964 Rear Wing Installation

The following is an account of the steps I took to prepare and install the wing as well as reinforce the struts and disable the wing dash warning light.

Wing prep & installation

  
This what the car looked like with the stock pop up wing. No real excitement going on here!

The first step is to remove the old wing assembly. This is pretty straightforward and should only take 30 minutes or so. Remove the wiring harness all the way to the connector in the right side of the engine bay. The result is a great big hole in the rear lid.

The wing as you will receive it will have a gel coat on it that is very shiny. This has to be sanded smooth and the edges where the halves were joined will have to be sanded to take out any high spots.

You will spend more time sanding the wing than you can imagine. It is very critical that you ensure the surface is as smooth as possible and all flaws have been removed because EVERYTHING will show up when it is painted.

You can send the wing to your painters and have them sand it before painting, but this is where the majority of your money will be spent. It is a labor intensive procedure to do the sanding so you can save quit a bit if you choose to do it yourself.

After I took the wing to my painters for the primer coat he gave it back and said OK, now sand it again ! Gezz, what a slave driver. I have a whole new respect for the guys that do the sanding !

I sanded the (now) primered wing for what seemed like days and I have no fingerprints to prove it. An area that needs special attention is anywhere you get pinholes in the finish. You MUST fill them and achieve a smooth finish, as the paint cannot fill holes. It will leave your finish with little holes that appear to be dots. Not the kind of finish you want on your car after all this work.

My primed (for the second time) wing was now ready for a final fit check before going to the painter. Everything lined up perfect and I was off to the shop.

The wing I chose consisted of two parts – the base part with the spoiler and the bridge wing portion. When I got them back from Arrow Glen Body Shop in Ontario, the pieces were a perfect match to the car, buffed out and ready for installation.

I installed the screen that goes on the underside of the grill area and painted the inside satin black so it would not show through the top of the grill.

  
The wing fit into the opening of the C2’s rear lid like a glove. I had originally intended to use a black trim piece between the base of the wing and the lid, but it looked better without it and gave the wing a more integral look.

You will also have to relocate the CARRERA 2 emblem down a couple of inches. I did this by using a piece of dental floss (my favorite is mint) after the emblem has been heated up with a hair dryer. The letters will come right off and you can clean up the area with alcohol, apply new double stick tape to the emblem and reinstall it.

           
This is the completed wing. It gives the car a longer, lower and more aggressive look. It is very distinctive. For under a grand it was a very worthwhile improvement.

Eliminating the Dash Warning Light

The 964 has a warning light that illuminates on the dash to tell you that there is a problem with the wing. When the pop up wing is removed, the car thinks there is a problem because it cannot detect the wing function and gives you an irritating warning light. Here are the steps to take to eliminate this problem.

Note – On 1992 and later models including 993’s there is a plug under the dash on the passenger side that you can just disconnect to disable the light.

On the right side of the engine compartment you will see a connector between the fuel filter and the power steering reservoir. Unhook the connector from the mounting and disconnect it. The part that remains in the car is a female plug. You are going to have to make a jumper wire to connect the #3 & #7 pins in the connector.

As you can see in the picture it is just a small wire to connect the two pins. One pin is female and the other is male. The numbers are marked inside next to the pins.

  
After connecting the two pins, I sealed the connector with RTV and used a plastic cap to keep moisture out. Then I reinstalled the connector half back into the mounting in the engine compartment. Keep the wiring harness to the wing motor assembly in case you ever want to reinstall the pop up wing.

Additional Shock Struts

The increased weight of the new wing will overpower the stock struts, so I made up a dual strut and mounted it on the passenger’s side to add additional lifting capability to the system. I only needed one extra strut to do the job.

   
Using an old strut I had, I made a pin that went through both of the struts and would also attach to the hinge mounting hole. I used a piece of aluminum rod in my junk drawer for the mounting pin.

I installed one strut in the stock position and the other just to the left on the outside portion of the hinge mount. I put a wire tie on just for piece of mind.

The lid now pops right up when the handle is pulled.