Im trying to find a picture of a stock air dam installed that is in like new condition. I have a 85 TA and I dont think the air dam is very good.
I did a search and all i found was a couple pics of homemade ones. I need a picture of a stocker to compare to what I have.
I know somebody has to have one. I dont have a picture of mine to post. My camera crapped out on me. Im gonna get one of those disposable cameras and take some pictures tomorrow. I will post them after I get them developed and scanned or on a disc.

Thx guys,
Wesdog

 

Don;t have a pic, but the airdam needs to be stiff. These things have a tendancey to get flimsy due to numerous bumps and scrapes. If you can get down there and bend the airdamn back fairly easily, you should think about replacing it. Thes things can get pricey, but can eaily be mad with thin gauge still or some thinck abs plastic and a heat gun.

 

Here's one of my old one, this was taken befor I ripped it off on a dip, and it was in pretty awesome shape at that time. I don't have a pic of just the air dam, but you can see it pretty good in this picture. If you need one, there is a guy on eBay that sells them, 3 at a time, for the updated 3 piece kit from GM. Trust me it's much better than the one piece style that originally came on our cars. I only paid 32 bucks for mine (the 3-piece kit), and it works better, and id much stiffer than the old one.

 

Three piece huh? I'll have to check that out.

 

Going by your user name, I would assume that you have a Camaro, so you would only be able to use the center section from that kit. Of course I could be wrong on that. It would be interesting to see a Camaro with the wrap around air deflector. At any rate, Classic gets like $55 for the center part, so $32 (actually I've seen that auction go for between $28 all the way to $42) is a bargain even if you can only use the center part.

Here is the link: Deflector Kit (83-90). It says 83-90, but I know for a fact that it will work on 82-90 cars. The difference is 82 didn't have the option for the fog-light ground effects, but that became available in late 83 on special edition T/A's. From the day I payed, until it was at my door was like 2 or 3 days.

 

Sweet, I'll have to keep an eye out for one of those. Seem very functional. If I like it, I'll "fab" some just like it so I have replacements when I scrap the mess out of that one. Thanks for the info

 

Close as I can get:

<img src=http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/pix/post/arc/airdam-define.gif>

 

Hmm, the big one with the arrow that says "Most Important One"...yeah, I think I took that one out months ago. Time to shove it back in.

 

Thx guys I dont have one of those. The only piece I have is the one in the lower left of MikeinAZ's picture but It is installed where the lip on the bottom is behind the radiator I guess it is supposed to be that way to keep air from getting inbetween the radiator and engine from the bottom of the car. I dont have any of the other pieces. I was thinking about using plastick landscaping edging untill I can get a replacement. The edging is pretty stiff but will give if bumped on speedbump or something.
I appreciate everything,

Wesdog

 

Hmm, if you're talking about the stuff you buy in rolls at Home Depot, It probably won;t do much good. Youd be better off, using a sheet of abs plastic or thin gauge sheet meta. If you have a vice, you can do it in a few minutes. Cut a piece of plastic about 3 feet by 6 inches. Get some two 2x4's about 3 feet long. Heat the plastic in the oven until its maleable, quickly stick it in the vice between the 2x4's and bend to make about a 1 inch lip. This will give yo a good surface to screw the piece into the mouting holes on the car. You can do the same with the metal, but the heating up part is not needed.

It may cost a few bucks more than the landscaping plastic, but I honestly don;t know if the landscape plastic will hold up to the air pressure at high speeds. Just my 2 cents.

 

I finally have a picture of what is on my car. From what I have seen this is just one of the components of an air dam. Tell me what you think. Maybe someone has an idea of what I can do to fix my problem of heat at higher speeds (when the airdam would come into play).

 

Wow, yeah, you need to order you an air dam...

 

Im gonna get an air dam Is This What I Need? I hope that will work because Im tired of having to take back roads and going under 40mph so I dont overheat. Thx for all the help guys.

WesDog

 

That is definetly one of the pieces you need. It looks like you could use a few other parts under there, after you get that deflector kit, go to a junkyard and try to see what all else there is under there. Unless someone on here with a Camaro has a pic of what all is supposed to be there. Mine won't do you any good, since the Firebirds are done a bit different under there.

 

Its a Trans am not a camaro It is 85 Trans AM lol sorry thought I said that before

 

I forget what its called, but there is a guy on EBAY that sells an upgraded 3 piece air dam that is actaully more functional than the stock one for a lower cost. Check ebay for it and I'll look and see what I can find as well.

 

Yeah I found it and Im gonna order it tonight. Hope it works good. His feedback is all positive so it looks good.

