Just got back from a three day jaunt to Georgia to see my good friend George from MGW shifters. My visit had much to do with an installation and testing of his upcoming second run of shifter for the GT350, followed with a 2+ hour drive (each way) and a track day at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia. He never stops innovating and improving and the latest version proves it. I already have one and I liked this one even more and I'll share that in another thread.
Anyway, George had splitter issues due to an incorrect installation by his selling dealer. He was at VIR when the splitter started nosediving towards the tarmac due to missing fasteners. The dealer subsequently agreed to install a new one, which they did. Then when the car was in for service, the dealer pulled off part of the new splitter for "access" and then failed to reseat everything once again. With the upcoming track day George picked up yet another splitter as he wasn't sure if all the fasteners were in properly (or there at all) and I think he thought it might not be a bad idea to have extra pieces if he didn't use everything.
I got off the plane and took a look at his GT350 up on a lift within an hour of arriving at his manufacturing facility. My own splitter was incorrectly installed and needed to be reinstalled so I was eager to see if his was any different than mine. His car was up on one of his two lifts and ready for surgery.
As I suspected, his splitter tabs weren't seated.
His existing splitter had some small scratches, etc, where the rivets are but nothing too bad. As much as it looked like I could make everything work I decided to open the splitter still in the box from Autonation. I wanted to take a look at the hardware list too. I immediately saw a problem. See how long it takes you to identify it...
I told George about having two RH "winglets" and no left and he called Autonation. They suggested he send everything back. Apparently the winglets don't have individual part numbers so they couldn't just exchange a right for a left. So before reboxing everything I documented the hardware. First was cost.
Beyond the three pieces that comprise the splitter, there is a bag of fasteners included.
And aside from the install videos that Ford generated (that have been ignored by so many at the dealer service level) there was also two pages of instructions. They looked like declassified documents from the Truman era that had been copied over by a vintage potato copy machine. If this is all the service people care to look at then it is no wonder they decide to roundfile half of the fasteners.
I placed everything back in the box and went to work on the existing unit. I removed most every fastener, inspecting all the mounting points, and reinstalled. I used a rubber mallet to seat the splitter tabs into the fascia while applying upward pressure from the leading edge of the splitter. I then put all the screws back in.
Worked perfectly. The lengthy drive the next day was without issue and ~145 mph speeds on the straight at Roebling validated the install. The underside, in pretty good shape...
I had ordered an R model splitter for my own GT350 and it was sitting on my doorstep when I got back home. I plan on adding it to better manage airflow at speed (the spoiler will be addressed as well) and see it as a piece that increases the performance potential of the vehicle. The "faux R" argument is not one I dwell on. Like adding better tires, upgrading engine performance, etc, I see this the same way as a hardware upgrade. Plain and simple.
It comes in a similar sized box to the regular GT350 splitter as much as it is one piece as opposed to three.
Three times the cost of the regular splitter. Clearly priced to diminish popular demand.
At least it came with clear and concise color instructions.
I'm going to wait to install it until I do the oil cooler lines that were recalled. I also have my own ideas about protecting it from scrapes and will work on that in the near future and implement that on install as well.
If it'll help, I put the following together to show what hardware is needed for each splitter as the two kits are not exactly the same. These were pulled from the second page of instructions for each splitter.
Anyway, George had splitter issues due to an incorrect installation by his selling dealer. He was at VIR when the splitter started nosediving towards the tarmac due to missing fasteners. The dealer subsequently agreed to install a new one, which they did. Then when the car was in for service, the dealer pulled off part of the new splitter for "access" and then failed to reseat everything once again. With the upcoming track day George picked up yet another splitter as he wasn't sure if all the fasteners were in properly (or there at all) and I think he thought it might not be a bad idea to have extra pieces if he didn't use everything.
I got off the plane and took a look at his GT350 up on a lift within an hour of arriving at his manufacturing facility. My own splitter was incorrectly installed and needed to be reinstalled so I was eager to see if his was any different than mine. His car was up on one of his two lifts and ready for surgery.
As I suspected, his splitter tabs weren't seated.
His existing splitter had some small scratches, etc, where the rivets are but nothing too bad. As much as it looked like I could make everything work I decided to open the splitter still in the box from Autonation. I wanted to take a look at the hardware list too. I immediately saw a problem. See how long it takes you to identify it...
I told George about having two RH "winglets" and no left and he called Autonation. They suggested he send everything back. Apparently the winglets don't have individual part numbers so they couldn't just exchange a right for a left. So before reboxing everything I documented the hardware. First was cost.
Beyond the three pieces that comprise the splitter, there is a bag of fasteners included.
And aside from the install videos that Ford generated (that have been ignored by so many at the dealer service level) there was also two pages of instructions. They looked like declassified documents from the Truman era that had been copied over by a vintage potato copy machine. If this is all the service people care to look at then it is no wonder they decide to roundfile half of the fasteners.
I placed everything back in the box and went to work on the existing unit. I removed most every fastener, inspecting all the mounting points, and reinstalled. I used a rubber mallet to seat the splitter tabs into the fascia while applying upward pressure from the leading edge of the splitter. I then put all the screws back in.
Worked perfectly. The lengthy drive the next day was without issue and ~145 mph speeds on the straight at Roebling validated the install. The underside, in pretty good shape...
I had ordered an R model splitter for my own GT350 and it was sitting on my doorstep when I got back home. I plan on adding it to better manage airflow at speed (the spoiler will be addressed as well) and see it as a piece that increases the performance potential of the vehicle. The "faux R" argument is not one I dwell on. Like adding better tires, upgrading engine performance, etc, I see this the same way as a hardware upgrade. Plain and simple.
It comes in a similar sized box to the regular GT350 splitter as much as it is one piece as opposed to three.
Three times the cost of the regular splitter. Clearly priced to diminish popular demand.
At least it came with clear and concise color instructions.
I'm going to wait to install it until I do the oil cooler lines that were recalled. I also have my own ideas about protecting it from scrapes and will work on that in the near future and implement that on install as well.
If it'll help, I put the following together to show what hardware is needed for each splitter as the two kits are not exactly the same. These were pulled from the second page of instructions for each splitter.
