where the stapler wouldn’t reach. This is just for intel when unpacking the box. List Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - awaiting postage 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12)swracecarhire - awaiting payment 13) swracecarhire - awaiting payment 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) @Fadeel - awaiting payment 17) @Pernicketybert - awaiting payment 18) @AI N - awaiting collection 19) @diddy2003 - awaiting payment 20) @Russ996 - awaiting payment 21) Gixxer996 - moulded 22) rennpart - moulded 23) rennpart - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) Limey - moulded 25) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded

@Gixxer996 Thought I'd capture a shot of yours for the album, with it being a custom colour. List Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - awaiting postage 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12)swracecarhire - awaiting payment 13) swracecarhire - awaiting payment 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - awaiting collection 19) @diddy2003 - awaiting payment 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - moulded 23) rennpart - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) Limey - moulded 25) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded

It occured to me that I've not actually shown a Mk2 spoiler fitted to the bumper template, and as nobody has fitted theirs yet, this will at least give some indication as to fit and finish. List Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - collected 19) diddy2003 - posted 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - awaiting postage 23) rennpart - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) Limey - moulded 25) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded

Mine has arrived this morning and it looks great Thanks again for all your effort in producing these. I also love the fact that I don't need to buy anything else to be able to install it - everything I need is in the box! I won't get a chance to fit the spoiler for a little while as I'm waiting for some better weather so I can make sure the bumper is properly cleaned and polished first.

Mine arrived today, mate it’s awesome, Thank you for all your hard work !

Thanks both, I appreciate the feedback. They're certainly a labour of love.

just picked mine up ( I was late picking it up as I totally forgot about it!!!! ) Everyone who has bought one, including the gurney flap, will not be disappointed. The level of craftsmanship on these is bloody brilliant!! He is such a nice guy, and I don’t know how a man in a garage has done it. Epic bits of kit! Thanks again bud, and once again, sorry I was late

It was a pleasure meeting you, Sir.

I’ve just been alerted to this thread!!! Am I too late to order one for my silver 996 aero please

Quotes source post: 2787619

Hi, thanks for the interest. The answer is 'maybe' for reasons I'll explain. I mounded more than I had requests, for a couple of reasons. 1) I may discover defects or issues in the refinement process which render some unfit for sale, hence I'd need a replacement on standy (I've rejected a few already in this batch). 2) If someone is not happy with theirs and want a replacement, I need to have one or two available just in case I'm still waiting to hear from three people who requested one, but have not yet responded to my messages confirming their spoiler is ready, which if they remain radio silent, at some point I'll have to make a call as to whether to offer to someone else. Hence here and now, it's difficult to commit to a 'yes', despite having a few not fully accounted for. What I propose is that I add your name to the list as 'standby', so when everything has come out in the wash, I can confirm one way or the other. I'd rather do that than say yes here and now and then have to disappoint. This leads me to a question for everyone reading regarding a potential moral dilemma I face.... I've reached out to @Dozzy , @Gary996aero and @crash7 via DM but as of yet have not had any response. I appreciate people have busy lives, holidays and other circumstances which may hinder regular access to the forum. However, how long is reasonable to hold on to a their spoilers which are complete, boxed and ready to post before concluding that they no longer want them, rendering them available to someone else? The last thing I want to do is disappoint anyone, let anyone down, or make a call that may raise an eyebrow and potentially bring my integrity and transparency into question. I'd welcome thoughts and views on this as the days pass by. 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - collected 19) diddy2003 - posted 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - awaiting postage 23) rennpart - moulded 24) rennpart - moulded 25) Limey - moulded 26) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded ----------------------------- Standby: 27) drrally

Really appreciate it, I was tipped to this list too late and hope I can get a front splitter as mine was never on car when I got it. Awaiting in anticipation

I would suggest two weeks. If it’s radio silence via email and forum for two weeks then reallocate to a standby.

Quotes source post: 2787737

That was my thinking also, but I wanted to sense check that with others, just in case my moral barometer was out of calibration. The challenge is that I can only DM, as there's no way of emailing someone that I know of?

Three spoilers are off to one of our friends on Rennlist across the pond. I had to order a custom box to fit them in! Not too many to go now. 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) @Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - collected 19) diddy2003 - posted 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - posted 23) rennpart - posted 24) rennpart - posted 25) Limey - moulded 26) D.Mac (Pinky) - moulded 27) drrally - moulded I'll aim to complete the last three this weekend if everything goes to plan. @drrally I can now confirm I have a spoiler for you.

Hello Few quick questions; 1. What page is it of the front splitter on a mk 2? 2. How much? Thanks

Quotes source post: 2787856

Greetings. I'm not sure I understand your first question, but I ask £150 plus any overseas shipping. Thanks.

