GRP wings

[james911rs]

Can anyone recommend where i can get a pair of grp front wings from, preferably with the steel headlight bowls. ( Ive given up looking for steel ones for sensible money). Thanks

[haasad]

Try Richard at Clubautosport.

He'll fit steel bowls into GRP wings at very reasonable cost , but you will have to put in some effort to get a really good fit.

You pays your money.......


andy

[james911rs]

yeh you pay your money and get an engine that 2 years later someone says is absolute scrap, and could not believe it ever ran. the pistons are rattling in the bores. Dont get me started on Club Autosport. Ask him why he went to prison!!

[Ian Donkin]

[domtoni]

I was thinking about doing the same some months back and I put a post on a few websites around.

The advise that came back from Wayne at Pelican (read Wayne Dempsey of 101 Projects) was to forget GRP for street cars.

I thought that Carbon fibre was the way to go (save 10% of the vehicle weight by changing wings and doors), but the recommendation from a guy who sells them, was stay away.

Try Mittelmotor in Germany for steel wing prices. Not bad really, that is where I will buy my replacement wings.

Dom

[james911rs]

Do you have a price from mittelmotor, and why were grp wings rejected by Wayne, did he give a reason.

[domtoni]

1. Bottom line with GRP wings life is that they will not survive on a street car. As he is in California, they drive their cars more than we do. I would expect that the quality is race car good enough. That to me means too fragil for street use.

2. Mittelmotor's price for wings are not listed. I saw them a week or so ago, and the prices were something like Euro 750 plus 16% VAT and transport to the UK. Don't quote me on the price. They speak English, so you can call them.

Dom

[Gary71]

They are on the Mittelmotor site, just a bit buried under 911/body/frame/fenders

1,81710A new Fender on the right of ' 65 - ' 68 675,00

1,81710B used Fender on the right of ' 69 - ' 73 387,93

1,81710B new Fender on the right of ' 69 - ' 73 675,00

+vat and shipping.

Plenty of money, but the real thing I guess!

[912uk]

drive over there I did I went to about 5 other porsche places while I was there had a good 4days over there and filled up the estate car and came back loaded with stuff and big smiles...

winter trip on ferry cheap at the mo as well I left at 2pm UK and arrived 9pm at my mates place in Dusseldorff

[domtoni]

Just got back from the gym, and further reasons for not using GRP on street cars:

- doors - no side impact bars and they will probably fall apart after being opened and closed

- wings - probably less vunerable, but I suspect will be difficult to keep looking good for life. Further, they are difficult and costly to fit. You can probably bolt up a steel fender (sorry wing) and if you pay someone, the total installed cost is roughly the same as the GRP installed.

So uch on my take.


Dom

[james911rs]

So what is the quality like on these mitelmotor wings, do they just bolt on. The price is not bad evrybody in the uk quotes me £750 each per wing. Is this because they are buying them from mittelmotor and adding their wedge on. They all say they are genuine porcshe wings though.
James

[Lightweight_911]

With regard to fitting grp or carbon fibre panels to road cars I have to disagree with Wayne's 'blanket' statement.

I have used grp wings, bonnets & engine lids on various early 911's & am currently using grp front wings/bonnet & carbon fibre engine lid on my 911R-inspired car - but, like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.

I've said this before - I have yet to find a UK fabricator/supplier who can match the fit/quality of some of the US composite panel manufacturers.

The panels I'm currently using came from GT Racing & Getty Design & required very minimal preparation prior to painting - indeed the carbon fibre engine lid is superb quality & needed no preparation whatsoever. The surface finish is so good that it could be used without paint...

As for how well they stand up to everyday use - you only have to look at many of the cars featured on Pelican (many of which use grp/carbon fibre panels) - Jack Olsen's 'Black Beauty II' for example makes extensive use of composite panels & is used regularly on the road as well as being caned on the track - & still looks stunning after 2 years or so.

[davidppp]

I agree with Andy.

I have done a fair amount of work with composites, mainly for racing boats, and there is literally nothing on the planet to compare with the stability and strength of carbon-epoxy composite.

But, done well, not cheap..

however, I daresay that for much less than 750 GBP, any decent racing boatbuilder could make perfect carbon-epoxy wings..

Any takers at, say 1000 a pair?

if so, I'll look into it..

Kind regards
David

[Barry]

3rd'ed: I put GRP front wings on the 911: no-one could believe they weren't steel, and they were very sturdy. Took plenty of fitting though....

[veryporky]

Horses for courses I'd say. F'glass wings are great on hot road / race cars but for standard cars steel is best. F'glass wings on a standard car would devalue it. If you want steel perhaps consider good second hand. These are certainly getting harder to find but you should pick up a good pair for £5-700.