Front air dam construction.

Very nice !! Your is a little more rounded ..I like it.

Ron

Ron my goal is to make it look as good as yours. You really set the bar. How is the progress on yours?

Progress ...hmmm .. not much in the automobile world ..but I think a little in the family world ... you tell me ..LOL

Looking foward to getting back in the garage also ...

Ron

Absolutely AWESOME RON!!! Absolutely Awesome!

Very nice air dam. Excellent work. Makes me wanna get out to the garage. Congrats to Ron as well.

Blaine

Awesome Ron. The only thing more beautiful than a Pantera! Congrats!

Priceless.
Congratulations Ron

Thanks Gents !

Gary sorry for setting us off course AGAIN !

Ok back to the spoiler.

Ron

You know I don't mind Ron. Keep the photos coming!

One corner at a time:







The side is the tough part. The only part tougher on the air dam is making the second side look like the first.

Got all the tools lined out to do it again!

Will be nice, BUT what is that engine to the right?

GMC 702. That is just one of the blocks we use to develop parts for it.

Looking really good Gary!
I like how well it blends to the fender.

Gary,

Is that an optical illusion on the right hand side of this pic, or did you weld together a couple of V6's to make a V12?


Inquiring minds want to know!

Read about it here: http://www.6066gmcguy.org/TwinSix.htm

Some people assume it is welded but it's actually a separate casting from the V6's. The bore alignment does not match the v6. The heads fit but the intakes do not line up. If you lop off 4 cylinders it is still bigger then a 455!

Brook I am VERY pleased at the shape and trying to get my head in the right frame of mind to do the second side. Matching the second side will be the #1 challenge here.

Welding the top edge, shaping it to the car. Beginning to look like the fiberglass part:

AHHHHH thats Aluminum isnt it ...took me a little time ...maybe I;m a little slow ..but great idea !

Yea, I have no good reason for it other then I wanted to do it. Since all the parts are on a cad file I can do it again.

Getting the fit around the fenders and duct pretty good. Need to bump the base to get it perfectly straight before welding on bottom. Will probably prime with Zinc so I can find the high spots with the file.

Then work the lights,a and tie up a few loose ends.

Looking at tying this to the belly pan and a piece to mold into the front wheel well to close off everything.

Zinc Prime?!

I thought you were going to polish it to a mirror finish!

Think about it, how many panteras do you know of with a polished air dam?

Priner just to find the high spots so I could bump them back down. I was thinking about it but I don't see it playing into the paint scheme I was thinking about.

I am dead in the water right now though. The ice storm knocked out power and this is the first time I have had internet since Tuesday. I got the laptop up on the generator for a little but I will probably be scarce for a while.

They are not expected to get power restored for some time. I just got the generator wired into the house which is a big help. We have been running off extention chords and gas fire places for the last 3 days but with the house wired we now have the house heaters up and running. We have to limit the current. ex: We can run the washer but not the drier.

In the 90's power companies started consolidating and cutting aboput 80% of their line maintenance crews. Back then the electritions we knew said buy a generator.

After years not trimmming trees and keeping up with the lines the outages get bigger and stay out longer every time. this is the 3rd time in the last 2 yearsa we have been over 3 years on generator and looks like we will be upgrading this spring to one which will pretty much run everything integrated into the house.

It may be a while before I get back here but I can still read the post on the black berry.
Gary

Bottom Welded on. Light mounts and fillets next:

Lights mounted with buckets welded in and filed down:

Making the air dam flow into the fender:



The bottom will be closed off. A panel will be welded in closing off this area. The back will tie into the belly pan:

Are you going to run any type of cooling to the front brakes?

I am not making provisions for it at this time. Are you doing so on yours?

I was thinking of using the area where you mounted your lights as the inlet for brake ducts.
Or maybe I will just mount screens behind the openings.
I am also going to have to figure out a front plate mount of some sort.
The only possible location for a plate would cover one of the openings. I certainly dont want to cover the rad opening.
Front plates are the law in this state but most of the time they dont bother you. Some towns are bad though.
But then again, a black italian car with screaming 180's might be enough of an excuse to pull me over.

Hmm, I can't see any clean way of adding a license plate to an air dam. Maybe a removable molding which has some shape but is easily removed?

quote:

I was thinking of using the area where you mounted your lights as the inlet for brake ducts.....
I am also going to have to figure out a front plate mount of some sort.

The early GT5's didn't have lights in the air dam, but mine does have attachment points on the a-arm for a duct, so I assume the original intent may have been for brake ducts.

A front license plate just ruins a Pantera's look. Check local laws in detail, we found an obscure amendment in NV to the effect that "if the car is not designed with an attachment point for a front plate it may be omitted and carried inside the car under the seat". The UK has stick on hood plates for such vehicles. Prior to the above NV regulation coming to light I considered scanning the license plate and printing onto vinyl or onto a good magnetic sheet, but I'm sure there's some law against copying a license plate though.

I agree the plate ruins the look.
I just dont want the excuse.
My wife used to have a 99GT Mustang that didn't even have holes for a front plate.
She got pulled over all the time for it.
The police basically said they didn't care the law was the law.

I was thinking of something like on this car that PI was selling.
I want something that I could remove easily if I had to . As you can see it covers the opening.

Flip up plate recessed in the base of the air dam?

Here is the same car without the plate showing the bracket.

How about a flip up embedded like this with a slight recess:

Slow internet created double post.

Gary, can you make it flip up everytime you slam on the brakes??? That would make a neat air brake.

This is what I did with my Cobra....I went to DMV on line and filed a lost plate form ..when I lost my plate ...they send you a paper stating your front plate was lost ... and when you get pulled over you hand them the paper.

Ron

quote:

Originally posted by DeTom:
Gary, can you make it flip up everytime you slam on the brakes??? That would make a neat air brake.

I was thinking about hooking to the radar; let it flip up when the radar goes off.