I remember a few requests for this and now that I have completed my project, I would like to offer this tech guide. Every attempt has been made to provide a detailed guide, but, this article assumes no responsibility for errors.
I did my install using the factory spoiler from a 92-94 Eclipse / Talon, and after the purchase the vendor (Mitsubishi Graveyard) also supplied the necessary hardware, which appeared to be as close to factory original as I can determine. I got this off Ebay and was very happy with its condition and the vendors service.
This spoiler will fit all 1G DSMs. The only hardware I was missing was the rear two clips for the bolts that attach from the inside of the hatch. You will see how I came up with a simple but effective solution to this.
Items required for install:
3 pc spoiler from a Talon/Eclipse. Remember if you have a rear wiper, get one with the cut out for it!!
Mitsubishi mounting hardware, plastic clips and brackets.
Plastic inserts from Loews
A plastic cutting board no thicker than ¼ from Wal Mart. (I hear the chuckles already!!)
Kids modeling clay, also from Wal-Mart (approaching uncontrolled laughter yet )
Any type of good quality silicone or gasket maker.
Electric Drill
Center punch
Drill bits; say 1/8 to 3/8 dia.
1 inch metal cutting hole saw is optional
Permanent marker or grease pencil
Painters tape or masking tape.
Plenty of time and patience .took me most of the day to install.
Email me if you would like a copy of factory diagram. I did not add since I ran out of picture space.
Probably the most confusing part of this is which bolt goes where, do I have all the right bolts, brackets, inserts etc.? The shop manual is not real clear, so, if you can remove one from a car in a junkyard, do so and take pics!! I did not have this luxury until after I had collected all the parts.
The second most critical item, is how do I line up the mounting bolts with the mounting clips that are UNDER the spoiler?? This article should give an easy way to do this.
Third, do I really want to drill holes in my car and risk ruining it?? Time and patience, you wont figure this all out in one day!! It much easier to plan it out, then do the install.
1. Lay out all your parts with the diagrams above and make sure you have all of the hardware. Note where the plastic inserts are installed and purchase more than enough to do the job. The metal brackets for the side pieces are just screwed directly into the car.
Check all clips and clearances. I had two types of mounting bolts; one type had a thicker head and was larger in dia, than the other. Therefore I had to see where the thicker head would fit in the spoiler clip area, and match up this to what I had. If you have all the same type/size, this would not be an issue, and after the install, I changed the thicker ones to the thinner smaller ones to aid in fit up by the hatch window. Turns out, the thicker bolt does not belong in the deck lid at all, so disregard the pictures that show the different style bolt. ALL DECK BOLTS SHOULD BE THE SAME TYPE!
2. I was missing the clips that the bolts bolt into. When trying to remove some from another car, they shattered. So I came up with a way to make them. I used one of those little plastic cutting boards that you see at Wal-Mart, and some ¼-20 tee nuts. I did not notice that the cutting board was thicker than what the spoiler clip holder would accept until after I started the installation. You can bend the tabs a little to make the board fit. This will not affect the mounting of the spoiler, as these surfaces lie above the rest of the mounting clips, when mounted on the hatch. If you already have the proper clips, you can skip the next two steps.
3. First measure the inside width of the clip holder. I believe it is 1 3/8 wide. Next cut some strips from the cutting board and test fit. You will want the strips to slide in the holder, so cut them approximately 1/8 smaller than the inside width of the holder. This will help you line up the tee nuts when it comes time to install the bolts. Trim the plastic holder so it is approximately 2 long. This will allow you to move it, without sliding out of the holder.
4. With the strips in the spoiler (easier to hold while drilling), drill a hole to accept the outside dia. of the tee nut threaded end, approximately 3/8 diameter. Remove the strip from the spoiler. Heat the tee nut and then press it into the board using a vice. If you try to install without heating, the plastic strip may crack! Reinstall the strip and tee nut with the head of the tee nut facing the underside of the spoiler. Nothing has to be exact at this stage since you are allowing enough movement to properly line up the bolts with the tee nuts. Basically you are trying to achieve a snug fit, that will be easy to adjust later and not come loose. See below for the finished product.
