Weld Wing Mount to Transaxle Bracket

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Major System Category: Transmission
Task: Weld Wing Mount to Transaxle Bracket
Parts: Vraptor Wing Mount
Prerequisite Tasks: 
Additional Costs: $500 parts, $100 welding
Time Requirement: 1 Hour
Date Started: August 15, 2013
Date Completed: August 15, 2013
One of the optional items for the car is a functional wing. The wing advertised on the Factory Five site is the APR-300 67 inch wing made out of carbon fiber. The photos on the parts catalog page indicate the racing wing attaches  to the rear deck of the body shell. While the rear deck is reinforced by the transaxle bracket it is still fiberglass and it is not a direct connection to the frame. I a, mot sold on the idea that the fiber glass body shell can handle the stresses that are generated by a functional wing.

This is the universal wing mount kit from Vraptor. Four of the pieces are welded to the transaxle bracket. The other two pieces are bolted to the welded pieces and extend through the body shell to mount the APR wing.

This is where Vraptor Speedworks comes to play. They sell a universal wing mount that is welded to the transaxle bracket. A competent welding shop can weld these pieces for about $100 - in my case Crystal Welding. A wing mount that translates down force to the frame rather than the body shell. This thing is solid like a rock. This can handle whatever stresses I generated with a LS76/525 engine mated to a 7 speed transaxle on Nitti INVO tires. 

Top view of the modified transaxle bracket,

The transaxle bracket is secured to the chassis using four bolts. One of the things that concerned me was there going to be enough clearance when the transaxle is sitting in the cradle. Once the transaxle arrived, I discovered I had to further modify the transaxle bracket to handle the sleeve where trhe transaxle bolts to the bracket. I'm pretty sure there is no problem with the bolts. It turns out the Porsche 991 transaxle needs 3.5 inch sleeve, and the bracket I have only goes to 3.75 inches.

Bottom view of the modified transaxle bracket.