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New Airdam Design


Dave-O
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I happened upon a pretty badly splintered AIT-Racing "M4" front bumper off a buddy's drift S14 last season, and didn't think much of what I was going to do with it until just last night. I got to looking at my Starion, with it's missing airdam, and the ziptied remains of the battle-version bumper, and thoughts turned to actions.

 

http://www.aitracing.com/shop/index.php?ma...roducts_id=1242

 

^ That's the bumper in question, direct from their site.

 

I busted out the sawzall and went to town, slicing, dicing, and julienning until I got a rough idea of what I'm doing. From my initial fitment, the bumper is roughly the same depth as the nose of the Starion, and has an appealing curve to the bottom that [i think] accents the Starion's nose nicely. The bumper is about 2-1/2" too wide as it sits, but that's easy modification.

 

Once I get something mocked up, I plan on taking it to the fiberglass shop across from my shop and see if they will build a mold and produce some of these airdams to fit beneath the OEM bumper cover. I also want to try having a one-piece bumper-and-airdam deal mocked up, depending on how the airdam-only piece works out.

 

I'll have pictures up in a few minutes, going back to the shop right now with my camera.

 

 

- edit -

 

After looking more closely, the bumper is in fact the "M4 Style" bumper from AIT, not the aforementioned "D1 Style".

Edited by Dave-O
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Okay, just got back.

 

Apologies for the messy pictures, this was a bit of a rushed attempt. I can see this in my head so much clearer than the pictures allow. :D

 

Initial fitment, thanks to storage containers and empty Mountain Dew cans:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6448/10105188044708.jpg

 

Passenger-side airdam-to-bumper clearance. This can be easily cleaned-up:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4972/10105208107728.jpg

 

Drivers-side airdam-to-bumper [as if it's different from the pass. side ...]:

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/6029/10105228158340.jpg

 

And a crude mock-up suspended by water bottles and zipties:

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/4268/10105268213781.jpg

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8915/10105278281340.jpg

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1083/10105288305604.jpg

 

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4717/10105308358617.jpg

 

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2746/10105318381795.jpg

 

Again, very VERY crude. Hopefully I can get a bit of progress done on this in the very near future.

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That should look nice on the flat pavement but just think about how low that will be. I ran a custom air dam that wasn't quite that low and eventually got tired of fixing it constantly
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It will be pretty darned low, you're right. I do plan on cutting more material off the top [as it is now, the bumper was cut where the solid support would be on an S14]. That will help me more easily smooth it into the car.
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I'll figure something out with the roundness. I figure I can get away with some hard-edges and creases in the sides, to allow molding it to the car's nose as well as make it look like it belongs there.
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^ That's the kind of input I like to see.

 

Yeah ... about that fender ... a Corolla on jackstands decided one day that it wanted to pick a fight with my fender, so it slid off the stands and into my car.

 

... I wasn't happy. I did manage to find a straight replacement fender off an '86 Plymouth, even red like my car, with the added touch of an aftermarket TSi vinyl.

 

No, the car does not run as of yet, it's a gasket kit, bearing kit, headstuds, and reassembly from turning over, and a clutch away from actually driving.

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