Next, mock up the spoiler on the car. You will want to remove the antenna and the windshield wiper arm. I started with the center piece. It is about 1/2 or so narrower than the hatch lid, so make sure you get it centered. Line up the window contour to the spoiler at the molding, and line up the curvature of the spoiler to the hatch. Get it as even as you can. Tape it in place in a couple of spots to hold it.
Start setting the side pieces, one at a time. I lined these flush with the edge of the rear fender by the hatch opening. I positioned them as even with the center piece as possible and taped them to the center piece to hold that position. Next I lined them up to the rear window molding as even as possible, and taped them at the narrow front end. I got all three pieces mocked up to get them look as close as possible. They dont have to be perfect, you can adjust some later.
Once I had them set, I took the permanent marker and outlined the edges of each piece. You can outline the whole piece, or just mark reference lines here and there, at corners, etc. Open the hatch and mark the centers for each hole on the side pieces. This will help you set the mounting brackets later.
Next I removed the tape on the center piece, but left it taped to the rear window, so I could rotate it up, rest in on the back window to expose the underside. You want to have all your clips installed on the underside. I placed a clay ball on each of the clips at the full installed position. With the clay in place I rotated the spoiler back onto the car. I lined up my marks on the window molding and other areas to get it close to the position it was in, then I applied pressure to the spoiler to the clay would smash out on the deck lid. If all goes well, when you remove the spoiler, the clay will stay on the lid, and you will have a pattern on where to drill your holes!! The mounting bolt holes did not stick for me but I overcame that later.
Using a center punch I marked the holes right through the clay. You want to center punch at the rear most point of the imprint. This is where the bolt clip will rest when the spoiler is at full forward. Then I removed the clay and drilled some small starter holes about 1/8 dia so that I could keep a good location. I then used a larger bit so I could set my inserts. I could not find my triangle file to make square holes so; I carefully picked the drill sizes, so I could get the insert in as tight as possible. Once in, they fit nice and tight.
I continued with the above process and installed all the rest of the holders in the deck lid. After they were all installed, I attached the spoiler. It will slide from the rear and clip into the holders. I checked my reference lines and it seemed to look good, so I removed it. I recommend using some silicone to seal the inserts.
NOTE: THE PICTURE BELOW SHOWS TWO STYLE OF BOLTS. THE ONES NEAR THE WINDOW ARE WRONG, AND SHOULD NOT BE INSTALLED IN THE DECK LID. ONLY USE THE LOWER PROFILE BOLTS. I CORRECTED THIS LATER.
I was going to mark the last two holes with clay, but using the holders installed and the spoiler itself you can easily measure these, mark, center punch and drill. I drilled them a little oversized and slotted them some front to rear. At this point was not worried about a leak, which is what silicone is for later. I was simply after a good fit, with some adjustment to fine tune, and it worked great. I mounted the center section on the car and opened the hatch so it would not get damaged while installing the side pieces. Once you are done with the center section, the rest goes pretty quick. So quick, I kind of quit taking pictures!!
NOTE: THE PICTURE BELOW SHOWS TWO STYLE OF BOLTS. THE ONES NEAR THE WINDOW ARE WRONG, AND SHOULD NOT BE INSTALLED IN THE DECK LID. ONLY USE THE LOWER PROFILE BOLTS. I CORRECTED THIS LATER.
If you have the spoiler with the rear brake light, you will have to drill a 1 inch dia. hole for the rubber grommet that the wire goes through. Location is not critical, just make sure you clear the deck lid reinforcement brackets and are close to where the wire will plug into the standard connector that is there for the brake light. You will want to get the proper interior plastic cover and remove the old brake light.
The next items you will want to locate and mount are the metal side brackets. Dont worry about aligning the narrow parts of the sides to the rear window molding; you have plenty of play to do this. What you want to worry about is locating the brackets with respect to the marks you place on the car for the side spoiler to bracket mounting holes. In order to properly locate the bracket with respect to the marks on the car, mount the bracket fully to the side pieces before using the clay technique noted above. This way you will have the proper offset from the edge of the fender, by the hatch opening.
