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240z and 280z Air Dams are the Same Dimensions Right?


S30bred

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So I had bought an S30 air dam from Japan this past summer but never got around to mounting them to the car until this past winter. 
I originally got air dam with turn signal cutouts because I was planning on doing front turn signal swap and going for a 240z set, now I'm not so sure. Anyway, upon install I realized that the air dam doesn't come close to the sitting flush against the mounting points near the headlight buckets.

 

At first, I figured it might be because there's extra material on bottom of the mouth of the air dam but I assume that even after cutting it it still wouldn't sit flush on the mounting surface anyway. Additionally it seems as if the vertical faces on the inside of the turn signal cut outs aren't long enough to sit flush with the inner most edge of the mounting surface. Also when you have one side of the air dam seated flush along the fender lip, the other side is pushed away from it, which leads me to believe that the air dam's overall size is too narrow.

 

Am I wrong in assuming that the 240z and late 280z air dams are similar in nature? I'm very close to just purchasing a fiberglass 280z air dam and redoing it in carbon.

 

Apologies for the lack of light in the photos, I was doing this at about 11 at night. 

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There must be a different radius of the top mounting area of the 240 & 280 air dams. I had the same issue, but used the lexan air dam, so it was flexible enough for the fasteners to pull it to the headlight bucket flange. I can definitely see that you would have problems with a more rigid air dam material.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm also converting a 280z to a 240z style front end and I've got a similar issue with a fiberglass air dam that I bought from MSA. It looked to me like somebody trimmed the air dam a bit short but now that I see you're having a similar issue, I wonder if the headlight buckets are different between the early and late S30 cars.

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Every setup I've seen mounts on top (outside) of the headlight bucket & fender.  If you look at the corners of the air damn, the way the mold goes inward would suggest it fits over the top of the sheet metal and not behind.  Have you tried that, as it would seem to work if that was done. 

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I got mine from MSA, and I mounted it behind the headlight buckets and it went together very easily.  The thing is, you have to trim the spots you have marked on the horizontal surface so that it will slide back and in the process allow it to be rotated some.  Once those spots were trimmed, I used a variety of clamps/clecos to assist in mounting it and it probably only took an hour or so.  

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ding ding ding...

 

I mounted mine to the outside of the headlight bucket and not the inside like you have pictured.

 

And, the headlight buckets are all the same early to late.  The only difference you'll find is that some will be composite and some will be steel.

 

edit:  The stock valence pieces have captive nuts, mount behind the headlight bucket, and bolt through the headlight bucket.

Edited by cgsheen
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If it is supposed to be mounted on the front of the headlight buckets, why is there a lip going the wrong way on the airdam that lines up with the bottom edge of the headlight bucket?

 

Having done this recently, I am confident in saying that mounting it in front is wrong and is just the wrong answer to the problem of it not sliding into place.  

 

You can find a bunch of pictures online that show it mounted behind, and to be honest I don't think I have ever seen it mounted in front.   All the ones I have seen have something in common though, the horizontal area is either trimmed or cut away almost completely.

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Sorry, I was being dyslexic - you're correct Namor.  We've done 4 or 5 fiberglass air dams and they've all fit reasonably well.  (they've all taken a little tweaking, but that's working with composites...)  I've editing my post above.

 

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That's my air dam going on Goldie - when she was orange...

Edited by cgsheen
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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry, for getting back so late. Classes this semester are really starting to ramp up. I'm here for break and I want to try to get this figured out.

I have tried it both ways (front and back) and the front looks even worse since the radius of the mounting plate is angled forward.

Can you describe where on the part is trimmed off too much? I assume you mean the mounting plate.

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I mounted my 240 airdam from msa (which is terrible quality by the way) onto my 280 behind the headlights. I had to make the 2 notches as you have marked out in tape to fit down by the horns. The top has just barely enough to have bolts go through them...barely. Also where the turn signals are inset, the msa mold has 1 side thats angled on the back that fits ok, and the other side was square and has a big gap. I tried to send the POS back, but they wanted to charge me a restocking fee plus shipping back would have cost a lot, so I was stuck with it. The guy from there didnt seem to care that he sells an inferior product. I asked if they could put in the description that it is rough and needs a lot of work to make right. If I would have had my expectations properly set going in, then I probably wouldn't have been so disappointed in the ill fitting junk I received.

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