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Earlier today I received the heat gun and began bending back the lip that holds the air dams/front spoiler. It became clear that it was pushed back and I’m guessing that the summer heat coupled with airflow, it was permanently bent back. After straightening it out as best as I could, I began to reinstall it. It became even more clear that a previous owner must have whacked the hook that holds the valance up because the valance wouldn’t fit anymore once it was straightened out.
I’m not proud of what I did next but figured it was the next best thing. I cut out an inch in the middle of the valance so it would hug the hook and sit lower. Lo and behold, when I line up the air dams it looks way better than it did before. I ran out of time today and wasn’t able to get everything properly buttoned up but I’m hoping to either get to it later tonight or tomorrow.
Even if I did get a brand new valance I’m sure I would have to have done the same thing. I would rather get the hook back into the correct position but short of having a decent heat source that part isn’t being bent back properly anytime soon. I may have “bubba’d” it but im hopeful that it resolves the issue and actually provides some cooling.
Just finished bolting the valance and air dams and I have to say it looks a lot better than before. I feel like it lines up properly with the sides that were not affected by the hook being bent I’ll be taking it on a drive later today and hopefully have good results.
(Channeling my best Professor Farnsworth) Good news everyone, I drove it twice today for 30 minutes each way. The needle reached halfway on the gauge and barely went over the halfway mark. When it did it was when I was sitting at idle after having driven it for 30 minutes. I also had an IR temperature fun and pointed it right at the thermostat housing and it was right at 195 (same temp thermostat that I installed).
Seems as though the air dam and valance was the culprit this whole time.
