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Pierre's Air Dam Installation


2002spaceodyssey

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I recently installed one of Pierre's Kamei repro air dams. I bought it a couple of years ago, and finally got my car on the road. Pierre suggested using rivnuts to install it, so I bought a tool on line. This was my first experience with rivnuts, and they worked very well. I ended up using 9 rivnuts in 6mm size. My 1974 2002 has cutouts for the big bumper brackets up front. It was suggested the air dam could cover those openings, but installing it that high made the ends come up short of the fender lips. I will have to have the openings filled and painted later. Here is what the rivnuts look like:

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Here is rivnut installed on a washer to show what the backside looks like once installed:

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This is the tool I bought - Astro Pneumatic Tool Company 1427. It worked well, no doubt because it had "Astro" in the name.

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I laid out the 9 holes on the air dam, and then used it as my template to drill the car's valence.

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Here are the rivnuts installed.

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I found some thin 1" wide rubber tape and used it between the fiberglass air dam and the car's paint.

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Pierre's air dam fit extremely well with almost no space between it and car. Once installed, the height from the ground was a uniform 6.25".

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I will have the air dam painted soon (right now it's in gelcoat as received.) I've also ordered some black stainless steel washers and button-head 6mm bolts. And (sigh) I live in MD so I need to figure out how to mount a front license plate. Here are some gratuitous pictures of my car with the air dam.

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UPDATE 31 May.

I needed to install the front license plate and I found a quick-release front license plate bracket that allows the front plate to be quickly removed for car shows, cars & coffee, and track events. 

I settled on Big Mike's STO N SHO. They are vehicle-specific, and I looked at the designs on-line and used the 2016/17 Ford Focus RS design to mount the plate to my air dam. 

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Here is what the installed plate mount looks like.

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I have read on the FAQ that the Kamei air dams came with aluminum brackets to reinforce the lower lip of the air dam. Most of the old posts I found referencing these brackets had broken photo links, so I could never see how they were installed. Given the lack of something to copy, I made my own brackets out of 1.5" wide, 1/8" thick aluminum stock. I used the bolts that mount the STO N SHO license plate mount to hold the brackets. I was going to then drill the brackets and screw them to the car's front valence, but they fit so tightly that I don't believe they need to be bolted to the car. They are quite rigid.

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The front plate can now removed and reinstalled in seconds without having to reach for the screwdriver! Additionally, the front air dam is very solid. You can't push the lower lip inward.

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Thanks for lookin'!

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Updating my post - Air Dam Painted.

My body shop filled in the front bumper mount openings and painted my air dam to match the car (which is very dark green, not black.) I also used black button-head bolts and black stainless finish washers to mount it. I wanted to post some pictures of the finished project.SAM_1646.JPG

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Edited by 2002spaceodyssey
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This looks like a great solution for those of us who have to run front plates.  Thanks for the write-up!  

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