Anybody built and air dam like this before?

[lammbn]

I was wondering if anybody has built and air dam that looks like this before? i know the hood ornaments are distracting but try to concentrate.

 

 

 

it's obviously custom built, and yes i know its they guy from arizona Z's car. My main interest is just the method used to build it. i love the quick, clean, no nonsense look of the air dam, minus the flames for me. my two thoughts of how to do it are to build a frame in the right shape out of small, 1" or less, square tubing or angle iron and either:

 

a) stick some thin sheet foam in the frame and fiberglass the front side. possibly the back too. a little more rigid than option "b".

 

TIG weld some thin sheet metal to the front and go from there. possibly a little lighter than option "a" if thin enough metal was used but might be more prone to flex while driving without heavy supports.

 

Also, three things that i would change for my car;

1. i would round the bottom corners that sit right in front of the wheels.
   
2. i would make the front opening a little larger by dropping the bottom inside edge a bit, this would be to better allow for ducting into the radiator
   
3. if i did decide to keep the two round holes in the corners i would probably make them into functional brake ducts instead of lights.

[Daeron]

That opening in the front is MORE than adequate to allow airflow into the radiator.

 

I would try to find an airdam that someone had that was buggered up and fugly, maybe cracked fiberglass or something, and then rivet some sheetmetal onto that, and pop a mold off for making a fiberglass airdam. That seems about the most viable method IMHO, but it IS alot of work... It seems to me that altering your standard MSA airdam would be the easiest way to go, one way or another.

 

My dad has a one-piece fiberglass front end that he salvaged, repaired, and bonded a glass airdam onto. He then basically "flattened" the front of it much like that, but I cannot visualize how much contour was left. I will ask him about it tomorrow.

[Wedge]

What air dam ?

[lammbn]

What air dam ?

 

 

Thats the point. i want it all blended into the body so that it looks like one piece thats supposed to be there. i will also be shaving the headlight buckets in to match what his looks like.

 

as far as modifying an old air dam that has been damaged or otherwise no longer needed i think that will cost more than what i was planning and may end up being slightly more difficult and less rigid.

 

if i were to fiberglass it i would just do a quick and dirty one-off by directly glassing the frame, probably made out of aluminum angle, with light-weight smooth cloth until i had about a 4oz equivilent weight of glass on it. then apply a VERY thin layer of bondo and smooth out by hand with a sanding block. no need to waste a lot of money making a mold that i will only use once because your not so unique when everybody has an exact replica of yours. please ignore the irony that i'm tying to roughly copy someone else's...

 

now as far as the opening, i think i like the look of it with larger vertical opening, and i forgot to mention that i will also be using this area to duct for my intake as well. probably about 1/4 of the vertical space, all the way across, will be for the intake. i know ram air has been proven to not be as effective as we are sometimes led to belive but i figure the less my engine has to work to suck air the more efficient it will be.

[g9m3c]

If you end up building one, PLEASE make it look better than that one. That one looks like a piece of chit. I always thought that car looked GREAT, but that's because I've only seen side shots of it. Don't abuse your car like that.

[Daeron]

I GOTTA get my dad to dig up pictures of the grey ghost with his one-piece front end on it. We still have the front end (and hopefully its going on my car one day? HAHA) but it is hanging hood side against the wall, headlights pointing up, on the interior wall of the loft we have that covers the back 1/4 of our "shop...."

 

It was (I think) a multi piece fiberglass front end kit with a fiberglass stock-looking valance, and a custom made air dam, both of which had seen better days. My dad takced everything to his car, got some cloth, and pieced it all together into one.