 

Good deal. There was a thread about a week or two ago and a few of the people had used that air dam and said it worked very well. Best of luck. Oh, if youa re having cooling problems, you need to check out the rest of your system too. Have you already done that?

 

Rest of the system is new including the motor. nice 3 row copper/brass radiator. New Stat, hoses pump everything except heater core and its only overheating when I get up to highway speed because the air isnt getting up to the radiator from under the car. So that is the only cooling problem I have.
Thx for all the input guys hope to get airdam soon.

 

Finally got it ordered today. 39.50 with shipping/insurance. Really nice guy. Called him told him what I needed he asked what year it was for I told him he said 32.00 then asked my zip code and told me 7.50 for shipping then I gave him my credit card info and he said it will be here soon. Great friendly service. Now its up to UPS.... blah hope it gets here in 3 pieces like its supposed to unlike the cd burner and dvd drive I bought that got shaken so bad that internal parts of the drive came out and were loose in the box. needless to say the drives did not work and were replaced and shipped Fed-Ex.
Later,
Wesdog

 

GTA-SPD what other things am I missing under there. I hope not too much. I am going to replace the entire suspension and steering setup as soon as I get the money to do it. It rattles like hell from the tie-rods and stuff and it tracks all over the road at highway speeds kinda looks like im falling asleep and going all over the place is what my wife said after she drove behind me one day. It will honestly change from one lane to another if there is a groove where alot of people change lanes like near a busy cross road and no matter how hard I yank the steering wheel it wont go back straight until its good and ready too.

 

Mine did that too. I repaced everything (I mean everything: springs, tie-rods, ball joints, struts, tie-rod ends, center link, wheel bearings, spindles (of voures those are BellTech), calipers and rotors) in the front suspension and it solved that problem I'll get some good pics of my shrouding and air dam tonite and post em tomorrow. I forgot all about this thread, but I'll help you out as best I can.

 

Here are a few pics of my front shrouding crap. Sorry about the clarity, but my front bumper is only about 4 or 5 inches off the ground, and since I have apparently moved to the surface of the sun , it was too hot to move the truck out of the garage, set up the ramps, and jack it up just for pics. I am installing a starter on Thursday or Friday so I'll be able to take a couple more then if these aren't descriptive enough. Let me know.

 

the othe rside

 

the airdam from the front.

 

Pics are great but did 85 have those. Maybe the owner before me took all of that off. I should have the air deflector soon do I need all of the other plastic. Its probably gonna be hard to find. There is a guy around here that runs a place called Kelly's Camaro's Im gonna go take a look at what he has and maybe get some parts soon. It is like an hour away but that is no big deal. If you think I need the shrouding maybe you have an Idea where to get it.

Where the shrouding attaches to the front bumper I dont have any holes where it would have mounted so it may have never had any of that plastic shrouding on it. Im starting school next week (havent been in 10 years) and Im going to be limited on funds/time for a while. Im hoping to get This front end rebuild kit. Do you think these are good or should I go with something like this one here I just want to get this car in good enough shape to drive it 20 minutes to school on the interstate 5 days a week. It aint going on the freeway tracking around the way it is (hello mr. 18 wheeler). I hope the air deflector gets it cool at highway speeds. That is #1 right now.
Thx for all the help
WesDog

 

I'd go with the Moog kit, but then again if you are just looking to get the car driveable, save that 150.00 and get the first one. Moog makes suspension parts (that's why they use them on Winston Cup cars) but you do have to pay for it. As for if your car had that shroud, I can't be sure. All I know is that my 87 GTA (350 TPI) my 89 Formula (350 TPI), my brothers 87 IROC (305 TPI originally) and a 90 T/A (305 TBI) I looked at a couple months ago all had that piece. All of those cars are newer that 85, but as far as I know, 85-90 (and maybe 91 & 92 as well) all are supposed to be shrouded like that to get the air through the radiator since there are no openings at all in the front bumper cover. The other thing that all of the above cars share is electric fans. See if the air dams sloves your problem, and if it does then you should be ok. Good luck

 

Did the Camaros have a version of that big rolled "most important" air deflector? There's a couple of plastic bits in my car that are pretty much flapping in the wind where something used to bolt up to.

 

I don't really know what Camaros had. The only F-bodies I have ever personally owned are Firebirds, and I've had 4 or 5 of them. My brother is the Camaro nut. I can look at his 87 and see, but I won't see him until this weekend sometime. I know that my 82 T/A did NOT have that piece, and the only firebirds I've seen it on were electric fan equipped ones. That's not to say that they aren't supposed to have it, just what I've seen.