I just saw a post on Facebook concerning a curved air deflector ahead of the air dam.




I had an '83 Z28 and presently have an '85 IROC-Z and neither one has this curved piece, only the air dam. but I bought both used. Can anyone shed any light on this? Which years and models had this piece?

 

That's involved with TPI. The idea being, to keep the air going into the air intake which is on top of the radiator clamp, away from the radiator, so it stays cool.

 

That explains it. my Camaros were/are carbed.

 

FWIW, my 1990 Firebird Formula (originally a TBI 305) has this curved plastic piece. Not necessarily a TPI thing, but maybe a Firebird thing?

 

It's a multifaceted issue... Early cars didn't have them. Mid to Late cars did. Some carbed cars may not have them, while TPI cars did. Somewhere in the middle of early/late you've got cars that could be TPI or carbed, in which case it could vary by engine. Later TBI and V6 cars have the baffles because by then it made more sense to make everything uniform, etc.