 

I got him to look at these pictures earlier today, and he says his airdam was largely that flat, except it was ducted. MY recollection is that it looked ALOT like this MSA fiberglass air dam:

 

Now, he specified that there was a small lip that wrapped around from the bottom and up into the mild flare of the front fender.. in other words, one complete smooth line. *I* seem to recall the slight recession that runs from the ducts to the flattened license plate spot, but I may be wrong. (The "valley" along the center of the "ridge" that is the air dam)

 

Anyhow, it was in the end an AMAZING looking one piece fiberglass front end. The hood was a home-plate shaped (plus cutouts for the inspection lids, the "hood" had little winglets there.. so it actually looked almost like a Space Invader ship pointing in the direction of travel) affair that, when opened, exposed the radiator/crossmember but not much else to the front, and went all the way to the stock cabin-end hood location. The front end was made with essentially a square box going from the back of the air dam to the radiator crossmember, easy to seal. No accommodation for 240 style turn signals was made, even though the car was a 70 240. I think he had little generic amber light modules mounted in the top corners of the totally squared grille opening, and I can't recall any grill on there. The front "tip" of the air dam matched the front "tip" that would have been hoodline, but the entire nose was shortened and blunted a *tiiiiny* bit.

 

Sound interesting?????

[lammbn]

I think I understand. and yes that is the general look i'm going for. just a simple air dam that follows the hoodline to the point, but tucked back a little bit to allow the slant of the stock grill. I will be using a custom grill much like the stock one, just filling the whole opening horizontally and vertically with nice straight slats. much like this.

 

 

I do plan on adding a few more curves to it to help accent it all better, definitly not anywhere as boxy as his. these cars have beautiful curves, no need to ruin that look by adding straight hard lines everywhere. but i am a big fan of the straight up and down style without any useless lips or molding. just follows my style of super clean. engine bay, interior, everything, no clutter.

 

but i'm still not convinced that it will be easier to modify an existing dam and still get exactly whats in my head to come out. with an air dam i would have to stiffen it, work harder to shave it into the body under the headlight scoops, and i think it would end up being slightly heavier.

 

here are a few more pictures that are some insperation for this in one way or another.

 

 

[Daeron]

I just re read my post, and realized that I didn't convey the overall FLATNESS of the air dam, and the fact that it was largely one smooth plane from the upper corner of the "jawbone" through to the bottom, where it edged out slightly. In other words, take the MSA air dam I pictured, and cut the thing off say, right down flush below the turn signal. Then do that with my dad's.. and you see my dads is MUCH more of a flat line in cross section, nowhere near as much of the "zig-zagging" (from fore to aft) you would see in the MSA piece.

 

Also, it sounded MUCH more "thrown together" than it was in the end. My dad spent about two years or more while driving the car, then about another year while racing it (before going with the G-nose) constantly massaging it, eliminating any flex cracks or tendency towards flex cracking, shaving weight where it wasn't needed, and squaring look of the thing up. In the end, the concept of boxy doesn't even come close, until you REALLY try to compare it side by side to a stock sheetmetal front end.

 

I always had a custom-made grill like the one you showed in mind, and I think he did too, but it never materialized.

[g9m3c]

 

 

 

Got any more pics of this car?

[lammbn]

...My dad spent about two years or more while driving the car, then about another year while racing it (before going with the G-nose) constantly massaging it, eliminating any flex cracks or tendency towards flex cracking, shaving weight where it wasn't needed, and squaring look of the thing up.

 

This is exactly what i'm trying to avoid by starting with an all metal frame. No flexing of the piece and no hours on end trying to fix it after every drive. That has been my worry of using an existing air dam as a base from the start. even with a plate sealing off the bottom of the air dam like i plan i don't think that it would stop flexing enough to not ruin the fiberglass or paint, even with flex addatives to each.

 

Sorry no more pictures of that car. just saw the grill and it was exactly what i had in mind for mine and saved the one picture that showed the grill.

[Daeron]

This is exactly what i'm trying to avoid by starting with an all metal frame. No flexing of the piece and no hours on end trying to fix it after every drive. That has been my worry of using an existing air dam as a base from the start. even with a plate sealing off the bottom of the air dam like i plan i don't think that it would stop flexing enough to not ruin the fiberglass or paint, even with flex addatives to each.

