Spoiler removal.. Whats the damage?

[twitchy]

Hey folks

I have a 93 240SX with the factory spongy foam spoiler. I have a buddy with the same car. Now, mine has been repainted (just before I got it about 2 years ago) and his was not. Mine was also oilsprayed with crown every year since brand new so luckily my 10 year old SX has no rust anywhere. EXCEPT under that spoiler! When you lift on it to peek under it, you can see a bit, not even rust just discoloration that will lead to rust. In case you dont get me, I DONT LIKE RUST at all. My buddies car has a gaping hole under there where the rust is gotten to. (His was never oilsprayed)

I want that spoiler off. Now im not an aftermarket guy at all, in fact my car has absolutely nothing done to it other than custom exhaust (going into the STOCK muffler)

so I want a spoiler that looks similar, but not one mounted flush onto the hood, the rust forms under it since the water doesnt really drain out of it at all, it stays wet. So I want to take the spoiler off, and replace it with one from a new intrepid (think of what the shape is...almost identical but elevated on two mounts.

What am i looking at to take the old one off? How many bolts hold it on and where are they?

Thanks

[240Driver39]

the stock spoiler puts a lot of holes in there

okay heres the run down on how it was on my 91

there are 4 small holes that run near the front of the spoiler, bolts go through here. these are easy

now there are 6 "clips" also, taht hold the rear of the spoiler on, these are where the problem lies

And then some double sided tape

Now, the bolts are easy, there are nuts on the underside of the hatch u can take off, but the clips are a pain and are hard to get off. when i took my spoiler off i pretty much just took it off and the clips stayed in the hatch and came out of the spoiler. So not sure what u want to do there, if u need to reattach for a short time, it wont be the tightet thing, but u can use those 4 bolts and a lot of double sided tape.

thats bout it with that spoiler...i snapped mine in half over my knee when i replaced my hatch with one i found in a junkyard that didnt come with a stock spoiler, spoilerless is nice.

[SHINCHU]

yeah i found a gold 240 like mine at a junkyard with a spoilerless hatch i wanted to pick up. maybe i should have. i can hear rust flakes inside my hatch whenever i open it. i thinking of getting a bomex type 9. agressive, but not ricey. imo.

[KiDyNomiTe]

here is a useful pic.

Don't get a spoiler on your rusted hatch though. It'll only spread and eat away your hatch. Replace the hatch to get rid of the rust for good.

[nrcooled]

I found a base model at the junkyard that was the same color and bought it. And just sell your old one to the junkyard d00d;) They are right though the only good way to get rid of rust is to replace the hatch.

Total cost me $100 for new hatch and installing it is pretty straight forward just get a buddy to help hold the hatch open while your working

[Yoshi]

Anyone know if there's such a thing as a spoilerless hatch WITH a wiper? I've only seen the base models that have neither.

[nrcooled]

Originally posted by Yoshi
Anyone know if there's such a thing as a spoilerless hatch WITH a wiper? I've only seen the base models that have neither.

Yep! That's exactly what I bought, a base model lid that had a wiper:D

I didn't know that they were rare? Maybe I'm just a lucky SOB:p

[Negreac]

Why would you want that wiper back there, it's absolutley useless. Just extra weight. When I get my stock spoiler replaced I plan on shaving it. IMO the car looks alot smoother without wiper too.

[Rennen]

Anyone know if there's such a thing as a spoilerless hatch WITH a wiper? I've only seen the base models that have neither.

hey, I have one of those too!

ooooohh ahhhhhh
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid52/pbe472c1eb4861e0c8a39d01db5b00fec/fc9bd7f5.jpg

here it is freshly installed on my dirty car
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid52/p5fb1bdec99621433bf0d3854d80115ec/fc9bd7ee.jpg

I over payed a little for mine, it was $140 but it was well worth it and I was lucky to find a black hatch at all in Mid MO

-Matt

[hookedup240]

Originally posted by Negreac
Why would you want that wiper back there, it's absolutley useless. Just extra weight. When I get my stock spoiler replaced I plan on shaving it. IMO the car looks alot smoother without wiper too.

its really not useless it helps alot in the rain especially hard rain.

Extra weight....What is it an extra 2 pounds, oh wait I forgot -2lbs of weight off the car makes you a .0000000000001 secs faster in the quater.

[RedlineRacer]

Originally posted by Rennen

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid52/p5fb1bdec99621433bf0d3854d80115ec/fc9bd7ee.jpg


Dang dude, you need to wash that thing

[KiDyNomiTe]

Originally posted by hookedup240
its really not useless it helps alot in the rain especially hard rain.

Extra weight....What is it an extra 2 pounds, oh wait I forgot -2lbs of weight off the car makes you a .0000000000001 secs faster in the quater.

lol stop eating those burgers and you'll drop .01 secs :D

If you are that obsessed with wieght on the car, then you need to go on a serious diet, or let me drive your car, I only wiegh like 135 :D, or even better get a girl to drive your car.

