{"id":584,"date":"2008-05-28T00:07:26","date_gmt":"2008-05-28T00:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.specr53.com\/blog\/?p=584"},"modified":"2025-02-01T21:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T21:49:14","slug":"mini-front-splitter-diy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/diy\/mini-front-splitter-diy\/","title":{"rendered":"MINI Front Splitter DIY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve been thinking about making my own front splitter ever since I read this article in Special Projects Motorsports<\/a>. This got me thinking that a good splitter should be: a). disposable and b). cheap. I then came across this thread<\/a> about building your own splitter for the MINI. So I got the template and set about to make a splitter out of (mostly) found materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how I made it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with this template<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"splitter2\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rough out the splitter out of light-weight plywood or ABS plastic. I used some spare under-layment that I sandwiched together with some waterproof glue. Cost: $3 for the glue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next I covered it in some resin and fiberglass I had from a previous project. Then I sanded it smooth. Cost: $0.00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"splitter3\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the resin was dry, I used some automotive spray paint to paint it black and then cover with clearcoat. Cost: $0.00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since you have to think of the splitter as disposable (and your bumper cover not) I wanted the mount to support the load forces to be applied, but break away under shear force. I made some T-brackets out of spare metal stock and connected the splitter with snow-blower shear-bolts. Cost: $3.50 for the bolts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At this point, the mount was strong enough for highway speeds, but it still had quite a bit of flex. It certainly wouldn’t be good enough for track speeds. I ordered some slick splitter turnbuckles<\/a>, but they won’t be available in time for the track this weekend, so again I headed back to the hardware store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This took some creativity to piece together. I started with a turnbuckle used to support a sagging gate. I replaced one end with an eye bolt. I attached it to another eye bolt attached to the splitter. At the other end of the turnbuckle, I heated and shaped the rod to form two 90-degree angles like a zig-zag and I cut it off about 6 inches from the threaded end. I drilled a hole in the bumper and threaded the zig-zag end like you do a tool hook in a peg-board — if that makes sense. Once I put tension on the turnbuckle, it pulled out the gap under the chin spoiler and would now support my weight when I tried to stand on it. The pair formed the most expensive parts of this whole project. Cost: $27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total Cost: $33.50 (and the better part of a 4-day weekend.) Now that I have the template, I’m going to work up a couple of spares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking about making my own front splitter ever since I read this article in Special Projects Motorsports. This got me thinking that a good splitter should be: a). disposable and b). cheap. I then came across this thread about building your own splitter for the MINI. So I got the template and set … <\/p>\n

Read more “MINI Front Splitter DIY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[30,94,178,254],"class_list":["post-584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diy","category-mini","tag-aero","tag-diy","tag-mini","tag-slider"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4256,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions\/4256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}