CruxGNZ Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 I recieved my air dam from MSA yesterday and since it was a beatiful day today, I wanted to install it. Since there was no directions, I just installed it the way I thought it might go on. After I installed it, the air dam looks like it's pointed up wards into the sky. Did I install this thing correctly? There is no room to move the air dam down any further, unless I do some glass work on the back of the air dam to bring the mounting points up further and the front of the air dam down. Here's some pictures: Tell me what you think. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gtplus2 Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 You state that this is an air dam from MSA, and the part number is stated as being 50-1404, In My MSA cat. that spoiler is listed for '74.5-'78 Z's. Isn't Your Z a '73? It would apper to Me that You have the wrong application for Your year of Z... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 20, 2004 Author Share Posted March 20, 2004 This is true. I ordered that air dam, because it doesn't have the cut outs for the turn signal lights. I wanted to eliminate the turn signals on my '73, because I have turn signals inside my headlights. If you look real close at those pictures, the headlights that I have have 3 parts on the inside. The top is the turn signal, the middle is the H4 driving light and the bottom is a H3 fog light. The only difference between the '70-'74 air dam and the '74.5-'78 air dam, is the '74.5-'78 air dam does not have the cut out for the turn signals. Otherwise, mounting points should be the same. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedNeckZ Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Yes, you have it on right. Liked the idea with the lights. Gave your car a whole new look. Keep up the good ideas we need more like this. Car is looking great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 20, 2004 Author Share Posted March 20, 2004 Thanks . So, the air dam is supposed to look like that though? I think it looks goofy, almost like I installed it wrong. When I had just the for bolts attatched near the wheel well and none on the front, the front of the air dam hung down about 1.5" from where it's at now, so the bottom of the air dam was pretty much level with the ground. I kind of liked it that way. *huff* !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 20, 2004 Author Share Posted March 20, 2004 There, now she's got a face lift . It's now fully mounted, bumperless, and new clear headlight covers (solidly mounted this time!). Now on to Ace Hardware to pick up some stainless steel hardware to replace the temporary fasteners holding it place. Hmm, seems I should wipe it down before I leave . Now the looks will match the performance of the Z when I get the GN engine in there . !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dats Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 man that looks great!!! what kind of headlights are those?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 21, 2004 Author Share Posted March 21, 2004 Thanks . The headlights are european aftermarket headlights for a VW Jetta. Had to make an adaptor plate to use these lights while retaining the stock adjuster locations. Here's a couple pictures: !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid240z Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Is there a way of getting more of these light assemblies? How much do they cost? I do agree that the air dam point up, a little, and looks kinda odd. Marcos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dat260 Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 HI Mat, You have PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 21, 2004 Author Share Posted March 21, 2004 Got them from Memo Imports . Man, the price sure did come down on those since I bought them. I think they were almost twice that much. Those bullet style lights for the turn signals SUCK! You can barely see them. I wired up three (the most I could fit in the hole) bright LED's and a resitor and mounted them into the hole. It works fine, but they just aren't bright enough for me. I'm ordering brighter ones off the net. It's been a while, but if I remember right, the lights took like 4-5 months to get. Damn, I still need to send a picture in of the lights mounted in my car, the memo guy wanted it to put up on his web page. About the air dam, it just doesn't look right. Looking at other Z's and looking in the MSA catalog, the front of the air dam should not be that high, and it can not mount lower. I guess I'm going to have to do some glass work to bring it down to where it looks good. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BQR280Z Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 I agree, the air dam doesn't look quite right. The lower edge should be parallel to the ground. So it looks like you get to do what us HybridZ'ers do best - modify. Good luck. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 I agree the dam does not appear to be positioned correctly, but still looks good. The first guestion that came to my mind happened when it was posted that this dam was for the later model Z that used the thicker, heavier bumper. Rationally speaking, I would have thought the extra height (or thickness) of the later bumpers would have required the dam to be dropped further down. But the bumper relief (between the headlight bucket, and lower panel) appears to be thin (to fit the early Z bumper). This makes me wonder, sense it was for the later model z (big bumper), why is this not wider or lower to allow for the bigger, thicker bumpers? It's been a long time since I've messed with the later Z front sheet metal, so pardon my confusion here. Secondly, I like the headlight modification. I've not seen or heard of this particular light, and I like the adapter plate idea. I am surprised the lower bulb (turn signal?) pigtail and socket do not interfer with the mounting bowl behind the headlight. Did you have to remove some material on the "bowl" to get this to work. Any pics of the back side of the light (removed from the car) would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 21, 2004 Author Share Posted March 21, 2004 Well, here's the fix for my problem. In the picture below, right near my hand you can see the very top of the air dam through the mounting hole. You can also see how close to the top of the air dam I had drilled. This is why I couldn't move it down. This picture below shows the air dam relaxed and just hanging there, right were I want it also. The air dam was tweaked quite a bit just to get it to mount in the holes in the headlight scoupes, so now I feel much better that there will be no stress on the air dam. This picture below shows exactly what I'm doing. As for the back of the headlight, I took out way to much material than I needed to. I have two almost brand new buckets that I'm going to swap my old ones with. I didn't even need to cut the back at all. Shown below in red are the area's that I cut. The top did not need to be cut and the bottom just needed some lovin' from a ball peen hammer. I wasn't to concerned about the light being weather proof from the inside of the wheel well, because the light itself is already sealed. I'm just swapping out the old cut up ones to clean up the area inside the wheel well. Man, I love having a digital camera! It's so much more fun being able to explain through pictures 8) I made all the pictures as small as possible, but still showing details for the "dial up" guys. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Man.. must be nice to still HAVE those pots behind the headlights.. Mine have gone back to nature. Seriously, there was NOTHING left of the drivers side, and the passenger side was useless (rusted thin, full of holes) I ended up using some pots from an old truck to put my lights back it. I like the lights man, and as for the air dam, I know what you are goping through. Mine is all messed up too, plus I'v got lots of rust on the headlight buckets and nothing is stright anymore. Just have to twist/flex/kick it a bit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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