Apologies, not sure what happened there. Just wondered what page of this thread shows the splitter on a car as I started on the 1st few pages, skipped to the end then went back 10 pages, looking for an image. Noticed that you do a .1 and .2 version or did I read that wrong? Thanks

Quotes source post: 2787879

Hi, the reference tio Mk1 and Mk2 versions is just my own development stages and has no reference to the actual 996.1 or 996.2 model varients which have very different front splitter designs. Any spoiler I produce is only suitable for the 996.1. The second batch of spoilers I moulded i.e. the mk2 version is is almost identical, and is just a few millimeters deeper on the vertical fence as a direct match to the original whilst having a fractionally thicker cross section to compensate for this. You'd have to hold them side by side and examine them closely to spot any difference. This was just a progressive development and not a fundamental change in the design. The biggest difference from my perspective was that I moulded the Mk2 with the holes already present for greater dimensional accuracy. I don't have a photograph of a mk2 fitted to a car yet as nobody has yet fitted one and shared an image, but the below images show the mk2 fitted to a genuine bumper cut that I use as a test rig. Here is a photo of a mlk1 fitted to my own car, although you;d not tell the difference between the ml2 without a digital caliper.

Ah ok, not to worry

Splitter Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) Dozzy - awaiting payment 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - collected 19) diddy2003 - posted 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - posted 23) rennpart - posted 24) rennpart - posted 25) limey - awaiting postage 26) D.Mac (Pinky) - awaiting payment 27) drrally - awaiting payment @limey All done, Sir.

Quotes source post: 2787846

Epic, send me details and I’ll sort payment

Splitter Update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) Dozzy - posted 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy624617 - awaiting payment 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - collected 19) diddy2003 - posted 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - posted 23) rennpart - posted 24) rennpart - posted 25) limey - posted 26) D.Mac - posted 27) drrally - posted Nearly there now.

Just wanted to say I received my splitter and the quality is great looking forward to getting it fitted when it goes into the body shop Thanks again superb job!

Quotes source post: 2787619

Not to clog this thread do you have a build thread or some side shots with the wheels

Quotes source post: 2788999

No problem, I'm glad you're pleased.

Quotes source post: 2789000

I posted one recently in the 996 section, plenty of pics in there of car, I have 100’s more shots of car with wheels. The bumper is missing the lower splitter so can’t wait to get that on, with all the other bits happening with car. Post in thread 'Deans 1999 996.1 Carrera 2 Aero' 22 Feb 2026 Great report Your car looks really good….. and what a playground to enjoy it in Cockneyjanner Have a look here

List update: 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) Dozzy - posted 10) Aog76 - posted 11) @Gary996aero - awaiting payment 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy6246 - posted 15) @crash7 - awaiting payment 16) Fadeel - posted 17) Pernicketybert - posted 18) AI N - collected 19) diddy2003 - posted 20) Russ996 - posted 21) Gixxer996 - posted 22) rennpart - posted 23) rennpart - posted 24) rennpart - posted 25) limey - posted 26) D.Mac - posted 27) drrally - posted

Look what arrived today, can’t wait till get this on to my aero bumper in time for summer Thank you again

Final Splitter list update. All done and dusted - I can now move on to the Gurney flaps. 1) pelsey197 - posted 2) Dombus - posted 3) Ginje - posted 4) Hoebag - posted 5) MrC986 - posted 6) ryanonv - posted 7) a1topdog - posted 8) Dagerous - posted 9) Dozzy - posted 10) Aog76 - posted 11) Rod - posted 12) swracecarhire - posted 13) swracecarhire - posted 14) Mdy6246 - posted 15) Fadeel - posted 16) Pernicketybert - posted 17) AI N - collected 18) diddy2003 - posted 19) Russ996 - posted 20) Gixxer996 - posted 21) rennpart - posted 22) rennpart - posted 23) rennpart - posted 24) limey - posted 25) D.Mac - posted 26) drrally - posted 27) Luke Thanks all.

Hello, do you still take orders for the aero front bumper lip? Saw your work searching for one and is shipping to Belgium possible? I have already the sideskirts on my car, came accross a bumper in spring 2025, it is now painted, but will look a bit pale without a lip. Kind regards, Olivier

Quotes source post: 2793889

Hi, thanks for asking. I'm not currently taking any more orders at the moment, but that is not to say I may not do so in the winter time at the end of the year. I still have the gurney flaps to complete and ship, which I'll be starting this weekend.

