Rear Wing Removal -Easy !
Discussion
For once, something went totally to plan, nothing snapped, cracked stretche twisted or got threaded ! Putting aside the business of whether you should take the rear wing off your '96 to '97 V8 or S4S and also bearing in mind that if you plan to drive the car over 140mph on its handling limit then you need to replace the transom lip with a bigger one, I thought I would relate my story for anyone thinking of taking their wing off.
Basically, it's as simple as it looks. The wing is held on to the car with three 10mm bolts on each side with a rubber type gasket between the wing and the car and a metal spreader plate between the bolt heads and the interior of the boot. So, the kebab is: bolt head, spring washer, plain washer, spreader plat, car body, rubber gasket, wing in that order.
The wing weighs much less than you would think. It feels less than 10kg so is easily held by wife, girlfriend, bloke next door, son, daughter etc. whilst you remove the last 2 bolts.
The bolt heads are a little hard to get to, especially on the left side as there is a pump fitted below one of the bolts. A ratchet spanner is incredibly useful for this job !
I undid the four bolts nearer to the back of the car first so as to get the weight of the wing to help me by not trapping the bolts. You need to be very careful not to drop the bolts down into the dark recesses of the boot as you will never find them again ! Take out the last two whilst someone holds the wing in place and then lift the wing to a place of supported safety.
My only problem was that the rubber gasket had become welded to the car body on the right side and proved incredibly difficult ot remove. I tried every kind of solvent that I dared use on the paint (solid red, so no lacquer problem) In the end, I shaved the rubber off with a scalpel blade and then polished the paint up with T-Cut.
So, what do you do with the six holes in the back of your car ?!
As a stop gap, I put six pieces of red insulation tape over the holes. Functional but too tempting for little fingers ! The holes are about 8mm across and I found some flat pack furniture blanking caps which are exactly the right size. I sealed them in place with Vaseline (which also stopped the egress of water which occurred without the Vaseline) and painted them red with a touch up stick. Not a perfect solution, but unless you are looking for them, the plugs are not particularly obvious and the only alternative would be to block the holes with filler and paint the wings properly. All very well, but I'm not entirely sure that I won't put the wing back on in the Summer ....!
Basically, it's as simple as it looks. The wing is held on to the car with three 10mm bolts on each side with a rubber type gasket between the wing and the car and a metal spreader plate between the bolt heads and the interior of the boot. So, the kebab is: bolt head, spring washer, plain washer, spreader plat, car body, rubber gasket, wing in that order.
The wing weighs much less than you would think. It feels less than 10kg so is easily held by wife, girlfriend, bloke next door, son, daughter etc. whilst you remove the last 2 bolts.
The bolt heads are a little hard to get to, especially on the left side as there is a pump fitted below one of the bolts. A ratchet spanner is incredibly useful for this job !
I undid the four bolts nearer to the back of the car first so as to get the weight of the wing to help me by not trapping the bolts. You need to be very careful not to drop the bolts down into the dark recesses of the boot as you will never find them again ! Take out the last two whilst someone holds the wing in place and then lift the wing to a place of supported safety.
My only problem was that the rubber gasket had become welded to the car body on the right side and proved incredibly difficult ot remove. I tried every kind of solvent that I dared use on the paint (solid red, so no lacquer problem) In the end, I shaved the rubber off with a scalpel blade and then polished the paint up with T-Cut.
So, what do you do with the six holes in the back of your car ?!
As a stop gap, I put six pieces of red insulation tape over the holes. Functional but too tempting for little fingers ! The holes are about 8mm across and I found some flat pack furniture blanking caps which are exactly the right size. I sealed them in place with Vaseline (which also stopped the egress of water which occurred without the Vaseline) and painted them red with a touch up stick. Not a perfect solution, but unless you are looking for them, the plugs are not particularly obvious and the only alternative would be to block the holes with filler and paint the wings properly. All very well, but I'm not entirely sure that I won't put the wing back on in the Summer ....!
DAMMIT ! Can'tr remember how to "host" pictures again ! Need Geek recharge ! I have got as far as uploading the images but cannot remember what I have to type here to get the pictures to show. I remember it involved square brackets, the word "pic" and the ridiculously complex address of the picture. Please help.....plain English please, I only have 2 degrees and neither is in computer science. Thanks in advance !
>> Edited by toyroom on Friday 3rd February 21:29
>> Edited by toyroom on Friday 3rd February 21:29
Hoo$%^&*(ray ! at goddamn last !
Right, this is the car after romoval of the wing (not too obvious ?) and the next two entries will (hopefully) show progressive close ups of the blanking caps in place. Thanks for your help with the pictures. I should have checked the "dream car" thread for how I did it last time ( the picture thing, I mean) Still, hopefully I'll remember next time !
Right, this is the car after romoval of the wing (not too obvious ?) and the next two entries will (hopefully) show progressive close ups of the blanking caps in place. Thanks for your help with the pictures. I should have checked the "dream car" thread for how I did it last time ( the picture thing, I mean) Still, hopefully I'll remember next time !
Still not sure that I won't put it back on in the Summer just so as I can have the pleasure of taking it off again in the Autumn. I'm going to go against the flow a bit here, but... I care far less about how the car looks than I do about how it goes. Strange really, but the Esprit is by far and away the most exotic car I have ever owned and yet the one I have cared for the least from a cosmetic point of view (wash, wax, hoover etc.) In fact, looking back, there has been a kind of inverse relationship: XR3, wash and wax every week, Orion 1.6i, wash once a fortnight, wax every month....X1/9 wash and wax every six weeks, Esprit, wash when it gets dirty, hardly ever wax (More benefits of a plastic body (see my entry, page 2 on the new Esprit thread)) Sad really !
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