Attaching an Autospoiler with a 600x300 Intercooler

Many people have said that it is next to impossible to have a 600X300 cooler with associated piping, and to maintain an autospoiler with working motors. The following gives an idea of how I made it work. I’m sure its not the only way, but it is a way that worked for me. i will detail the basic approach i took, but be aware that i still had to make minor tweaks, bend the brackets, pull the motors across etc so that they lined up perfectly and cleared my cooler piping. every application will be different, but use this as a guide and the rest will become self evident when you actually do it yourself.

Things You Need:

HARDWARE

All items listed below were from Bunnings and cost less than $20. (4x) 90 degrees angle brackets (mine are about an inch in width, and each arm is about 20cm in length) (20x est.) M8 bolts with nuts and spring washers (4x) small 90 degrees angle brackets (smaller the better)

TOOLS

Power drill 6mm drill bit suitable for going through metal Sockets and spanners

AIM

To mount the motors for the autospoiler in a position that allows full movement of the spoiler.

METHOD

Basically the method is to make brackets that move the motors to the outer extremes of the front bar, thus allowing the arms to move freely without fouling on the cooler or cooler piping. It is important that we maintain the factory orientation of the motors however, so that the motors continue to travel their intended paths of movement – so we must make sure that they are positioned as is the case with the factory mounting spot.

Steps:

1. remove the front bar. it will be impossible to do this task with the front bar on, and you will go insane with frustration if you try to. you will need as much room as you can get to manouvre inside behind the reo. i took off the grill, filler panel, and front bar. taking the lights off would also make life easier. up to you.

2. take your large angle brackets. you will use two on each side of the car. the brackets i bought came with holes predrilled. take two brackets and overlap them to form a "I_ _I" shape. passing the bolts through these holes and tighten them as much as possible. this is your bracket. flip it upside down, and it will make an upside down "U" shape. assuming you have a reo bar with holes predrilled and threaded for the motors factory mounting position, take one of the vertical arms of the bracket and bolt it to the INSIDE of the reo bar. you may need to drill another hole in your bracket to suit. Use the two holes in the reo that are towards the REAR of the car and are positioned one directly above the other.

File:AutospolerIMG 0991.jpg

3. remember the aim of the game is to move the motors outwards, but not to change their orientation geometrically in relation to the car. so visualise where the motors should have been mounted, and where they will currently sit if you shifted them 20 cm to the right/left. you must use the mounting holes at the BACK of the motor when attaching your bracket. this is because you chose to use the rearward mounting holes on the reo. makes sense, huh? again, bolts and tighten, and possibly drill an extra hole in the bracket to make a hole that lines up with those on the motors.

4. you should now have the motors suspended in the air, but they will be a little flimsy on the brackets. so use two of your small angle brackets to steady and secure the motors. although a little hard to see from this photo as it is obstructed by the wiring, mount the bracket onto the flat edge of your reo. you will then need to drill a hole through the motor's bracket to line up with the vertical face of the angle bracket. i used washers on the bolt between the angle bracket and the motor to space the motor clear of the reo and to give extra clearance for when it came time to putting the bar skin on. you will want to make the motor sit as far back as possible. the motor should now be secure and should not move if shaken by hand. this is important otherwise it will bang around against your reo when going over bumps, and it will also allow the spoiler to shake up and down underneath the car - which isn't a good look.

5. do the above listed steps to the other side so that you have both your motors mounted in the same position. the EXACT same position. if they are not the same, then your spoiler will sit crooked, it will twist when being retracted, and will just created a wealth of headaches when it comes to the next step.

6. you are now ready to mount your lip. i suggest reattaching the bar skin temporarily at this stage. i say temporarily because i had to take mine on and off about 300 times before and after each adjustment. attaching the bar skin will alow you to see where everything is going to end up sitting, and if there will be any clearance issues.

7. follow the back face of the autospoiler all the way out to the edges and you will find two 10mm nuts that secure the corners of the spoiler to the straight section. take off the top nut and place your angle bracket over the stud. replace the nut and tighten it, securing the bracket underneath it. then, attach the other arm of your small angle bracket to the 'arm' of the autospoiler. repeat on the opposite side of the car. your lip should now be mounted in place. this step also permits some fine tuning to make the spoiler sit perfectly. you can use the upper or lower bolt holes on the arms, you can shift the spoiler left or right by using different bolt holes on the angle brackets and so on. these things will all make sense to the basic mechanical mind once u see it in front of you.

8. and now your done! get someone to check the clearance of your motors when going up and down. make sure its not fouling anywhere, especially on the cooler piping, and especially make sure the lip isn't hitting the outer edges of the front bar when retracting. the lip will flex a bit, but not a lot - and the motors are so fragile that putting them under extra stress will see them burnout pretty quickly.

Created by 'SMOKEY' 9/7/2006