hey guys, so I've replaced everything cooling related and decided to look at the air dam when I discovered that the PO used wood screws to screw on an air dam that doesn't seem to be the right one for my car. My question is did he screw it onto the old one or does the part that it's screwed onto connect the air dam to the rad support?



Notice the wood screws going through that top piece holding the air dam on





wood screws





a back shot of it

 

Btw it's an 86 trans am 305tpi, did this car originally come with a 3 piece air dam?

 

i used to have an air dam under my car made out of lawn edging held to the car with self tapping screws... it worked for it's intended purpose of keeping air from getting under the car, but i took it off because it made jacking the front of the car off the ground a pain in the ***.. i don't think it either helped or hurt the cooling on my car, since i made an airbox to feed the radiator from the grille out of coroplast, but i guess it might have helped a little by helping to create a low pressure area in the engine compartment...

sorry if none of this was helpful to you in any way...

 

86 used a one pc.air deflector like this http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/de...wer-deflector/
But you also need this http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/de...air-deflector/ to attach it to

 

My 89 has the exact same style air dam as the one Tyler shows in his opening post . Looks like someone parked too close to a parking space's bumpstop and broke it ?


Sheet rock screws .... The mark of a real sheet head . Good thing Tyler saved the car from whomever it was that needs their screwdriver privileges revoked !

Mantaguy's suggestion is great , maybe Hawks or someone like that might have an unbroken used one for sale ?

 

Thanks so much for the links, I'll have to search around online and order. I appreciate it

 

Lol I've had to undo many of his sheet metal screw antics, my favorite so far was self tapping screws going straight through the ground effects to keep them attached😂

 

Don't sweat it I like hearing stories like that lol, the air dam on my car currently makes jacking up the front a real pain in the ***. I can't wait to get a new one on there, I'm sure it'll still be in the way but as long as it's cooling my car properly then that's all I care about

 

Yea Man , it really is wild the things you find when "not mechanically minded" folks attempt to repair something . I spent a lifetime as a mechanic and I can tell you for fact the damage people do to machines during attempted repairs are often worse than the thing that was broken in the first place . In a way , you got lucky , he could have run one of them screws through the bottom of the radiator , which I have seen done . Another is the mistake of mounting an Amp in the trunk and poking the gas tank with the screws , seen that one a couple of times too .

 

So does this seem correct
http://m.ebay.com/itm/85-89-Firebird-Formula-lower-air-deflectors-dam-splash-shield-set-of-3-/201375188106?nav=SEARCH

 

I can believe people would do something stupid like that, anything protruding the gas tank is always a terrible idea. Luckily the previous owner still had the original bolts that connect to the radiator support otherwise I think I would of had a shower of coolant coming out when I bought the car. She has a new radiator in her now so all is well

 

I'm fairly sure that GM superseded the one piece wrap around airdam with a 3pc assembly.
http://www.classicindustries.com/pro...rts/g5873.html is the style GM dealers sold as a replacement for 85-90 Trans Ams in recent years. It'd be worth checking with your local GM dealer and see what the computer shows.

 

Those are for the base Firebird/Formula, not Trans Am. The T/A front bumper does not have all those pins on the bottom of the front bumper to allow for those air deflectors to bolt on. At least, my 85 does not.

No, it would not be correct. That's for the base Firebird/Formula. you see those squareish flaps on the side of the "deflector"? Those go exactly where your Trans Am front fender ground effects go. Since the base Firebird/Formula do not use those ground effects, that air deflector fills the gap on those cars.


EDIT:
It looks like I was mistaken. Mantaguy posted pics of his T/A having the single piece spoiler. On the links he listed, Hawk's describes them as being for Firebird. On the 3-piece air dam, it says Firebird or Trans Am. From my search for parts throughout the years I have gotten into the habit of taking these descriptions extremely literally, in that if it simply says Firebird, I'll assume it's talking about the base model/Formula only.

 

Thanks for the clarification, this is gonna be trickier than I thought to find one then. Any ideas on what I should search for the correct one for my car?

 

Wow that makes it easy, not that I don't trust your word but does anyone else have any information on this?

 

I'm not sure how much more help I can be but I'll share the only clue I have. I've been trying to figure what was/wasn't on my 85 T/A as well. I have the single center air dam piece on my car as shown in that link. But, mine also looks just like that one in the link in that it has the same two "lips" on the top left/right corners of the main air dam piece, which gives me a clue that my car may have that same 3-piece air dam assembly originally.

 

Mine is a one piece wrap around, tomorrow I'll stop by the GM dealership in the next town over and see what they offer me. If they offer the one in the classic industries link then I will buy it and see how it attaches to my 86. I just welded my exhaust back together after it cracked at the y pipe and dragged on the road, it'll be a good excuse to take it out and not sound like a farm tractor . Thanks for the help

 

[QUOTE=TecknoMike;5941118]Those are for the base Firebird/Formula, not Trans Am. The T/A front bumper does not have all those pins on the bottom of the front bumper to allow for those air deflectors to bolt on. At least, my 85 does not.
Not sure if your correcting me or agreeing with me,but here are those parts on my All Stock 86 TA 305TPI

 

Well, shoot! Yeah, I was trying to correct you, but I stand corrected! I'm so sorry! lol. I have what appears to be what's left of the 3-piece version on my 85, with only the single center piece (mostly) intact. My side fender GFX are FUBAR'd, with chunks where your single piece would bolt on to are completely gone. What led me to be believe that it wouldn't fit is that I've been trying to locate other pieces that I'm missing, such as parts 55 and 56 in this picture


82-87 sheetmetal front end (from GM firebird 82-92 parts catalog)

I was able to acquire both parts 55 and 56, but I had found no place for part 55 to bolt on to (and also the pic is hard as hell to figure out what is supposed to go where). So I had thought your air dam (parts 46 & 47 in the pic) wouldn't fit the T/A, and I've been super pedantic about searching for parts and trying to verify whether its for just Firebird or T/A. Thank you for the pics from your car! It really is helping me a lot. You wouldn't happen to have anything like parts 55/56 on your car, would you?

 

[QUOTE=mantaguy;5941252]



Thank you very much, gonna have to hunt down those parts, my side ground effects are pretty messed up as well but I'll figure something out to get it to mount correctly

 

Those parts,55 & 56(upper & Lower Radiator Baffles) were used for 1987 and up for the TA's and Formula's(not used in 85-86)and also arrears not used in 91-92 either