Background, car is a 87 firebird formula 350 with a 521 BBF in it, C6 3 speed trans with 3000 stall non lockup converter and 3.55 gears in a ford 8.8. shes been getting hot on the highway at 3000 rpms at 60mph mostly the trans and oil temps. So I figured the stock beat up gen 1 air dam wasn't helping much. The rad has been lowered 1.5" roughly and moved to the pass side 3" so it would fit the BBF, which is why it looks so low. Decided to make my own to see if it will help with cooling.

So I spent like 4 hours on sunday making a new and improved air dam. Cost was like 20$, 36" piece of 90* zinc coated steel from Homedepot and a 18x24" piece of .090" lexan. Cut the steel to 33" and moved it all the way to the front of the coolers (was way behind under the radiator) so it should get air right into the coolers for better cooler and thus get into the radiator. Hand bent the steel at more of a forward angle (PITA) to keep it straight and not wavy. Steel is bolted to oil cooler brackets and some aluminum braces that all attach to the rad support via screws. Lexan is screwed to the steel and forms a scoop in a way with side pieces for support and air funneling. all together is slightly shorter (alittle more ground clearance) than the stock setup and its pretty sturdy.

you might ask why lexan and if that catches anything your going to rip it off and your rad support. My answer is, couldnt find a strong enough rubber/plastic to make it out of, and when lexan takes it a hit it flexes and if it flexes too much it just breaks and shatters. So if it does take a hit it will break and then I can just replace one of the pieces which takes 15-30 min to make. Hopefully it shatters and breaks apart without ripping the mount off the support.

 

Great idea. I have thought about doing something along those lines, but have had too many other things keeping me busy.

 

Necessity is the mother of invention.

So how well does it work?

 

Forgot the name of the stuff but its a textured black plastic, we use it for side skirts and front valance on our race cars. But that might work better for you than lexan.

 

it should work surprisingly well. reason being is that the air, once on the air dam, cannot spill off the sides and is directed to the radiators. one thing i would change is to angle that out to either side by 45* to catch an even higher volume of air.

ill probably do something similar. though my fmic setup maybe be somethin odd.. i may make use of my cowl hood as an extractor and the tpi intake points next to the hood hatch as the way to direct air out from behind the fmic.

 

Try making one out of ABS plastic, it's a lot more flexible and won't shatter. It's also weldable... Just a thought. I like your concept, but as you noted the one "flaw" is I don't see it fairing well after an impact on anything.

 

It works well. It has dropped my trans and oil temps but still higher than I want. Trans is now 180-190* and engine temps in the 190-200 range. My issue seems to be the cruising rpm of 3K at 60mph and my trans stall of 3000 that is a nonlockup. It has dropped my trans temps a good 20-30* and my oil about 10-15*.

I plan to solve the problem as I just purchased a used 2004R and a CK performance rebuilt kit with all billet hard parts. So now I will have a overdrive of .67 (lower than the 700r4) and have a lockup converter!!! Woohoo also the 2004R has better first gearing than the 700r4.

ABS would work but I don't have access to it readily. The lexan is easy to get. Shattering is a good thing as it won't damage or rip off the rad support if it catches something. I
Would rather the lexan to just break off vs bending and yanking on the brace.

 

Lawn edging and conveyer belt have proven to make pretty good air dams too.
Most air dam builders tend to stay away from things that break.

 

. . . or stay away from things that break air dams!

 

Sacrilidge! Ford motor in a Firebird.

 

I still think that it shattering and coming apart is better than something that will catch and bend and run the risk of tearing the support off or down. Mine is not as straight down as stock and therefore angles forward so if it does catch something it's more of a forward push on the brace and not just a "bend or brush back". This will
Put more force on the brace than a typical setup.

Copper head said it best, I stay away from speed bumps for the most part or things I know could be an issue. At the moment the car has only seen 500 miles in about 2 summers but after this trans swap it should see a bit more hopefully.

Joe tag, If u saw the motor u would be impressed, true Chevy and
Pontiac purists see the car and the motor and they all say the same thing " damn that's a big motor" second question is always "why a ford" but they all love it. These cars are not the type that the purists like and often get the least attention. Not sure if u ever heard of a guys called "rapid Ron" but he's big in the drag world and car world and he took about an hour to congratulate and commend me for the work and desire to stick this massive motor in the car. If u see it in person the motor will make your SBC look like a toy, even makes BBC look kinda small. Few guys told me that its the biggest motor out there in its size. Either way a 12.2 at 115 with only a 1.8 60' while not spinning above 4000-4500k due to valve float is pretty decent on a mild 521 build that peaks at 5500. The low end tq would break the 295 mt streets loose at the light , and anything after 1/2 throttle in 1st, break the tires loose on the 1-2 shift as well and go sideways. Car is a beast. But it will be less ford after I do this GM 2004R swap this winter.

 

Looks like your temps are where they should be.
Oil temp should be above 200, not below.

 

Think its an awesome idea simply because the lenax is strings enough to take hits from rocks and all but still soft enough to break off hit you ever really hit something....so, don't hit anything, lol....

I think its work the trial and test.

 

I have run this on my trans cooler fan, it works perfectly and is easy to hook up. It looks like you could use a fan or two in there!

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-18900

 

I see that you made your from plexiglass, how flexible is ti? Here's another idea and it only cost me around $9.

 

 

If your handy with some fabrication skills, you wouldn't have to change the lower radiator support but i did anyway to incorperate the vy ss / pontiac gto radiator setup.
It uses the factory gto air dam, which sits just nicely under the front bar, plus being abs plastic, it won't decapitate any living thing that goes under it.

 

 

Its more sturdy that the aluminum you used prob. It really doesn't flex, it bends alittle but then shatters or cracks which is why I used it, doesn't deflect but if something hits it, it will just shatter and not take the whole support with it.

yours looks like aluminum house siding lol.

 

That GTO air damn looks good. Should get some air but it looks like it should sit lower to scoop up more air?

My rad support has been cut off and I welded in a new lower support out of 1" tubing thats 1.5" lower than stock bc I needed to move the rad down and over to the pass side 3" for the ford rad to clear the GM steering box and hood.

 

any lower and it doesn't clear road height, it does sit lower than the standard unit.

 

So the "scoop the air" effect is better than the "create low pressure behind the rad" effect? In looking at how the engineers did it seems they were more concerned with the latter. Just curious and thinking about future intercooling as well...

 

if one was able to 'seal' the engine bay from air underneath and vent it out the hood, cooling would be increased a nice bit.

 

it would still create a low pressure behind it even if it wasn't Straight down. It would create alittle less but would also scoop more air up.


How do you guys vent the under hood air? I think bc my engine bay is sooooo full (and it gets hottt) that venting the under hood air would also help since the fan air needs to escape. If the air can't escape then the fans can't pull air efficiently and would cause heating problems.

I know the TA cars had vents i in the fenders. But the formula cars do not.

 

there are various venders that sell real hood vents. some come with drip pans to control water.

ie:

http://www.phastekperformance.com/20...-hex-vents.htm

http://anvilauto.com/products/camaro...ood-vents.html

 

HAHA $350… and I gotta cut up my hood? nope.

I have a 4" glasstek cowl hood and i don't want to touch that. I would honestly rather hack up the fenders but I don't it mattering to much as the engine bay is mostly closed off anyway.

Any other ideas?

 

except from the bottom but the only way youre getting the air out is through the front 3rd of the hood