Fitting an MGF wind deflector into a S3 Elan
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Post by: Keith Scarfe » Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:16 am
Following on from this thread http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-chassis-f36/wind-deflector-for-elan-t19887-45.htmlI thought I would start a new one about how I fitted my wind deflector in case anyone is interested in fitting one themselves.
Firstly I must say what a huge improvement this is to do. It definitely does work. I know a lot of you will say ?That?s why you have a convertible for the wind? but without it, what used to happen to me was the back draught caused when running at motorway speeds (60mph and up) would really buffet me and the worse thing was the air pressure pulses seemed to go directly into my left ear (Right hand drive car), and after a long journey I would get earache. I was worried about it damaging my hearing. The wind and draughts anywhere else was fine for me. So I decided to look into making one for my car. After doing a bit of research, reading the above thread, I found out that the dimensions of the MGF one would be about right. It is roughly 90 cm long and 23 high. I would just have to figure out how to mount it. These can be got off ebay for around ?50 second hand or they are about ?100-150 new or buy it now (2013 prices).
Here is what it looks like:
My solution (so far) to mount it is to use the top seat belt mounts. It is a little bit ?Heath Robinson? but you can?t see it as it is behind the backboard and it means no drilling holes in panels to bolt it on. It just so happens that when you offer the deflector up to the car, its mounts fall just at the opening to the seat belt exit points on the back board. These holes are 15mm (7/16?) wide so I made up a strip of metal from 2mm thick 15mm wide mild steal with a 5/16 hole at the mounting end and M6 at the deflector end. Remove the seat belt mount and bolt it on. Then I bent it to upright - my seat belt mounts are at random angles hence why I want to get them upright see this thread http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-chassis-f36/top-seat-belt-attachment-the-chassis-t28839.html. This then was threaded through the seat belt hole in the backboard and bent until it lined up with the wind deflector mounts. It works, but only sort of. Because the mounts are at random angles this means the brackets are not in the best orientation for stiffness and they do wobble about a bit. This will mean over a short time they are going to fatigue and break so a better solution is going to be needed. Ideally I want to rotate the square section so it is vertical meaning the metal bracket will be stiffer in the direction where the force is applied.
The MGF deflector came with a plastic bracket on each side that is located internally by a cut out in the moulding to lie at a strange angle backwards - obviously for the MG setup, but it didn?t suit what I was trying to do. What I needed to do was make this vertical so it gave a little extra height and meant that by undoing the fastening the deflector can be rotated down and out of the way for using the tonneau. I did this by filing and chiselling out the plastic from this bracket. Let me know if you want details or a picture of this as I don?t have one at the moment.
So here is the result. What do you think? I think it looks ok. It doesn?t look like I am trying to make my car look like an MGF, it looks like it was meant to be there, well maybe. Since I haven?t had to drill anything it simply bolts off if not required. It makes putting the hood up and down very slightly more awkward as it is quite close to the tray but it goes up over it ok and the other thing is that the top bar of the deflector is right across the view in the rear view mirror but these are minor issues because of the main benefit it gives for me. In use, at speed, there is a surprising amount of wind force buffeting it and it does wobble about a bit. In fact I have had to do up the bolts really tight otherwise the wind pushed the whole thing forward. Wind does also get down the back and blows through the seat openings onto your gear change arm but this doesn?t bother me as it was the wind blowing directly into my ear I wanted to overcome and it does this brilliantly.
Hope this helps someone, please ask if there is anything I can explain better.
Keith.
Firstly I must say what a huge improvement this is to do. It definitely does work. I know a lot of you will say ?That?s why you have a convertible for the wind? but without it, what used to happen to me was the back draught caused when running at motorway speeds (60mph and up) would really buffet me and the worse thing was the air pressure pulses seemed to go directly into my left ear (Right hand drive car), and after a long journey I would get earache. I was worried about it damaging my hearing. The wind and draughts anywhere else was fine for me. So I decided to look into making one for my car. After doing a bit of research, reading the above thread, I found out that the dimensions of the MGF one would be about right. It is roughly 90 cm long and 23 high. I would just have to figure out how to mount it. These can be got off ebay for around ?50 second hand or they are about ?100-150 new or buy it now (2013 prices).
