The air dam that lives right underneath the radiator, to scoop air off the road and into the radiator...is it supposed to be flat, or angled forward to get a better "scoop"?

 

Either will suffice.

 

Years ago, I made a cheap Air dam and the angled one made it run cooler. It did scoop up more air as opposed to a wall that would shoot the air up.

 

"Either will suffice."

I agree. It's the fan(s) job to move the air through the radiator, the damn is to just displace air up. Unless you have a bigger or built motor, you shouldn't have to worry how much 'scooping' it's going to do.

 

they break off to easy and are practically useless unless you have a built motor, just ditch it, and if you ever do any real mods and it gets hot then put it in

 

Well, I figure the nose clip doesnt let a whole lot of air through it at highway speeds, so the radiator doesnt have a whole lot of fresh air blasting into it and through it, just from sheer pressure alone, not like say...a big pickup with a grille would...so I figure any pressured air flowing into the radiator would be a good thing

Ive never had a problem with the airdam breaking off...but of course, Im careful and try not to hit it on everything

 

WRONG!!!
The air dam is very important. All 4 3rd gens I've had (birds and maros) would overheat on the highway in the summer (85*+ heat) without the dam in place. As I understand it, the dam actually doesn't "force air" in front of the radiator, but rather creates a low pressure point so that air is sucked out from behind the radiator - thus moving air through the radiator.

I've never broken one either - of course I use the truck for 4-wheeling.

Keep the dam, no matter what the engine mods (or lack of).

 

Where does this stuff come from?!? Great way to have someone screw up there car!

 

S'ok, I knew he was wrong anyway....im not about to "ditch it", but I was gonna replace it if it was supposed to be angled forward, cause mine is flat...0 degrees vs say....45.

 

My car didn't have one, and I never noticed, it never overheated or anything.

 

If your talking about the 1982, maybe it didn't. Didn't it have a belt setup with a fan that ran constantly off a pulley?

Flat should be fine. As I understand it, it's the low pressure area that's important, not "scooping" air into the radiator. If you look carefully, you'll notice that no air can even get to the radiator from the dam "scooping" it in there - there's plastic in the way - at least on my 1987, 1990, 1992. The 1985 v6 I had had this "dam" built in to the front clip, same color as the car - not the black add on dam that the v8's had bolted underneath.

 

Yeah, this is the black plastic one bolted right underneath the radiator, i figured it should have been angled forward a bit, and that after time and highway heat...it would flatten out.

 

umm at highway sppeds it will NEVER overheat because of the amount of air moving through it, if you notice your fan usually isnt on at highway speeds. You'll get much hotter driving down a slow 20-30mph road. And btw my car is lowered and i have never had a scoop, (mostly due to clearance issues), and it has NEVER overheated unless you count the time when my fan temp sensor went out. So you guys must not have ever tried to drive without one I guess, please back up your argument before you speak.

 

there was as convorsation abot this once and people did have issues without having that air damn on there

 

Well - every car is different, and they all have their quirks - I've had an 87 bird, 90 maro, and 92 maro - and they would all overheat (not boiling over, but much more than 220*) - even at highway speeds, without the piece in place. But then again, according to many, GM spent time and money putting many pieces on these cars just for looks

 

I'd bet your fans run all the time.

Or maybe you removed the foglights/grille piece there?

Otherwise maybe you should backup your stance on where the air get's to the front of the radiator.

 

Do you have your fog lights removed and are sucking in air through the tubes? That may be it. It is a commonly known fact that no air dam = drivability issues, whether it be overheating, or poor throttle response. It's a problem I see in the forums at least once every two weeks.

 

If your fan is on at highway speed, there is a problem. Atleast with my IROC-Z, if you are going above 30 mph, the computer will not turn the fan on. The low speed that is.

 

My camaro and my firebird had and have open grills on the nose. and when I'm done I won't have the nose clearance to run a dam and if I do I won't be more then lke an inch long.

yeah just droping the 350 on the v6 springs. it may be a crappy ride but it'll look nice.