 

Sorry no more pictures of that car. just saw the grill and it was exactly what i had in mind for mine and saved the one picture that showed the grill.

 

My old man was taking a front valance, an air dam, two headlight buckets, two fenders, a hood, and a wiper cowl and molding them into one single piece front end.

 

that is A MILLION times more complex than what you are proposing, and involves warpping a shell around the entire stressed front unibody of the car.

 

I don't see how you plan on getting curves right without using a mold of some sort, but whatever, it's your ballgame. By "mold" I don't mean necessarily anything necessarily re-useable, professional, beyond your expertise, or otherwise unecessarily difficult... just something that you can easily shape, and then lay your glass down into.

 

If you just start with a couple of kinks in an aluminum frame, you are going to be spending HOURS building up the curves, sanding them down to try to make it look right, and you will probably wind up with a fairly heavy piece in the end. If you take someones junky fiberglass air dam and wrap a single thin sheet of cloth around the leading face of it to flatten the front, you take an already stable and sturdy piece and just give it a new fascia.

[Tony D]

Actually, what looks so obvious from the photo is not!

That air dam was built and the car owned by Spanky's Auto Body in Phoenix. Not Az Z-Car, Dave supplied some mechanical pieces, but the body and construction was all done at Spanky's.

He does have a connection with AZ Z Car, but they (Spanky's) are an autobody shop, and the pair of brothers that own/work there specialize in Datsun work, wrenching on them since the 70's... and great guys both!

 

Give Spanky's Auto Body a call down in Phoenix (or maybe on some of the other forums they frequent...I think they have some input on the Four Barrel on an L thread) and they can set you straight on what gives with ther setup.

 

As I recall, from talking to the constructor/owner at one of the local Z-Car meetings some time ago, he used a prefab sheet of some sort to cut fab time and give incredible rigidity without needing a support frame behind it, then blended it to the body using conventional techniques after initial bonding.

 

Why ask everyone else when you can get the information straight from the horse's mouth?

 

http://www.spankysautobody.com/gallery/index.php?cat=2

 

That linked page states it was made from SMC Sheet Plastic, and gives the reasons why Danny used it over fibreglass...

[JSM]

This is just my opinion, the custom mods look okay, but if you are ever in a minor incident you can flush the work down the drain.

[JonnyRock]

Got any more pics of this car?

 

That's Dave Irwin's 240Z. He fabbed that grill himself. I'm not sure of his name on this board, but over on ClassicZCars.com he goes by "Zs-ondabrain"

 

He also supplies the 240/260/280 electrical upgrades that are now available through MSA. He installed my stereo system for me, as well as his upgrades. Great stuff.

[1 fast z]

I bought out Spankys (Garys, z car side of things anyways) shop. There is no more spankys anymore. Gary is moved to texas, and his brother danny works for the city of mesa. Just to clarify Tony.

[Tony D]

I bought out Spankys (Garys, z car side of things anyways) shop. There is no more spankys anymore. Gary is moved to texas, and his brother danny works for the city of mesa. Just to clarify Tony.

You should update his website to reflect such....

[280Zone]

Gary, is still here in Arizona, however Dan the paint and body side, has moved on.

[Hotrodpez]

Well one way to do it is with foam. When I was building my hovercraft (yes, i built a hovercraft) I decided to do it mainly out of fiberglass to keep weight down. I used urethane foam (sold in 2" thick sheets at Home Depot for insulation) Sandwich the sheets together with adhesive and then use shaping tools of your choice (start with a drywall saw, to a Hot Knife, to a drywall file, to an orbit sander) and shape the foam how you want it to look. Then lay several layers of fiberglass cloth, let it cure, and then carve the foam out (or leave the foam and fiberglass all the way around, if you prefer a solid and more rigid structure, which would work for making brake ducts and grill opening duct)

 

P.S. Anybody notice how short the girl is in the first pic? I'm pretty sure that Z is lowered and it only comes up to her neck!