When mounting the bracket to the car, use some silicone or gasket maker to seal the screw holes.
Once you have the side brackets mounted, you can attach the side pieces to the brackets, and use the clay technique to mark the position for the forward mounting bolts. It would probably work best to put the clay balls on the spoiler before attaching to the bracket, then position them and squash the clay.
Now you are finally ready to start attaching the spoiler to car. I had some trouble with moving one of the side pieces far enough forward. Dont sweat this; just grind some more length on the slot located in the narrow part of the spoiler, where the clip stud will rest. This will allow the spoiler to move forward to line up.
I also had to slot my under deck bolt holes to allow the center piece to move towards the rear. I used ¼ allen head bolts here, easier to hold them during install. You will need a washer to help bridge the enlarged hole area.
I knew this thing would leak and I also knew I would be fine tuning this install due the bolt head sizes mentioned previously, so I did not seal it up too good. I would suggest using silicone around the inserts before pressing them into the deck lid. A plastic washer under the metal washer and lots of silicone should help seal the under deck bolts. After a trip back to the junk yard to retrieve more of the correct bolts, I grabbed a piece of the rubber gasket stuff that I found under a spoiler. I cut some enlarge peices, siliconed them and installed them between the washers and deck lid. Seems to work OK. My deck lid leaked a little BEFORE the spoiler install, and seems no worse right now.
The main thing I want to communicate here is the clay method to locate the hole patterns. The rest is kind of reference and can be adjusted to suit your needs.
I did not have the proper antenna mount but was able to position the antenna and seal it with a large rubber washer. I will changed this as parts cars become available at the junk yard. I was also able to bend the mounting bracket inside the car to line up with the hole, even though the antenna has been raised to sit on top of the spoiler.
Overall the install went good and I was very pleased with the results. It has been tested up to 110 mph and did not fly off the car!! If you have any questions, email me at [email protected]!
I did my install using the factory spoiler from a 92-94 Eclipse / Talon, and after the purchase the vendor (Mitsubishi Graveyard) also supplied the necessary hardware, which appeared to be as close to factory original as I can determine. I got this off Ebay and was very happy with its condition and the vendors service.
This spoiler will fit all 1G DSMs. The only hardware I was missing was the rear two clips for the bolts that attach from the inside of the hatch. You will see how I came up with a simple but effective solution to this.
Items required for install:
3 pc spoiler from a Talon/Eclipse. Remember if you have a rear wiper, get one with the cut out for it!!
Mitsubishi mounting hardware, plastic clips and brackets.
Plastic inserts from Loews
A plastic cutting board no thicker than ¼ from Wal Mart. (I hear the chuckles already!!)
Kids modeling clay, also from Wal-Mart (approaching uncontrolled laughter yet )
Any type of good quality silicone or gasket maker.
Electric Drill
Center punch
Drill bits; say 1/8 to 3/8 dia.
1 inch metal cutting hole saw is optional
Permanent marker or grease pencil
Painters tape or masking tape.
Plenty of time and patience .took me most of the day to install.
Email me if you would like a copy of factory diagram. I did not add since I ran out of picture space.
Probably the most confusing part of this is which bolt goes where, do I have all the right bolts, brackets, inserts etc.? The shop manual is not real clear, so, if you can remove one from a car in a junkyard, do so and take pics!! I did not have this luxury until after I had collected all the parts.
The second most critical item, is how do I line up the mounting bolts with the mounting clips that are UNDER the spoiler?? This article should give an easy way to do this.
Third, do I really want to drill holes in my car and risk ruining it?? Time and patience, you wont figure this all out in one day!! It much easier to plan it out, then do the install.
1. Lay out all your parts with the diagrams above and make sure you have all of the hardware. Note where the plastic inserts are installed and purchase more than enough to do the job. The metal brackets for the side pieces are just screwed directly into the car.
