joeyspagz

Hey guys just made a air dam out of diamond plate. The stock one looked like it didn't work good so i made this one. What do you think?

J91

I think that's great until you hit something with it, then you'll realise why they made them to be flexible, nice work though...

Rhett86IROC

Yeah, I agree with J91, Looks awesome tho! Its gonna suck when ya hit something!

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

with the bottom bend it seems as though you are wanting it to force air up. and that is not what it is designed to do. it is designed to create a low pressure area so air will be prominate in the rad area.

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

I think between it being stiff & angled forward, it'll rip off the first time it drags. The angle will make the edge dig in when it drags & with it being so stiff, it'll just rip the mounting bolts out.

joeyspagz

yeah it will probably rip off but i never bottom out my driveway is low and no speed bumps, hope it lasts a while!

Krik

iTrader: (4)

Speed bumps are going to rip you a new one if you dont creep over them slowly.

haroanarchist

It would be pretty awsome on a track car.

blackbmagic

Design is wrong it probably wont work as intended. Bend is too aggressive, it might not promote air to move across radiator. Id like to see if the temps rise at all. Let us know. I think it would look a little better with a less aggressive bend IMHO. Cool

neagan

iTrader: (7)

Two things that I find interesting about this. Firstly; that you mention, Joey, you never scrape your inner air dam. Secondly, I'm interested in 'one92rs' description of, or attempted description of keeping the air in a low pressure area near the radiator.

Joey,- I think it's a fine idea although you must be one of a million that dosn't get any scraping along your factory plastic unit. Yours is the very first item that came up in 'SEARCH'. Mine not only hit's ALL the time, but is warped out of shape, so I was checking to see if anyone had done an aluminum unit that carried a rubber 'scrapper' area down along the bottom two-four inches AND if someone had designed some nice installation brackets to hold the unit in place.

I also was thinking of angling it a bit forward so that it had a bit of an aggresive 'rake' to the shape. However, one92rs just reminded me that there's an engineered purpose to the original plastic part that I'll have to keep in mind. So can the rest of you help me rough in the correct shape a bit better?

Soon I'll be yanking the old engine and installing the new 355 with a super charger and a heavily set up suspension so i can drive high speed road coarses for long distances without overheating. Teach Me! Nitro-Nicky

the solitaire

I feel sorry for the first rabbit you'll encounter with that slicer under the car.

I also made my own air baffle.
As you can see in the first picture it has more surface then the original air baffle.

As you can see in the 2nd picture it reduces the depth of the high pressure intake area, but has more of a rake to it then the stock air baffle.

Due to the baffle being slightly wider and deeper the volume of the low pressure area behind the baffle increases. The rake and added width also does a bit towards moving more air through the radiator.





Testing this summer to me proved 3 things

1) it cools better then the stock article at speeds below 30 mph (about 20-25 mph is the miimum speed to maintain a steady low temperature with this piece installed)

2) it holds up at speeds of up to 130 mph (haven't tested at higher speeds yet because I need a perfectly clear road in case the baffle does snap after all.

3) when I hit something it's slightly flexible. If I hit something hard enough to break something, the baffle breaks, half of it remains (which still provides some cooling, but lots of dirty air under the car) but no vital components get damaged.



Making replacements costs me $5/baffle

I'll stick with this untill I have the time to sort out the complete cooling concept.

This includes getting a front licence plate that doesn't block the front grille insert, a dual fan setup, ceramic coated or white headers, and a working cowl hood.

neagan

iTrader: (7)

I appreciate the posted specifics. My most recent 'speed trip' was across three states. There was a family emergency involved and I pushed it between 120-155 mph on empty back highways as often was possible. I sure wish it would have been in the IROC. If every Japanese product can now perform to those levels, we ought to be able to copy across with enought time and effort (and inhieritance!). Hopefully it happens before they start unplugging all the gaspumps...

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Hopefully whatever the emergency was, eveything is fine now.




Also, I am not an aerodynamics engineer, but a big flat piece of ... flap or whatever you want to call it in that spot, regardless of whether it's angled or whatever, is going to create a low pressure area behind it because it deflects away from there.

92Firebug

great design i love it. i will definitely need to do this soon...can u make a thread on how to make it?

the solitaire

Not quite sure if it warrants an own thread.
Itīs a hackjob/ghetto fix really.

If I do however not like how the stock baffle works once the rest of my cooling setup is in place, I might make a more permanent version of this baffle.

All I did here is:

take a 90 degree angle, and hit it with a hammer untill it has roughly the 110° angle it now has.

Took a sheet of closed cell PVC foamboard (goes under different names in different countries) and cut out a 48" x 6" section, rounded the corners, used a reamer to make the holes in the styrofoam, a bunch of nuts and bolts and washers to screw things together.

In the latest version, due to not having a bigger piece of metal at hand to support the foamboard, I used some metal strips for supports.

T make a fancy version of the same, using the OPīs aluminum piece would be a good start. Cut out all the bits you donīt need, then drill some holes and use bolts, nuts and washers to screw things together.

Maybe I should make a sketch with some measurements for people who want to do this right, rather then my ghetto piece

PS: the baffle I made has about 4" clearance. Canīt go lower because it barely scrapes when backing into my garage. Makes a nasty sound, but at least the pavement in front of my garage is always clean :P