Here is what it looks like:
My solution (so far) to mount it is to use the top seat belt mounts. It is a little bit ?Heath Robinson? but you can?t see it as it is behind the backboard and it means no drilling holes in panels to bolt it on. It just so happens that when you offer the deflector up to the car, its mounts fall just at the opening to the seat belt exit points on the back board. These holes are 15mm (7/16?) wide so I made up a strip of metal from 2mm thick 15mm wide mild steal with a 5/16 hole at the mounting end and M6 at the deflector end. Remove the seat belt mount and bolt it on. Then I bent it to upright - my seat belt mounts are at random angles hence why I want to get them upright see this thread http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-chassis-f36/top-seat-belt-attachment-the-chassis-t28839.html. This then was threaded through the seat belt hole in the backboard and bent until it lined up with the wind deflector mounts. It works, but only sort of. Because the mounts are at random angles this means the brackets are not in the best orientation for stiffness and they do wobble about a bit. This will mean over a short time they are going to fatigue and break so a better solution is going to be needed. Ideally I want to rotate the square section so it is vertical meaning the metal bracket will be stiffer in the direction where the force is applied.
The MGF deflector came with a plastic bracket on each side that is located internally by a cut out in the moulding to lie at a strange angle backwards - obviously for the MG setup, but it didn?t suit what I was trying to do. What I needed to do was make this vertical so it gave a little extra height and meant that by undoing the fastening the deflector can be rotated down and out of the way for using the tonneau. I did this by filing and chiselling out the plastic from this bracket. Let me know if you want details or a picture of this as I don?t have one at the moment.
So here is the result. What do you think? I think it looks ok. It doesn?t look like I am trying to make my car look like an MGF, it looks like it was meant to be there, well maybe. Since I haven?t had to drill anything it simply bolts off if not required. It makes putting the hood up and down very slightly more awkward as it is quite close to the tray but it goes up over it ok and the other thing is that the top bar of the deflector is right across the view in the rear view mirror but these are minor issues because of the main benefit it gives for me. In use, at speed, there is a surprising amount of wind force buffeting it and it does wobble about a bit. In fact I have had to do up the bolts really tight otherwise the wind pushed the whole thing forward. Wind does also get down the back and blows through the seat openings onto your gear change arm but this doesn?t bother me as it was the wind blowing directly into my ear I wanted to overcome and it does this brilliantly.
Hope this helps someone, please ask if there is anything I can explain better.
Keith.
- Keith Scarfe
- Second Gear
- Posts: 219
- Joined: 10 May 2004
Post by: Keith Scarfe » Wed Aug 21, 2013 11:55 am
A bit more info on the brackets.
Before making the actual brackets that mount off the seat belt clevis, I mocked some up in very thin alli that could easily be bent by hand. This gave me the pattern to make some in the thicker mild steel. Here they are:
Before making the actual brackets that mount off the seat belt clevis, I mocked some up in very thin alli that could easily be bent by hand. This gave me the pattern to make some in the thicker mild steel. Here they are:
- Keith Scarfe
- Second Gear
- Posts: 219
- Joined: 10 May 2004
Post by: racy7 » Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:43 pm
following this thread I thought I would try one on my S4. I already have fitted the spyder automatic belts and the job was quite easy. Just needed to make up some right angle supports from 2mm steel, easily obtained from local DIY shop. Had to cut the backboard for the supports to pass through otherwise simple
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Post by: holywood3645 » Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:18 pm
Good thread. I'm sure the installation will be refined as other's install in there cars. It would be an advantage if it could be removed or folded out of sight. (Just my opinion)
James
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