FFR Side Louvers improvement and other small tweeks

[skullandbones]

When I first saw the side vents for my roadster, I was a little disappointed. That was several years ago when I first opened the boxes for inventory. When it came time to actually install the vents for the first time, I decided to do something about it. BTW: I did a search but could not find a similar mod done so I hope I am not duplicating someone's prior effort (did not search FFcars). The vent is a flat peice with some slots CNCed in it. Here's what I did.

I spread the vanes of the vents to approximately what I thought they should be. Then I cut out a peice of aluminum 9 x 1.5 inches and bent it lengthwise at 3/4 inches to 90 degrees. I created 4 supports see below. Then I placed the supports against the top and bottom of the vanes, clamped, and riveted them in place. At this point I spread each vane to the edge of the support so their edge and the support edges were even. After doing this the vanes are in perfect position without having to measure. Then I siliconed the back side of each vane top and bottom to the interface of the supports and let them dry.

The end result is a substantially stronger and 3 dimensional peice for very little time and effort. I have seen the Finish Line vents and they are a work of art but I wanted to use what came with the kit as a starting point. If I had not done the improvement, I probably would not have used them. But after installing them, I think they look pretty good. The second main reason for the mod was to make the peice usable through removal and reinstalling for painting and other situations. I installed them per manual instructions with silicone. I have pics of the different steps and vents installed.

After seeing some threads about the quick jacks I did a few tweeks to change the look. In front I just reversed the peices like they were done for the FIAs. I did not like the way they protrude. I think it gives it a cleaner look. I will have to replace the bolts with threaded studs eventually to make it "correct" but that's it for now. In the rear, I could not reverse the jacks but was able to shorten the distance like on the originals (thanks Gumball for your pics). Here I did shorten the bolts and threaded them to simulate the original look. More work than I thought but worth it. I think eventually, I will replace the studs front and back with larger diameters and plates to make the jacks functional (another future mod).