question about air dams

i bought an air dam, got it today, went to put it on, and saw that it only left me with about three inches of ground clearence! i dont wanna take a chance with my $25 ending up on the road somewhere, so if i cut some off of the bottom of it, will it still function properly?

I don't see why not, it's just there to help uplift the air to the radiator. Shouldn't make too much of a difference if it's shortened in height a little bit.

what piece exactly are we talking about. It its the large black plastic piece under the radiator then I dont understand why you would be willing to cut it but dont want it rubbing on the ground. they are supposed to be low

Yeah, air dams will hang low and will scrape on the road sometimes it's almost unavoidable. I wouldn't cut it unless it seems to hit all the time. Plus you have to consider that they are made out of pretty flexible plastic as long as you fasten it to the car well it won't be coming off it'll just bend a little when it scrapes.

yuup mine is all scraped and scrapes on my driveway.. sometimes it scares me and i think its scraping my front nose.. but yeah.. it'll flex and wont come off as long as its fastened properly.

oh yeah.. you can see mine in the picture on my sig..

just fasten it the best possible, dont get cheap on the bolts. mine only scrapes on obvious stuff. coming out of inclined driveways...bad parking lots. ya know. all you can do is go as slow as possible. if it scrapes it scrapes, they can take a lot more than you think and dont break very easily.

I did some measurements tonight and the air dam on a 3rd gen. has 3 7/8 inches of clearance from the bottom edge to the floor.

I wouldn't worry about breaking the air dam - they are tuff as heck and will stand up to the scraping.
I would think that if you break one off, then you are in a place that a camaro has no business being anyway and you are likely going to also tear off your front spoiler or at least do some damage to it. ( and after that you prolly should check for a hole in the oil pan- :uhoh: )

I did some measurements tonight and the air dam on a 3rd gen. has 3 7/8 inches of clearance from the bottom edge to the floor.

I wouldn't worry about breaking the air dam - they are tuff as heck and will stand up to the scraping.
I would think that if you break one off, then you are in a place that a camaro has no business being anyway and you are likely going to also tear off your front spoiler or at least do some damage to it. ( and after that you prolly should check for a hole in the oil pan- :uhoh: )
i put mine up to the bottom of the radiator yesterday, and there was only about 2 inches clearance. i think that might be because i need new struts, but im about to replace those. as of now, it hangs down much farther than the front spoiler, and i do live on a completely horrible road that has potholes that can be 2 inches deep. plus, with speed bumps it would definately scrape. i just keep hearing from other people how easily they fall off, and didnt want to take a chance with mine.

Completely falling off? Thts the first of that i've heard about.. as long as you tighten it good the thing wont fall off.. the only way it can come off is if it cracks/rips off.. it has happend to my Monte's when I accedently went up on the curb and came back down on the otherside.. so it cracked, but the thing is really durable because on my Camaro, it's scraped many times even before I got it because its bend back a bit..

Cutting it wasnt the way to go

I am having a problem with my car heating up idleing and even driveing down the road the thermostat is working and the water pump is cycleing but it still gets up in the mid 200's. Do the fans only run when you are in traffis or when i am going down the road.

Tighten it? It's held on by plastic push-pin rivets. AFAIK, there is no way to "tighten" those.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/cooling

The front ground effect / spoiler is attached with push pin rivets but the air dam is bolted on

I am having a problem with my car heating up idleing and even driveing down the road the thermostat is working and the water pump is cycleing but it still gets up in the mid 200's. Do the fans only run when you are in traffis or when i am going down the road.

This is normal if your Camaro/Firebird is a third gen (82-92) they were made by design to be hot. It in turn causes stuff to go out quicker (Starter for one) if you'd like it to run cooler you can buy a 160 Degree thermostat, but I hope you dont live in the colder states or it can become a problem during the winter.