Check all clips and clearances. I had two types of mounting bolts; one type had a thicker head and was larger in dia, than the other. Therefore I had to see where the thicker head would fit in the spoiler clip area, and match up this to what I had. If you have all the same type/size, this would not be an issue, and after the install, I changed the thicker ones to the thinner smaller ones to aid in fit up by the hatch window. Turns out, the thicker bolt does not belong in the deck lid at all, so disregard the pictures that show the different style bolt. ALL DECK BOLTS SHOULD BE THE SAME TYPE!
2. I was missing the clips that the bolts bolt into. When trying to remove some from another car, they shattered. So I came up with a way to make them. I used one of those little plastic cutting boards that you see at Wal-Mart, and some ¼-20 tee nuts. I did not notice that the cutting board was thicker than what the spoiler clip holder would accept until after I started the installation. You can bend the tabs a little to make the board fit. This will not affect the mounting of the spoiler, as these surfaces lie above the rest of the mounting clips, when mounted on the hatch. If you already have the proper clips, you can skip the next two steps.
3. First measure the inside width of the clip holder. I believe it is 1 3/8 wide. Next cut some strips from the cutting board and test fit. You will want the strips to slide in the holder, so cut them approximately 1/8 smaller than the inside width of the holder. This will help you line up the tee nuts when it comes time to install the bolts. Trim the plastic holder so it is approximately 2 long. This will allow you to move it, without sliding out of the holder.
4. With the strips in the spoiler (easier to hold while drilling), drill a hole to accept the outside dia. of the tee nut threaded end, approximately 3/8 diameter. Remove the strip from the spoiler. Heat the tee nut and then press it into the board using a vice. If you try to install without heating, the plastic strip may crack! Reinstall the strip and tee nut with the head of the tee nut facing the underside of the spoiler. Nothing has to be exact at this stage since you are allowing enough movement to properly line up the bolts with the tee nuts. Basically you are trying to achieve a snug fit, that will be easy to adjust later and not come loose. See below for the finished product.
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Next, mock up the spoiler on the car. You will want to remove the antenna and the windshield wiper arm. I started with the center piece. It is about 1/2 or so narrower than the hatch lid, so make sure you get it centered. Line up the window contour to the spoiler at the molding, and line up the curvature of the spoiler to the hatch. Get it as even as you can. Tape it in place in a couple of spots to hold it.
Start setting the side pieces, one at a time. I lined these flush with the edge of the rear fender by the hatch opening. I positioned them as even with the center piece as possible and taped them to the center piece to hold that position. Next I lined them up to the rear window molding as even as possible, and taped them at the narrow front end. I got all three pieces mocked up to get them look as close as possible. They dont have to be perfect, you can adjust some later.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Once I had them set, I took the permanent marker and outlined the edges of each piece. You can outline the whole piece, or just mark reference lines here and there, at corners, etc. Open the hatch and mark the centers for each hole on the side pieces. This will help you set the mounting brackets later.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Next I removed the tape on the center piece, but left it taped to the rear window, so I could rotate it up, rest in on the back window to expose the underside. You want to have all your clips installed on the underside. I placed a clay ball on each of the clips at the full installed position. With the clay in place I rotated the spoiler back onto the car. I lined up my marks on the window molding and other areas to get it close to the position it was in, then I applied pressure to the spoiler to the clay would smash out on the deck lid. If all goes well, when you remove the spoiler, the clay will stay on the lid, and you will have a pattern on where to drill your holes!! The mounting bolt holes did not stick for me but I overcame that later.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Using a center punch I marked the holes right through the clay. You want to center punch at the rear most point of the imprint. This is where the bolt clip will rest when the spoiler is at full forward. Then I removed the clay and drilled some small starter holes about 1/8 dia so that I could keep a good location. I then used a larger bit so I could set my inserts. I could not find my triangle file to make square holes so; I carefully picked the drill sizes, so I could get the insert in as tight as possible. Once in, they fit nice and tight.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
I continued with the above process and installed all the rest of the holders in the deck lid. After they were all installed, I attached the spoiler. It will slide from the rear and clip into the holders. I checked my reference lines and it seemed to look good, so I removed it. I recommend using some silicone to seal the inserts.
