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Kenny Brown G-Stream Wing Install

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I just order the 68" G-Stream wing from Kenny Brown and am concerned about the strength of the trunk lid to support the added downward pressure. Has anyone installed one of these and if so, what did you do to reinforce the lid?

I am also looking for a used 2010 or newer lid to mount the wing to. I started a thread in the Classified Forum section for this if you know of one.
 
You need to add supports to the lid and KB should be able to help you with what you need. Here's a photo.

ford-mustang-boss-302-17.jpg
 

Sesshomurai

If you document your install and post it to the HOWTO it would sooo awesome! Because I'm getting that wing soon myself. Let us know how it works!
 
5 DOT 0 said:
You need to add supports to the lid and KB should be able to help you with what you need. Here's a photo.

ford-mustang-boss-302-17.jpg

Looking at that trunk lid I would investigate it very well cause from what I see it is not just two bars added they look as if they go through the first layer as should to a bracket/support piece of metal at both ends. I have in the last few years seen alot of nice pushed in trunk lids as these guy's add the wings to cars with no means of supporting them. Remember the wing can put as much as 800 pounds of down force so make damn sure it is setup so that it does not.
 
I would agree with your comment on the pic that there must be an added plate immediately under the wing, and also on the other end of inserted tube. Just adding the tubes would not fully solve the problem. I talked to Rich at Kenny Brown on Friday and he is trying to determine what Kenny has done on his Boss's. I will be sure to take photos of what I end up doing so I can share those.
 
Just an idea since I do this type of work everyday. If you dont want to make it a huge project then have two bars built with ends on them that kinda stick up so when you bolt down the wing you will need a hole through the first under layer of the lid so that the bracket on the end of the bars will go through straight to the mounting bolt of the wing. So the wing bolts would go through these ends of the tubes this will solve one end. You can make a cross brace between the two bars kinda like whats in the rear seat of the LS then you will still have to figure out the bottom end I do not know what is at that end yet.
 
I'm out of town for a few more days, when I get home I'll take a couple pics of what we came up with for bracing under the decklid.

Dave Martis at G-Stream was helpful in providing some pics of other installs for inspiration and they also have some of those under the tech section on their g-stream.com site. Both he and Paul gave strong recommendations to provide something more substantional than what is provided on the 302S. The struts have holes machined in them for utilizing hood pins to secure the decklid in the event you end up going backwards at a high rate of speed....that wing will provide a lot of lift and try to rip the trunk off the car.

I made aluminum plates similar to what is found on the 302S for the decklid. Then we manufactured aluminum plates above the tail lights that we contoured to follow the shape of the sheetmetal. Next, cut some flat plates for under the rear speaker deck inside the trunk, all four pieces are riveted in with large steel rivets. Then we cut 2 pieces of square aluminum tubing to span the trunk opening, welded those to the plates. Next we welded some solid aluminum stock on top of the tubing that we later drilled and taped to accept the hood pins. The final piece was a trip to ACE to get some large rubber stoppers that I drilled and counter sunk the holes so a bolt and washer could sit below the surface. Threaded a couple more holes and the stoppers can be adjusted to make nice contact with the large plates under the decklid.

This may make a lot more sense with some pics, it'll be a couple days before I can post some for you.
 
Clearly I am going to need some pic's to help me better understand the reinforcement several of you are suggesting. Any pic's would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully Kenny Brown will also be of assistance. I checked out G-Stream's Tech page and found the install recommendations. This is also very helpful.

G-Stream raises a good point about the added drag that the wing causes, and thus I am second guessing my decision on the 68" wing versus the 62". I can mostly likely get all the downforce I need with the 62" yet save a bit of drag by not going with 68". Anybody have an opinion on the wing width and what you have tried?
 

Sesshomurai

LS110 said:
Clearly I am going to need some pic's to help me better understand the reinforcement several of you are suggesting. Any pic's would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully Kenny Brown will also be of assistance. I checked out G-Stream's Tech page and found the install recommendations. This is also very helpful.

G-Stream raises a good point about the added drag that the wing causes, and thus I am second guessing my decision on the 68" wing versus the 62". I can mostly likely get all the downforce I need with the 62" yet save a bit of drag by not going with 68". Anybody have an opinion on the wing width and what you have tried?

That decision depends on how fast you expect to go around corners, braking, etc. If you are in the 900+ HP 150+mph range, the bigger grand-am size wing is necessary. Otherwise, it is not. But that's just my rule of thumb. I just ordered a bigger 58" wing by APR and they have full wind tunnel and downforce/mph tables on the wing. Perhaps g-stream has this too as its necessary when deciding.

EDIT: Here's what I'm talking about. http://www.aprperformance.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=183
 
The ARP data is helpful and I am not able to find that on the G-stream. I will need to call them tomorrow and see if they can help me with the decision. Excuse my ignorance, but please explain the 900+ hp reference. I have seen this reference in a couple of threads but am not understanding what that refers to. Most of my track time has been at BIR and there are two turns that I push that speed. One hits about 130 and the other 150 depending if it is the 2.5 mile or 3.2 mile track. I am hoping the wing helps me with my head game to have confidence in these turns. As it is now, it is probably more driver skill than wing that will help me, but regardless, I want the wing!!
 

Sesshomurai

5 DOT 0 said:
gremlinsteve said:
man,
i like that front fender vent system that they offer...but i would lose the boss side stripe.....
Maybe you could make these work.

http://www.trufiber.com/Trufiber_Mustang_NX2_Vented_Fender_p/tf10025-nx2.htm

Those are on my list as well. You don't have to lose the boss stripe, just order a fresh set of stripes and put only the fender stripe on the new fender.
 

Sesshomurai

gremlinsteve said:
ok,
well im wondering now with those fenders weighing in at 7.5 pounds each how heavy is the stock fender?
wonder if there is any weight loss.

steve

Stock fenders are aluminum. My guess is 18-21lbs each.
 
175
0
The stock fenders are steel on my 2010 they seem very light hardly 20 pounds since they are very thin and have no reinforcement.

Here are a couple wing mounts.

supportstructure.png
strutbrace.png

The 302S mount are those black plates and the diagonal bar.

IMG1354-XL.png

The fender vents will allow air to escape from the engine compartment if you leave the inner fender because there is a slot between the steel inner fender and the firewall. Or you can put some holes or slots in the plastic fender liner if you want to vent that.

P1000239.png
 
So I talked with Dave Martis at G-Stream today and he was very helpful. He stated they had done some testing on the Boss and found the 62" wing to be slightly more effective than the 68". Going with the 68" has about a 10% more downward pressure which he felt would be of no value for me. Thus I have changed my order with Kenny Brown to the 62".

We discussed the different installs and he had some good input. He believes with my steel lid that the reinforcement shown in the photo above where there are right and left black plates installed directly under the wing mounts, plus the two added diagonal posts should give me ample strength. The other photos using the hood style pins is required for carbon graphite or fiberglass lids where you truly need to directly tie into the frame. He also recommended that I remove any of the stock rubber gaskets between the lid and body so the steel lid has direct contact with the body. I am going to have to look at that further before I remove all that.

Dave believes the plates that I need to mount under each wing strut is a FR part with a part number. I have Rich at Kenny Brown trying to answer that question and if anyone knows that part number, let me know.
 
Thats some good info glad to hear it wont be all that bad to install. Replacing the rubber mounts with aluminum ones i would still put a slim rubber pad under each one or it may make some anoying noises.
 
My thought exactly on removing the rubber gaskets. I would need to add some hard rubber bumpers to avoid the rattle and also paint damage of metal on metal.
 

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