I'll be starting on the Gurney flap refinement and painting process this weekend, so just updating the list. Gurney Flap List 1) Guardsredool - Guards Red (L84A)- moulded 2) Mdy6246 - Ocean Blue (L3AZ) - mounded 3) swracecarhire - Matt Black - moulded 4 )swracecarhire - Matt Black - moulded 5) Lukersvich - Matt Black - moulded 6) Fadeel - Matt Black 7) Big Hammer88 - Matt Black 8) Damo996 - Matt Black 9) King Schulz - Seal Grey (L6B4) 10) James (PT) - Arctic Silver

Quotes source post: 2794224

Got all the Gurney's moulded and now in 2K high build primer. Won't be long now chaps.

Looking forward to seeing the gurneys come together. If they're anything like the front splitter, they're gonna be an incredibly well made bit of kit and a welcome addition to the car. If anyone hasn't gotten round to fitting their splitter yet, I've put together a short 'how-to' guide talking through the steps. It's an incredibly easy install and looks fantastic on the car. Great work @Interference Fit The Best Splitter for a Porsche 996? | GT3-Style Front Splitter Install Guide & Review

Fantastic, that's made my day. Watching it just clip perfectly into place with the pre-moulded holes makes all the effort worthwhile.

Quotes source post: 2797514

Aw, mate, I'm glad you enjoyed the video! It was absolutely effortless to fit and has really finished off the front of the car. The level of care and detail you've put into these is next level and you really deserve everyone seeing your wonderful creations. Can't wait to see the gurneys, I may even do a follow up video on them too, if ya don't mind!

I need 3x of each! Would love to see a gurney lip be made for the top blade Please put me down for the next batch of the front bumper spoiler and rear engine lid gurney

Quotes source post: 2797793

Noted

I think I may need both. Can I kindly be linked to £££ pages. Thank you and if there will be more of both.

Quotes source post: 2797891

I'm taking a break from these for a little while, but if there is sufficient demand later in the year, I might look to make some more of both. They were £150 each. Cheers.

Thank you.

Quotes source post: 2797940

Hi, looks like I've missed the boat on these ( only just seen them ). Could I be put on the list if ever you make any more? Thanks, Matt

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Rather than make a list at this stage, best thing would be to subscribe to the thread so if I do decide to make any more, you can confirm if you still need it at the time, as I appreciate a lot can change over time.

Quotes source post: 2798265

Thanks for replying Yes, will do cheers

Live as it happens - the suck-o-matic is proving it’s worth…. Base coats going down first. I’ll do the matt black ones next as a batch.

[Image-only or quote-only post; no author-written text.] https://911uk.com/data/attachments/145/145977-97eb418e410b69dbddbcf678ac42dbcf.jpg?hash=Z5exJilwpx https://911uk.com/data/attachments/145/145978-f2d617b1aeab636cbfb5b308f759f85c.jpg?hash=Msq_qWl-Db

Gloss cleat for the coloured ones. Will obviously need a de-nip, flat and polish, but looking good so far. I’ll spray the black ones in matt clear.

Top class work - as per usual. Hope you are back to fighting fit again.

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Hey bud, cheers. Not out of the woods yet, but no longer bouncing the valves.

Hope you get better soon. FWIW, I would be interested in both, with priority to the gurney strip. Thanks

Same. Gurney is my priority. But health first .

Thanks chaps, I might have a gurney or two spare once everything has gone out, so watch this space.

All the Gurney flaps are now done. I'll try to get them all boxed up and ready to post by tomorrow night with any luck. I'll contact you all individually regarding exchanging details.

Amazing work yet again.

Hi, are you still taking orders for 996.2 front lip? Thank you

Hi, I've not produced a 996.2 spoiler, however I did update the first version to an improved version which I referenced as a mk2, however this is still based on the 996.1 design. Sorry I cannot help on this occasion. Many thanks, Andrew

Well up for a better designed front lip spoiler if available. Cheers

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Keep an eye on this thread as I might be tempted to have another crack over the winter, depending on how things go with my next 911. I'm currently researching modification to the polyurethane blend, as I'd like to make them a little more rigid and remove some of the inherent plasticity within the current recipe. Looking at how this impacts the physical properties, I'll likely need to use a heated chamber to fully cure them post moulding, as some of the additives will likely require thermally activated catalysts to fully link the molecula chains. I'm still on a learning curve with this. I'm also looking at making a two piece split mould so I can remove the front face. This will save me having to drag the finished spoiler vertically out of the mould, as this causes premature surface scarring of the silicone mould walls. This then necessitates hours of cosmetic refinement on each spoiler that I could very much do without. We'll see what happens if there's enough demand for more.

I will definitely have one.

I'm in for one for the 996.2 if you make them..

Yes I’m also in for one if you make it for the .2!