Beater79TA

Where to start: as the restoration shop doing the paint and body put it, this is the biggest piece of junk they have ever had the chance to work with. And this is coming from someone who has worked with Mecham off and on over the last 20 years and was expecting it to need 5 or 6 hours of cleanup.

If you're considering buying one of the new ones, think long and hard about it and consider finding an original from the 80's over getting the new one. Or just build your own from scratch, it might be easier.

http://mechamperformance.com/d_docs/aerotail.html

The issues:

1. The mounting studs were not spaced correctly to actually go through the holes in the decklid. They were off by almost the width of the stud such that when 1 was lined up the other 3 weren't even close. These had to be cut out and reset to the correct positions.
2. Studs not solidly placed in the stanchions. 2 of the 4 were loose enough to wiggle. Not a lot but enough to question if the nut would tighten on the inside of the lid or would it spin the stud (just a threaded stud with nothing but body adhesive holding it in place) and pull it out.
3. Studs not straight. 2 of the 4 weren't even in the stanchions straight enough to go on even if the spacing side to side and front to rear had been correct.
4. Thin fiberglass with stress cracks requiring the addition of material to solidify the piece so you couldn't see where the 2 pieces joined top to bottom. The wing is extremely light. Apparently this is because the builder used as little material as possible to assemble it.
5. Wavy fiberglass. Somewhat expected out of what is billed as a race product but worse than expected.
6. Chips in the outer pieces over the fenders that had to be filled.
7. Stanchions not tall enough. 10 mm of material had to be added to the rear of the stanchions and 14 to the front to elevate the wing to where it could be mounted to the lid and the hatch closed.

By the time all the repair work is done we'll be almost 20 hours of prep and rebuild into the wing prior to painting it which puts us into the area of just having had one built by the shop from scratch since he knows the dimensions and lines. For all of these issues documented with photographs, Mecham offered $50 in compensation to help cover the cost of repairs. There was no offer of bring it back and he'll replace it. No offer of a refund. Just here's $50 to cover some of the repairs. So buyer beware if you're thinking of ordering one.

Additionally, the level of customer service provided by Mecham Performance is practically non-existent. The performance parts business is something of a holdover from the past for Dennis Mecham (he sells insurance now after selling the dealership) so the phone always goes to voice mail and emails may or may not ever get a response. If you're not in the same timezone as Phoenix, keep in mind most of the returned phone calls I received were after 8 PM Phoenix time. I almost gave up on buying the wing due to the non-response from Mecham for the first week.

In comparison, the previous wing on the car was the Hawks fiberglass GTA wraparound for an 1988 GTA. Much better fiberglass work, it fit the first time, and Hawks almost always answers the phone. If I didn't expect to get some downforce benefit from the Mecham wing out on the track, I'd put the Hawks wing back on. And if the Mecham wing comes apart, the Hawks wing will almost definitely go back on.

Added: The entire hatch was replaced as part of this to fit the car with an earlier decklid that had the correct holes in it for the spoiler.

simo

The Mecham Aero Tail is set up for the 1982 - 1985 small rear spoiler mounting holes.

If your deck lid was set up originally with the wraparound spoiler it's not going to fit.

The mounting holes between the 1982 - 1985 small spoiler and 1986 to 1990 wraparound spoiler are way different in their spacing.

You would need a deck lid with the correct mounting holes.

Beater79TA

I left that out by accident. We acquired a complete hatch from an earlier year so the holes would line up. They were still off by almost 3/8 inch from lining up with the holes in the deck lid.

You are correct though about the wraparound spoiler decklid being completely different. The mounting holes are much closer to the outer edge of the lid and it only uses 1 bolt per side plus mounting tabs on the glass.

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

Pics of yours?
If its so fragile that it has cracks already, seems doubtful it could produce any down force without cracking some more.

Beater79TA

The shop layered on more material to repair the item so hopefully it will survive being used. Repairs to the wing to get it to where it would mount and could be painted took almost 20 hours of shop labor so I expect it will be fine to use it. We'll find out the fun way when we start playing hard with it in 2 weeks.

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

I always liked the look of the mse spoiler and it (for price) should be made well...but I can say very very very few fair priced fiberglass produced parts are ever even close to paint ready out of the box.

From spoilers to body kits to hood and even body's for street bikes...

Always have some work to do before paint, and fittingbid always a pain.

I understand that it should not be a major fix, but expect a minor.
Besides, its on and looks good!
Hopefully it last.

Final note....customer service doesn't exist in most companies anymore and its a shame.

I would of asked for a replacement if it was cracked. Unless its correctly repaired, filler won't repair...it'll crack back threw

Beater79TA

I thought about asking for a replacement but my body guy promised he could fix it faster and cheaper than letting Mecham build another and roll the dice that it would be any better.

We also expected multiple hours of work to clean it up prior to painting. I expect that of all replacement panels and especially expect it from the fiberglass panels. We didn't expect to need another 15 hours of rebuild time to fix it so it would even fit though.

As far as materials used in the repair process, I know it was some kind of epoxy and not body filler to actually repair the wing prior to a thin layer of filler to smooth it prior to sanding for paint. I expect it to hold but I kept the old hatch and spoiler just in case it doesn't.

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

oh well if he was able to use the epoxy then that's good because then it wasn't like cracked all the way through its just stress cracks or cracks in the surface of the fiberglass I was picturing more of a cracked throughissue

so you should be fine I wouldn't worry about it or stress it too much um I did not know that they make each Per order????

I was kind of picture in about a half a dozen sitting on the shelf....
Lol

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

but on a serious note I really like the spoiler a lot....always wanted an MSE TA.

Question, any lining issues with older hatch vers newer body?

Beater79TA

We swapped the 88 hatch for one from a 84 as part of the spoiler install to get one with the correct mounting holes for the wing. Went on without any issues at all except for losing the 3rd brake light. This was really the only way to get the right deck lid and glass without the mounting points for the wraparound wing on it. But the hatch went on with no issues at all.

Wish I could say the wing went on with only minor finishing issues prior to paint....

If you really want one, we reported all the issues so the next one made might be closer to right but I'd still look for a vintage original first.

BlwnSS

fyi , im in upstate ny and an one off a 1982 mecham ta for sale .

kymmee

If its any consolation to you, my 82 MSE was restored in spring of 2012 and my body guy used the original spoiler. He spent many hours on it also, as it was warped and had some stress cracks. He had to built up the mounting area so that the ends of the spoiler would not rub on the top of the rear quarter panel as they all tend to do with time. I dont think he had 20 hours in it, but probably 10 to 12hrs to get it right.

It turned out really well, but added to the cost of the restoration.