Front air dam and full steel body kit

[brianj]

EDIT- figured I would just keep going on this post, instead of adding another.


O.K.- I need opinions on whether this looks good, or if it is just eight hours of my life I will never get back.








The top edge is not secure yet- it needs double sided tape to cosmetically hold it to the bumper cover. It is bolted to the core support and the front fenders- you could take off the bumper cover and it would stay in place.





Obviously, I have plenty of finish welding and grinding to do before I start building the side skirts, and a good hit will do bad, bad things to a steel air dam, but what do you all think of it so far?

[suicidekings]

I think some fog light buckets would look pretty cool in there, or even some air ducts.

[brianj]

thinking about either a set of Marchals recessed into the corners, or functional scoops ducted to the air intakes. Kind of leaning towards the driving lights. I want to get the side skirts done and take a look at the whole car before I add them- the biggest reason I built my own, aside from cost, is because I did not like how "busy" all the aftermarket dams were. The Xenon dam was a little to square, the Saleen copys were to complicated, and the cobras would require a whole change of trim to fit right- and were $1200 for a whole car kit.

[suicidekings]

Or a combination of both?

[TopGear85]

First off..great work! The fact that you built it yourself is awesome, and something I could never do. In terms of how I think it looks....I think you're almost there. I would just mount some Marchals in the factory 84/85/86 location to break up the metal around the current cut-out. If you decide to mount them inside your current cut-out, then I would make some decorative cuts to the metal around the factory 84/85/86 fog light location on either side.

[onetrackrider]

Nice fab work..

[wraithracing]

Nice work and I think the air dam looks good. I also agree with most of the opinions above that you need some type of brake ducts or fog lights to break up the large areas under the headlights.

The biggest concern I would have with the metal air dam is damage to it on the street with curbs, speed bumps, etc. I would recommend being extremely careful not to run into any low obstructions and damage your work.

Good Luck!

Trey

[Quicksilver]

Nice work and I think the air dam looks good. I also agree with most of the opinions above that you need some type of brake ducts or fog lights to break up the large areas under the headlights.

The biggest concern I would have with the metal air dam is damage to it on the street with curbs, speed bumps, etc. I would recommend being extremely careful not to run into any low obstructions and damage your work.

Good Luck!

Trey

I agree with the comments above.

One of the guys here built one out of aluminum but he was primarily using it for road racing and it was removable using zues? fasteners (same as a lift off hood). Similar to your design, he used braces to support it (it withstood 149 mph). But, it was also very low. It sadly ended (and so did the rubber nose) when he forgot about a speed bump.

Perhaps consider putting on the plastic air deflector ('87 to '93) that attaches on the bottom of the nose. If you are too low, it will scrape first and give you a warning before all your hard work takes a beating.

[wman24]

Being made out of metal with all that bracing would scare me in case of impact with a speedbump ect. I would be afraid of a impact force damaging the radiator support or fenders even at a slow speed.

Looks wise I would say its perfect, the body line dropping straight down from the molding reminds me of a asphalt short track car or a salt flat car.

[Mustang-junky]

I like it. I too think it needs something to break up the large areas on either side of the radiator opening. I would also think about using a plastic splitter of some kind. I was actually thinking of adding a splitter like piece to my pace car nose.

Jess

[Chris Wood]

I like it! I do think you need something just below the turn signals.

[brianj]

Made more progress-










I do not know why I cannot get better pictures out of my camera, but they come out too dark or blurry. I took a million pictures, and these are the only decent ones.
I still have to add the 1" reveal around the bottom, but you get the idea.

[brianj]

Got a little more done, and some better pictures.

[JTurbo]

Looks good. You should change your forum name to "metalman"

[Capriman86]

I'm watching, not hating, keep going!

[Chris Wood]

That is freaking awesome! I love it.

[scgreysvt]

Love it. Nice fabrication skills. Keep up the good work

[n20capri]

Nice!

[wraithracing]

Looks Great!

I am waiting to see what you do on the rear bumper cover.

Trey

[PaceFever79]

Good design! Great craftsmanship!
I expect no less from a Samuel Adams drinker!

[twingsrs]

Very impressive metal work. I with Trey and can't wait to see what you do with the rear valance. This looks great!

[brianj]

I have a few ideas, but I need to get the other side skirt done first. Actually, I need to fix a screw-up on the first one I did. I should be done with that first one Friday night, and hopefully the second on Sat. Also, if you look from the first set of pictures to the second, you will see the entire interior somehow fell out of the car. It is amazing how fast this stuff snowballs.

[5.0 notchback]

Nice work, looks good.

[brianj]

Fixing a screw up- I knew better than to try to bend a 52" long straight edge without a sheet metal brake, but I had to try. Unfortunately, it looks truly horrid next to the perfectly straight bottom edge of the door. Also, while I can hammer down and smooth out the sill plate, that will just drive more waves into the skirt, and look worse.






So, I need to get rid of this mess. I cut the whole top of the sheet metal off, plus the 1/2x1/8 brace under it, and welded in a peice of 1'x1/8 in place.






Much better. The edge of the 1" strip is now the edge by the door, and it is perfectly straight. Should need no filler now, which is good on a sill plate.

[brianj]

Had to put it down to turn it around anyway. Got a pic on the ground. Should look good with the B springs I got from Alex.