RK Sport front air dam on my 2000 Z28

[RagTop]

My Z28 came with the factory ground effects kit back in 2000. A couple of years ago the right side front piece left the car on the freeway without saying goodbye. I figured that I'd just run down to the local GM performance car wrecking yard and buy and replacement. WRONG! Because those things have a habit of doing what mine did, they are rare as hens teeth. So, I took a look at the GM part. After all, how much could a 30" fiberglass hockey stick cost? Over $760 is the answer to the last question. So, I bought an RK Sport front air dam and mounted it on the car. Everything was great until I took it on a long road trip. The car began overheating. It turns out that the center section on the RK unit makes enough turbulence under the car at highway speeds to prevent the air dam below the radiator from picking up sufficient cold air. That was the answer to my question about why the stock unit was in two pieces with that ugly gap under the nose of the car. I now have the RK unit sitting in my garage and the Camaro has no front ground effects. I am thinking about performing surgery on the RK unit and cutting out the offending center section, so that it lets air pass like the factory pieces did, but the RK unit looks so nice on the car and I'd hate to make a mess of it. Any suggestions to solve my dilemma or should I just break out the Dremmel tool and start hacking on it?

BTW, anyone need a left side stock front ground effect piece?

[KahanaReef]

I'm confused. The RK air dam replaces the stock air dam to compensate when using the RK front valance.

[RONS98TA]

I would not touch the RK sport lip. What you really need to do is go to any salvage yard and pick up a front air scoop. Its a piece of black plastic that runs the entire length of the front on the car. It grabs the air from under the car and scoops it into the rad's path. You need to extend that piece so that it is lower then your RK sport ground affects. Just pop rivet the salvage yard piece to your org piece as low to the ground as you can. I believe this will solve your prob.

[SMWS6TA]

I'm confused. The RK air dam replaces the stock air dam to compensate when using the RK front valance.

same here?


Are you needing a replacement air dam or ground effects?




Emblempros has a nice air dam replacement for $109

EMBLEMPROS.COM - GM LICENSED AND CUSTOM VEHICLE EMBLEMS - 1993 - 2002 Camaro and Firebird (all models) Mirror Stainless Steel Airdam / Air Deflector

[35th-ANV-SS]

I would not touch the RK sport lip. What you really need to do is go to any salvage yard and pick up a front air scoop. Its a piece of black plastic that runs the entire length of the front on the car. It grabs the air from under the car and scoops it into the rad's path. You need to extend that piece so that it is lower then your RK sport ground affects. Just pop rivet the salvage yard piece to your org piece as low to the ground as you can. I believe this will solve your prob.

Seems like this is a good way to solve the problem.

[KahanaReef]

Seems like this is a good way to solve the problem.

RK makes an extended air dam to go with the kit

[35th-ANV-SS]

There ya go, OP.

[cammed goat]

I think wings west has chin spoilers for Camaros as well.

[RagTop]

When I bought the spoiler (or ground effect or whatever the heck it's called) the guy at RK Sport indicated that they had an extended radiator air dam available but opined that it probably wasn't necessary with the spoiler. Frankly, I drag that darn air dam on the curb every time I park the car nose in. The front overhang on the gen 4 Cammy is vast. The last thing I would want is to further decrease the ground clearance of that part by adding to it. I was hoping that getting rid of the center section of the RK Sport unit (which, BTW, makes it far better looking than the original front spoiler(s)) would solve my problem. My other thought was to consider rigging a ducting system that drew air from the raised area in the middle of the RK Sport piece and rammed it up to the radiator. It's just that I could see that being an ongoing pain in the nether regions with the ducting coming loose under substantial air pressure at highway speeds. If you know of any salvage yards that have a right side stock piece, I'd be only too happy to buy it. Unfortunately when the GM engineers decided to hang some fiberglass pieces out on the front of the car, held on by flimsy eyelet loops and push in plastic retainers, they created a common problem that many owners like myself have experienced. Ask me how many gen 4 Camaros with ground effects I've seen on the road with the front pieces missing. You can't find these pieces at most yards at any price.

[KahanaReef]

I don't have problems with mine overheating at all. I'm in the process of taking the RK Sport kit off my car though. Tired of the front valance scraping on curbs and even some parking stops. It can be a pain in the ass. Same with steep narrow driveway entrances/exits. But, I've had no issues with the extended RK air dam. Does the job it is supposed to do.

[cammed goat]

You could remove the front bumper cover and cut some square holes in the foam where the front license plate would go for some radiator cooling. Just an idea.