It seems kind of impressive to me that my car even still has an exposed piece of plastic hanging from it's chin. It has had plenty of opportunities to get ripped off, and indeed, it's been mended and screwed back in place a couple of times. Now, after lowering, and with the snowy weather we've been having, I've once again managed to loosen it by striking a couple of good-sized snow clods. It is hanging by it's edges and draped in the middle.
I've been convinced it should just come off for well over a year, but I've been respecting my father's opinion. He believes it's an important element to the cooling system, and that it "reduces turbulence around the radiator, allowing proper ventilation and allowing the electric fans to do their job when necessary". He thinks that anyone who removes theirs is going to suffer overheating. I sort of figured there had to be hundreds of j-body owners on this board running without one, and who could tell me if my father might have accidentally have BSed himself a partial truth.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, April 10, 2007 5:14 AM
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cant see the pic, but if its the piece im thinking of, your father is right. someone on here had removed it and started having cooling issues. that "valence" directs air into your radiator. id stray from removing
Thank Joey. Sorry for the crappy pic -- I had that one handy. Here's a better one I just went and snapped:
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ya man, that will affect your cooling if you remove it. may not cause overheating all the time, but will definately raise the temp
id personally leave it on. or if it really bothers you, go get one from a different cav that only spans the length of the radiator or cut it back a bit. then it wont come out to the bumper where you can see it so muchj
Joey Baggs (Eazy716) wrote:id personally leave it on. or if it really bothers you, go get one from a different cav that only spans the length of the radiator or cut it back a bit. then it wont come out to the bumper where you can see it so muchj
All the 2.2l base models I've seen are identical to any other j-body, they just have those outer pieces, so removing those will achieve what you're trying to explain here.
^^^heh, i didnt even notice that in the picture. i see the rivets or bolts....whatever they are now.
that makes me wonder...my girls old 2.2 never had them. wonder if the previous owner removed them.
That pair of visible "rivets or bolts" in the picture are self-tapping screws added by me to shore it up.
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mine only spans the length of the radiator. i removed the rest of it.
I looked a bit more closely at mine, and it's the span under the radiator that's cracked and detatched. The curved ends are actually holding it in place. I've got some ideas for fixing it, but do you guys think there's any benefit to removing the end pieces on either side of the rad while I'm at it? Did you do that for looks, or did your corner bits break first? It seems like it would be more floppy and vulnerable when not braced from the ends.
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You only need the span of the radiator, My sunfire is that way... then again maybe because its a sunfire? might be worth looking into getting one from a pontiac. You can barely see it now that its lowered.
I'll probably leave it alone, since I think it looks decent. It's could maybe stand to hang down a tad less, but at least it follows the curves of the car somewhat. Just one more shot showing what I need to fix: I figure I can mount a bracket or some other solid piece behind the angled portion, and screw in from the front and top.
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wow i had a 99 cavie and i actualy ripped mine off running over a (POS cars) CF bumper while raceing and could never find the pice that ripped off but i converted to a full bomex kit, was nice for awhile, never had 1 issue with my car overheating or getting majorly hot at all but i thaught about it and since i had a wide mouth on the car that could have pritty much taken place i would not think it would hurt but each car acts differently but unless its killing you to keep it on i wouldnt worry about it
I am missing the important part of mine
I do have issues when city driving where it goes more than it should temp. wise. So I'd suggest leaving it, or making your own.
I am going to make a Ram air style one to replace mine. Its just something else that gets in the way when the cars laid out. I've ripped mine off 3 times already, so I need to fab up a new one.
Probably going to use sheet metal and make what will look like a ram air scoop, upside down, the length of the raidator. It will be about the same level as my LS Lip, so air flow should come in nicely, and not be seen.
...
hmm, i never thought about it for cooling before but i can see how now. i allways thought of it for arowdynamics to keep som of the air from going under the car. it woorks good as a plow in the winter on the lowerd cars to keep the snow clumps and ruts from hitting the oil pan ect. id keep it on and just give it a fresh coat of black paint so it isnt so noticable.
my 2002 sunfire didnt have it like that one. it was only in the middle and it was alot longer then yours. i kept it on hit everything but it stayed on
A very large racoon removed mine early last summer and I had all 3 pieces on my cavy and it ripped the center piece out and busted the outer pieces so I just took it all off. I never noticed a change in temp with it missing.
mine got knocked off early this winter from a heavy snow fall... no problems yet ha
geeky? what about spray painting it?
Lanman31337 -F = fatties = do not want. A little chunk in the junk is ok though.
Colin B. wrote:geeky? what about spray painting it?
Honestly, I wasn't even worried about how it looked. I just wanted to know if I needed to continue preventing it from falling off.
I don't know if I'd bother painting it, since it's riveted in place and would be a hassle to paint properly without jacking the car up and masking the surrounding areas against overspray. At the moment, it's a lovely faded black that blends with the color of dirty tire treads. It probably just needs to get wiped off. Maybe I'll try a bit of tire dressing on it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Thursday, April 12, 2007 8:05 AM
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Here's what I ended up doing -- a couple of strips of aluminum screwed into the front and anchored from the top. This should keep it in place while still allowing it to flex if I hit something else.
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my car has been running slightly warmer without mine, and I was considering just throwing in a lower thermostat to compensate...