NOTE: THE PICTURE BELOW SHOWS TWO STYLE OF BOLTS. THE ONES NEAR THE WINDOW ARE WRONG, AND SHOULD NOT BE INSTALLED IN THE DECK LID. ONLY USE THE LOWER PROFILE BOLTS. I CORRECTED THIS LATER.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
I was going to mark the last two holes with clay, but using the holders installed and the spoiler itself you can easily measure these, mark, center punch and drill. I drilled them a little oversized and slotted them some front to rear. At this point was not worried about a leak, which is what silicone is for later. I was simply after a good fit, with some adjustment to fine tune, and it worked great. I mounted the center section on the car and opened the hatch so it would not get damaged while installing the side pieces. Once you are done with the center section, the rest goes pretty quick. So quick, I kind of quit taking pictures!!
NOTE: THE PICTURE BELOW SHOWS TWO STYLE OF BOLTS. THE ONES NEAR THE WINDOW ARE WRONG, AND SHOULD NOT BE INSTALLED IN THE DECK LID. ONLY USE THE LOWER PROFILE BOLTS. I CORRECTED THIS LATER.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
If you have the spoiler with the rear brake light, you will have to drill a 1 inch dia. hole for the rubber grommet that the wire goes through. Location is not critical, just make sure you clear the deck lid reinforcement brackets and are close to where the wire will plug into the standard connector that is there for the brake light. You will want to get the proper interior plastic cover and remove the old brake light.
The next items you will want to locate and mount are the metal side brackets. Dont worry about aligning the narrow parts of the sides to the rear window molding; you have plenty of play to do this. What you want to worry about is locating the brackets with respect to the marks you place on the car for the side spoiler to bracket mounting holes. In order to properly locate the bracket with respect to the marks on the car, mount the bracket fully to the side pieces before using the clay technique noted above. This way you will have the proper offset from the edge of the fender, by the hatch opening.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
When mounting the bracket to the car, use some silicone or gasket maker to seal the screw holes.
Once you have the side brackets mounted, you can attach the side pieces to the brackets, and use the clay technique to mark the position for the forward mounting bolts. It would probably work best to put the clay balls on the spoiler before attaching to the bracket, then position them and squash the clay.
Now you are finally ready to start attaching the spoiler to car. I had some trouble with moving one of the side pieces far enough forward. Dont sweat this; just grind some more length on the slot located in the narrow part of the spoiler, where the clip stud will rest. This will allow the spoiler to move forward to line up.
I also had to slot my under deck bolt holes to allow the center piece to move towards the rear. I used ¼ allen head bolts here, easier to hold them during install. You will need a washer to help bridge the enlarged hole area.
I knew this thing would leak and I also knew I would be fine tuning this install due the bolt head sizes mentioned previously, so I did not seal it up too good. I would suggest using silicone around the inserts before pressing them into the deck lid. A plastic washer under the metal washer and lots of silicone should help seal the under deck bolts. After a trip back to the junk yard to retrieve more of the correct bolts, I grabbed a piece of the rubber gasket stuff that I found under a spoiler. I cut some enlarge peices, siliconed them and installed them between the washers and deck lid. Seems to work OK. My deck lid leaked a little BEFORE the spoiler install, and seems no worse right now.
The main thing I want to communicate here is the clay method to locate the hole patterns. The rest is kind of reference and can be adjusted to suit your needs.
I did not have the proper antenna mount but was able to position the antenna and seal it with a large rubber washer. I will changed this as parts cars become available at the junk yard. I was also able to bend the mounting bracket inside the car to line up with the hole, even though the antenna has been raised to sit on top of the spoiler.
Overall the install went good and I was very pleased with the results. It has been tested up to 110 mph and did not fly off the car!! If you have any questions, email me at [email protected]!
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
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