[DeTomaso] GT5 Air Dam - scraping damage and rock ships

Charles McCall charlesmccall at gmail.com
Tue May 15 16:27:34 EDT 2007


Now Iñ'm curious... When you get a chance, could you measure ground
clearance and I'll do the same? I'm travelling right now so my results will
have to wait until the weekend. 

I'll attach a sheet, which the list will strip for all but Peter, of the
dimensions of a GT5-S as measured by AUTOCAR, a British mag. They say 5
inches of clearance, but I'm not sure if that is the undercarriage or the
spoiler.  

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Peter Havlik [mailto:phavlik at pris.ca] 
Enviado el: Tuesday, 15 May, 2007 9:39 PM
Para: Charles McCall; detomaso at realbig.com
Asunto: RE: [DeTomaso] GT5 Air Dam - scraping damage and rock ships

Hi Charles:

I believe the GT5-S air dam is, in fact, significantly higher and further
back than on the GT5. Mine is not only low, but it protrudes forward,
compounding the problem of approach angles.

Despite my formative years having been gleefully spent wrecking a series of
cars by emulating the Dukes of Hazard, all the damage I have caused to my
Pantera air dam has taken place trying to enter steep driveways or gas
station approaches. The wonky parking lot at the PI Hotel at Monterey last
August didn't help, either.

- Peter

At 12:08 15/05/2007, Charles McCall wrote:
>Curious Peter... The GT5-S air dam is steel, which is perhaps less 
>forgiving than fiberglass. Or perhaps not - it is perhaps a little more 
>flexible and therefore doesn't break, but in any case I have only 
>touched once or twice in my years of ownership. You haven't been 
>watching too much "Dukes of Hazard", have you=?=??? :-)
>
>That being said, I *have* banged up the rocker panel right in front of 
>the rear wheel from a very closed curve in the mountains with elevation 
>change where it touched at speed. Kind of scary. But I haven't touched 
>the front air dam.
>
>I'll have to measure clearance when I get a chance and see if it is the 
>same as yours. I'd imagine so.
>
>Oh, and I screw up my parking brake about every other year, since that 
>is the low point of the car going over speed bumps...
>
>-----Mensaje original-----
>De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] 
>En nombre de Peter Havlik Enviado el: Tuesday, 15 May, 2007 9:03 PM
>Para: Tomas Gunnarsson; MikeLDrew at aol.com; detomaso at realbig.com
>Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] GT5 Air Dam - scraping damage and rock ships
>
>Thanks, Thomas. Yes, I had thought of using curb feelers, but they 
>would inevitably be visible and look incongruous on a sports car. I 
>associate them more with Grandpa's '59 Buick.
>
>Good thought, though.
>
>- Peter
>
>At 11:21 15/05/2007, Tomas Gunnarsson wrote:
> >Peter,
> >
> >Have you considered getting some curb indicators like the ones you 
> >see on old classics? You could probably either mount them behind the 
> >dam so that they protrude the correct amount forward/down or modify 
> >them to suit your needs.
> >
> >http://www.mooneyesusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=755&o
> >sC
> >sid=019383a018ac2e10913fa81db56cf9f0
> >
> >Tomas
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Peter Havlik" <phavlik at pris.ca>
> >To: <MikeLDrew at aol.com>; <detomaso at realbig.com>
> >Sent: den 15 maj 2007 19:36
> >Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] GT5 Air Dam - scraping damage and rock ships
> >
> >
> > > Mike:
> > >
> > > I take your point, but I'm still wondering if there is not 
> > > something I can do that will give me an audible warning just 
> > > before I start to scrape. I'm not intending to make the air dam 
> > > stronger, because I agree it should have as much flex as possible.
> > >
> > > The rubber (or Teflon or aluminum or whatever other sacrificial
> > > material) strip will start to scrape first and, because I'm 
> > > usually going slow when approaching gas station entrances or steep 
> > > driveways, I should have more than enough time to stop before the 
> > > fiberglass hits or starts to bend much. That's my theory, anyway.
> > >
> > > Also, I have to wonder just how cheap a GT5 air dam is to replace.
> > > First of all, from the look of it, not all aftermarket air dams 
> > > are the same as the factory ones (and the factory ones are 
> > > prohibitively expensive - if you can find one). Second of all, one 
> > > still has to pay for installing and painting the new air dam, 
> > > which is not cheap either. And, at the rate I'm going, this will be an
annual event!
> > >
> > > I just can't believe that no one out there is having the same 
> > > problem as I am, and that there isn't some kind of a solution. We 
> > > have enough engineers, fabricators and general geniuses on this 
> > > list that I'm convinced the answer is out there somewhere!
> > >
> > > - Peter
> > >
> > > At 10:06 15/05/2007, MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
> > >
> > > >In a message dated 5/14/07 13:11:58, phavlik at pris.ca writes:
> > > >
> > > ><< Second, I would like to modify the underside of the air dam so 
> > > >that some sacrificial material starts scraping first before the 
> > > >brittle fiberglass contacts the pavement. Has anyone done this, 
> > > >or know of some other solution to the problem? I just want to 
> > > >hear a warning scrape before I damage the fiberglass. >>
> > > >
> > > > >>>Well, keep this in mind--fiberglass is cheap, and by 
> > > > >>>definition,
> > > >sacrificial, whereas what it is attached to is expensive.  Mad 
> > > >Dog made the mistake of reinforcing his air dam to make it very 
> > > >strong; when he
> > subsequently whacked
> > > >it, it transmitted the force to the car and bent his front
> > fenders!!!!  So be
> > > >careful of what you ask for....
> > > >
> > > >I suppose you could put some sort of rubber strip etc. at the
> > bottom of the
> > > >air dam, but it won't change anything.  You will just hit the 
> > > >rubber strip first, then still hit the fiberglass under the same
>circumstances.
> > > >
> > > >The real solution, of course, is to (DUH!) stop crashing into
> > things!  Plan
> > > >ahead, approach driveways with caution, and if the approach to a 
> > > >given gas station looks too steep, it probably is--just go 
> > > >around, or go
> > to a different
> > > >station.
> > > >
> > > >I am in the process of fitting a GTS mini air dam to the front
> > of my car.  It
> > > >will have substantially greater clearance than you GT5 air dam 
> > > >has, of course, but it will require circumspection nonetheless 
> > > >since my car is fairly low.
> > > >I have deliberately mounted it in a manner that will let it snap
> > off, rather
> > > >than warp the car, in the event of impact.  Fiberglass is 
> > > >cheap--metalwork isn't!
> > > >
> > > >Mike<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See
> > what's free at
> > > >http://www.aol.com.</HTML>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > >
> > > Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
> > >
> > > Archive Search Engine Now Available at 
> > > http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
> > >
> > > DeTomaso mailing list
> > > DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> > > http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> > >
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
>Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
>DeTomaso mailing list
>DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
>http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso


More information about the DeTomaso mailing list