I was reading this forum and I noticed 2 things, most people benefit from having the air dam in place and some people have trouble getting enough airflow to cool the radiator. I had an idea that would help scoop air up towards the radiator and is easy to make. As long as the car doesn't sit too low there shouldn't be any problems.

Start with the stock air dam in place. Find some inexpensive pieces of plastic stiff enough to hold their shape, preferrably curved toward one end and straight at the other end. Secure the flat end of the plastic to the air dam so the curved part hangs at about the bottom level of the air dam and the curve faces forward. This looks like it will act as a more efficient air scoop than the flat air dam alone, and will let less air be wasted simply flow under the air dam. I tried an ASCII drawing but it didn't work. Basically you want the curve in the new piece to scoop up air like a snowshovel scoops up snow. Is this clear?

 

Sounds logical but what is plastic stiff ?

 

i did a similiar mod. i took some sheet metal, about .060 thick and about 5" x 30" long. I attached this to my lower air dam and let about 3" hang down lower than the dam did originally. i trimmed it to approx. the same length as the air dam, rounded the lower corners. then i made 4 "L" brackets 1 leg was 2" the other was 6" long. the 2" leg i bolted to the air dam attach bolts and let the 6" leg hang straight down behind the air damin 4 different areas spaced along the length of the dam. then bent the brackets forward evenly till it held the extended air dam at about a 30 degree angle forwards. then to avoid the whole operation from looking like john deere maintenance i bought a can of that rubberized truck bed spray and painted the entire thing front and back. It looks pretty good and my temp gauge deffinately says the extra air made a difference. As for clearance problems, i had never scraped the air dam on anything in 4 years i have had the car. since this mod i have found 1 real steep driveway that it catches on a little but no big deal. as for pictures........sorry guys i dont have a digital camera but it is a simple mod.

 

Well, let me add to that post. Wend. at around 9pm I am on hwy 94 running around 75 mph and the outside temp is 82*F. I look down at my temp gauge and it's on 220*. Now my eng. never runs 220* on the hwy. 190, 200 mabey but never 220*. My eng. is a mild 355 in a 84 Z28. Cooling system is all stock. The next morning I check out the air dam (which nobody ever looks at because you have to bend down) and to my surprise it is slightly bent backwards. I then push the air dam back with very little effort. So I say to myself whet in the hell is happening at 75 mph??? It is intact but bent backwards. So I took a 1" wide by 1/4" thick by 7 3/4" long alum. strap and bent it into an "L" shape. Of course an "L" is 90* but I bent it slightly foward to 115*. I bolted this strap to the top of the air dam. Because of the 115* bend this pushed the air dam foward. I then installed washers between the air dam and the frame at the two outboard screws at each end which kicked the ends of the air dam foward also. Well, I finally got a chance to test my car today but the outside temp was 96*F but to my surprise the engine held steady at 195*. You know, all these bottom feeding Camaro's need is a lot of air pointed in the right direction. I am worried though that I might forget to watch them curbs and steep driveways. Mabey someone could find some of those spring loaded hinges???

Auggie

 

I find it odd that more camaros (or at least I see more post about camaros) have cooling problems then firebirds when 'birds have a worse airflow prob to the rad. than camaros....

 

Ron84TA, Oops, you caught a typo. I meant to say plastic stuff. You do want it to be stiff though. I suggested using plastic instead of metal because I figured it would get bumped even more than the air dam by itself and some nice flexible plastic will not get damaged too easily.



Auggie, I noticed that my air dam has developed a slight backwards angle too from the occasional scrapes. That's what gave me the idea for the scoop. If it's bent backwards it seems that the airflow under the car will want to pull air down from the front of the radiator instead of pushing air up.

 

Well, you know Sciguyjim I think you have hit on something there. I also would like to know the angle of the air dam at hwy speeds. If the air dam is bent way back from the force of air hitting it then like you said this may cause air to be drawn away from the rad. This would not be a good thing. Mabey some of you camcorder buffs could mount a camara down by the air dam and go for a speed run. Then we all would know what is happening to that air dam at speed. "Lets get this done"

Auggie