well i was spraying some undercoating around and noticed that the swaybar has a dip in it... i cant remember if its supposed to be like this.

is it bent?

 

thats ok there all like that

 

ok good thanks

 

Wheres your air dam?

 

ya.... about that.. see this traffic light pole jumped in front of me. very sad. nothing i could do. cant find a decent replacment.

 

what does an air dam look like?...i just installed a TDS wonderbar and i didn't see anything that i thought was an air dam...

 

its a plastic flap that hangs off the bottom of the radiator

 

ohh ok, you mean that platic peice that looks ugly and does absolutely nothing...no wonder why i took mine off...

 

That useless piece of plastic creates a low pressure area behind the radiator and keeps your car cool. Without it air has no reason to turn up into the radiator. These cars are "bottom feeders" without the air dam you'll have problems at highway speeds keeping the motor cool.

 

exactly. I fixed the "cooling issues" on so many of these by simply putting it back on its funny. - Did you think GM put it on to be like a curb finder or something??? its called profit, they don't design/install anything you don't need....

 

anyone know where i can get one of those? i cant find a good one from the wreckers. although are the v8 ones different?

 

you know, it's funny, i have a sport coupe and my buddy has a berlinetta...neither of us have the air dam (actually both cars were air-dam-less when we brought them home) and they stay cooler than my gfx car did with the air dam...funny huh? think those slots in the front of the nose are doing anything?

 

The Air dam is not specific to the Engine - it's specific to the nose. There is a left and a right side piece, unlike the 3-piece Z28 design. Be sure to look for one from another 85-86-87 Sports Coupe, LT, or Berlinetta because that is the only style

 

I took my airdam off a couple years ago, I've never had a heat problem...in fact, my car actually seems to run a bit on the cool side...maybe it depends more on the car itself...the only reason for taking it off was to stop it from scraping over bumps or going up a steep road from a flat surface...and also beacuse from a distance it didn't look good in my opinion

 

The air dam can still be found over the counter at GM. Search for part numbers. I think I paid around $30 for mine a couple years ago.

 

There are two different senders used for measuring the coolant temperature. One for the computer and one for the guage.

Hook up at Tech 1 to the ALDL and its common to see two completely different coolant temperatures.

Your 'cool' running engine might no be running so cool. Then again, your overheating engine might not be overheating at all either.

 

How do the funcional properties of the airdam change when a thirdgen is lowered say in the range of 1.5-2.0"? Does anyone know? With less "space" between the ground and the underside, is the airdam still effective? Just wondering how the change in ride high would effect the pressure differential created by the airdam - I'm no areodynamisits This is why I ask - I hope it isn't a stupid question....
-Andrew