Fitting Fluke Motorsport carbon fibre side screens (17/7/06)
Fluke’s side screens/half-doors are designed for the Wide bodied Westfield, but it doesn’t take much to adapt them to fit a narrow bodied car. The first thing I did was remove the lip that wraps around the wheel arch. On wide bodied cars the arch narrows, and the screens are designed to follow the contours of this. But the wheel arch of the narrow bodied car stays the same width, and this means that the screens sit proud in the arches. So the lip that sits on the inside of the wide arch needs to be removed. So I wrapped the screens in newspaper and making tape and marked out what needed to be removed. You can just about see the pencil mark in this picture.
Then I used a diamond tipped cutting wheel on a dremel to
cut away the unwanted flange, and finished the edge with some wet and dry. This
only leaves a little bit of the flange, about half way up the arch, but it’s
enough to rivet the screen on the inside. 
Next you need to shorten the side screen, as the wide-bodied cockpit is quite a bit longer than the narrow. I only took 35mm off the leading edge, as I didn’t want the side screen to look too short, but a lot more could be taken off. I used the dremel again resting against a spirit level to get a straight line. I finished the leading edge off with a file and then wet and dry.
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Finally you
need to remove some of the top lip. I think I took off 7cm. This is to cut
the side screen around the scuttle. After cutting this with the cutting
wheel I used a grinding wheel the get it flat. (You can see where I have cut
on the lighter part of the lower screen – bottom right corner.)
The next step is making sure that you are comfortable with the side screens in, so you need to get the aeroscreen off and tape the screens in position. Once this is done carefully get in the driving seat, and move your hands around the steering wheel to make sure there is enough elbow room. It is also worth checking that you haven’t got the screens too high to step over. (Those of us with narrow bodied cars don’t tend to be too tall!) I found the screens a bit restrictive for gentle right hand turns, but apart from that they were fine. |
Once this is done it is simply a case of fixing the screen to the car. I used black 4mm rivets: one in each lower corner, and one on the inner rear wheel arch flange. I didn’t put a rivet in the front top corner, as the aeroscreen screws in there and that would hold the side screen on.
Once this is done, the whole process needs to be repeated for the other side screen, making sure that it is level with the first one.
I have the Plays Kool carbon aeroscreen, and this curves round the side of the scuttle into the cockpit area. These curves need to be cut off so that the screens can sit under the aeroscreen. Once this is done the aeroscreen can be bolted back on. You’ll need to leave the end bolts on each side, as the side screens will now be covering the holes. Once the other bolts are done up, and you are sure the aeroscreen is in the right position, you can drill through the last hole in the aeroscreen and the side screens. The last bolts for the aeroscreen can then be screwed on.
That’s it! It’s then just a case of taking it out for a spin to experience the difference. I found that I felt much more comfortable without a helmet at much higher speeds, and was delighted with the results. The only down side was that I felt a bit restricted on slight right hand turns. But I’ll get used to that. The screens look great, and make aeroscreened motoring much more pleasant.