[Rennen]

Dang dude, you need to wash that thing

haha, washing my car is overrated. especiallly when its black, and especially when the roads still had about 1/2" of salt on them( that pic was taken in Jan or Feb)

I have since taken my wiper off and plugged the hole. I couldnt figure a way to rig it up to work:(

Anyway, back to the topic.

twitchy, you need to take the spoiler off and see how bad the rust is. Its easy to take the spoiler off, remove the bolts in KiDyNomiTe's first post. Then cover the rusty holes. Duct Tape works a great stop gap measure till you can track down a clean hatch. They make it in most any color nowadays, the black duct tape perfectly matched my car. Then you need to go to all your local junkyards and try to find a hatch without a spoiler. http://www.car-part.com/ is great for searching local junkyard inventorys.

-Matt

[transient]

I just used a hole saw to cut a hole in my new hatch, then ran all the wiring to it. It really wasn't all that hard.

[twitchy]

thank you all for the help, Im going to start to look for a non spoiler hatch and see what happens. Look for pics when im done!

Thanks again

[PARAD0X]

i was lucky, i got my hatch for 79.50, but it was about 2 hours away. worth the trip in my opinion

[Negreac]

Originally posted by hookedup240
its really not useless it helps alot in the rain especially hard rain.

Extra weight....What is it an extra 2 pounds, oh wait I forgot -2lbs of weight off the car makes you a .0000000000001 secs faster in the quater.

It's probably more like 10lbs. and that's approx. 0.01s off your 1/4 :D

[Negreac]

BTW where are you guys finding these hatches so cheap. The cheapest ones I've seen are like $140. Maybe it's just because it's MI.

[transient]

Try www.car-part.com (http://www.car-part.com). They usually have some really good deals on parts. I do most of my junkyard surfing there.

[transient]

Originally posted by Negreac
It's probably more like 10lbs. and that's approx. 0.01s off your 1/4 :D

Well, I can tell you that it's actually closer to 2 pounds. Those motors really aren't that heavy.

[twitchy]

If you want to save weight and go faster for cheap, heres what I reccommend (went to the drag races in Elliot Lake Ontario and did this)

take off the trunk (hatch)
take off the hood
take out the sunroof glass
take out the seats (unless your talented youll need to keep the drivers seat)
take off the dooes (careful with the wiring)

it was only supposed to be the trunk we took off, but me and the buddies got carried away.. It was really faster, I wish I could keep it like that!

I cant weight to get my spoilerless hatch (get it, weight??)

cause im getting the paint all touched up in 3 weeks, all the little chips and scrapes, re-clearcoating and buffing it. Its going to look MINT and only costing me $300 canadian (thing is some kid backed into my car so HES paying for it hee hee)

Ill put pics up when its done


-->1993 240SX SE, black, leather, sunroof...Mmmmm, leather!

[Negreac]

Another advantage to not having the wiper back there is it isn't as much weight on the shocks. I don't know about the rest of you but during the winters here the gas inside the shocks contracts enough that my shocks barely hold the hatch up. If it's cold enough they won't hold up **** which gets really annoying after the hatch hits you in the head about 5 or 6 times.

[masta]

If your hatch did not have a wiper, would it be hard to wire it up?

[Rennen]

It was hard enough for me that I just said ****it and took the wiper and motor off. If your Fastback did not have the rear wiper, it does not have the rear wiper amp, or the switch gear to run it. Even more importantly you will not have the rear wiper washer. I attempted to run wires from the front wiper amps to the rear wiper motor, but because of all the gibberish that runs through the TCU I could not get the rear wiper to move. anyway, Im not saying it cant be done, but it wasn't worth the effort to me.

this was the thread from my attempt:

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24265

-Matt

[hookedup240]

Originally posted by Negreac
Another advantage to not having the wiper back there is it isn't as much weight on the shocks. I don't know about the rest of you but during the winters here the gas inside the shocks contracts enough that my shocks barely hold the hatch up. If it's cold enough they won't hold up **** which gets really annoying after the hatch hits you in the head about 5 or 6 times.

Hits you in the head?? how can the hatch hit you in the head?
But anyway if your shocks don't work in the winter i think its time to get some new shocks. I have never had any of these problems you speak of. Also the rear wiper and motor weights 2 freaking pounds, that doesn't bother the shocks, I have a 125lb sub box in the back. You are crazy.

[Negreac]

Originally posted by hookedup240
Hits you in the head?? how can the hatch hit you in the head?
But anyway if your shocks don't work in the winter i think its time to get some new shocks. I have never had any of these problems you speak of. Also the rear wiper and motor weights 2 freaking pounds, that doesn't bother the shocks, I have a 125lb sub box in the back. You are crazy.

I'm talking about the gas shocks that hold up the hatch, not the struts that hold up the car.


Oh and it hits you in the head when you put it up then you're looking in the trunk or working on something in the trunk and it falls on your friggin head.