Rear Spoiler Removal (1 Viewer)

[Greg B]

Last night while messing around with the factory rack, I decided to take off the rear spoiler to see what the holes look like. Since I'm going to remove the rack, I wanted to remove the spoiler too.

The spoiler was easy to remove. On both the right and left sides are a mount that is attached to the rear door and to the spoiler. To remove the spoiler, first remove the four alan head bolts. They can be removed with a 4mm alan wrench. Once you remove these four bolts, the spoiler will lift from the rear door.

At this point, you will see the two mounts that are bolted to the rear door. They are held on with two bolts each. They take a 10mm socket to remove them. That's it, the spoiler is gone. The remaining holes are pretty small. I am going to buy some small flat screws to fill the holes and then I am going to paint them with touch up paint. If this doesn't look good enough, I may have the holes filled and painted by the local body shop.

I have attached two pics, one up-close of the holes (I took the pic standing on the bumper looking down at the holes) and one pic from a few feet away to show the end result. I will add a third pic once I paint the screws.

 

[macneill]

Just be careful of the back end lifting up at high speeds now.

 

[hoser]

Greg, those look like nutserts. If you put a screw in them, water can still get in around the edges. I recommend you use larger rubber washers that cover the nutsert completely. Then put a stainless steel rosette washer over that with an application of silicone sealant between the layers. And finish it off with a stainless steel screw. You can probably paint the hardware though I'm not sure how well it will stick to SS.

Do a search on the 80's board for roof rack, nutsert or rosette and you'll see plenty of info.

 

[mobi-arc]

I'd like to see the finished product.

 

[Greg B]

Just be careful of the back end lifting up at high speeds now.

I think it will be OK after I lower the suspension and add the front lip spoiler.

 

[Greg B]

Greg, those look like nutserts. If you put a screw in them, water can still get in around the edges. I recommend you use larger rubber washers that cover the nutsert completely. Then put a stainless steel rosette washer over that with an application of silicone sealant between the layers. And finish it off with a stainless steel screw. You can probably paint the hardware though I'm not sure how well it will stick to SS.

Do a search on the 80's board for roof rack, nutsert or rosette and you'll see plenty of info.

Hoser,
I'll take a look at the 80's forum, thanks for the advice. If I can't get it to look right, I'm going to have the holes filled and painted at a local body shop that I go to.

Also, where did the picture from you Avatar come from? That's great!

 

[LX_TREME]

I am going to buy some small flat screws to fill the holes and then I am going to paint them with touch up paint. If this doesn't look good enough, I may have the holes filled and painted by the local body shop

Greg, the first one sounds easy and cheap to do it.But think twice when the rain comes after while maybe month or year it will create rust there.
If i were you ill go with the second one, which i rather pay lil extra $$$ and choose which body shop be able to match the paint (reccomend one) and close the holes for good.

 

[hoser]

Also, where did the picture from you Avatar come from? That's great!

The picture is from an Aussie magazine. It's an Icelandic Rescue Cruiser! The story goes like this:
http://www.off-road.com/tlc/readers_rigs/iceland.html

 

[ndcruiser]

Has anybody tried to remove the spoiler with the integrated 3rd taillight? It looks like there's an opening for the light that was just filled by a plastic piece on the upper part of the door when the light was put on the spoiler.

I think the spoiler makes the Cruiser look sequoia-esque.

 

[Carlitos Way]

This may be a dumb question but what is the advantage of removing the spoiler?

 

[ScubaJon]

my advantage was it was broken and looked bad

Oh wait it looked bad even un broken

 

[hankinid]

This may be a dumb question but what is the advantage of removing the spoiler?

If it's the earlier spoiler version without the brake light, I'd say a disadvantage would be a far dirtier rear window if you're driving in dust, rain, and/or snow. The spoiler acts as a wing, sort of, causing a downdraft of air over the window and doors.

Newer spoilers, with or without the brake light, are mounted so the air passes over the top of the spoiler airfoil only. That create a bit of a vacuum up against the rear of the truck and crap and dirt accumulate quickly.

I just noted the difference between our '01 LX and '13 Cruiser.

Steve

 

[RyanStl]

I thought maybe I would see a slight gain in gas mileage as anything that causes drag hurts. Two fill ups after removal and I saw no gas mileage gain.

 

[Manhattan]

Still waiting for someone (could end up being me) to fab' some little brackets, use those holes and mount some little LEDs.

 

[taipan]

Labrak makes some brackets that use the old spoiler holes, they might suit your needs!

 

[RyanStl]

Labrak makes some brackets that use the old spoiler holes, they might suit your needs!

Out of stock

 

[bjarnep]

This may be a dumb question but what is the advantage of removing the spoiler?

+1 I am looking to find a way to install a spoiler. My LC was born without, and the roads here in Vietnam are so dirty, so with a little rain the rear viper can hardly remove the dirt. I was hoping a spoiler would help - but most in this group wants to remove it - is that for the looks - wind noise - or?

 

[hankinid]

+1 I am looking to find a way to install a spoiler. My LC was born without, and the roads here in Vietnam are so dirty, so with a little rain the rear viper can hardly remove the dirt. I was hoping a spoiler would help - but most in this group wants to remove it - is that for the looks - wind noise - or?

Read my post #12 above. Pick a spoiler from earlier 100 series...that's the spoiler that has about a 2 inch opening between bottom of spoiler and top of roof...that's what angles air downward over the rear window...not perfect but far better than no spoiler or the newer spoilers that don't have a gap at the rear of the roof.

I have zero wind noise with my '01's spoiler.

Steve

 

[jahawk]

I removed it on my 04. I put the allen head bolts from the spoiler back into the nutserts and used Duplicolor touch up paint.

Looks great, unless you know something should be there you would not notice.

I do cruise long sections of dirt road, and the dust on the rear window increased immensely.

Jim

 

[bjarnep]

Read my post #12 above. Pick a spoiler from earlier 100 series...that's the spoiler that has about a 2 inch opening between bottom of spoiler and top of roof...that's what angles air downward over the rear window...not perfect but far better than no spoiler or the newer spoilers that don't have a gap at the rear of the roof.

I have zero wind noise with my '01's spoiler.

Steve

How is the early type attached to the car? I guess I can find a used one