Red Sleeper

My service manuals have not arrived yet but I need to remove the front center air-dam.

The bar that the air-dam screws into has been bent slightly. I guess the previous owner hit something. I would say it's bent in maybe one inch or less. It looks like it will be easy to pull back into position if I can get the air-dam off.

Red Sleeper

How about somebody glancing at their service manual and give me a little insight on how to remove it. If I have to take the fron bumper I might just leave it.

Lakelander

Here you go here's the deal:


1. Jack up the front end - ramp height is workable but the higher the better.

2. Remove left & right side pieces of the air dam (7mm socket).

3. Remove the 7 or 8 screws (they're obvious when you look at it) from the bottom of the front facia (7mm socket).

4. Looking from the front of the car remove the 3 screws from the center air dam (there are still 2 more corner screws holding it on though) 10mm socket.

5. pull the facia down (it's very pliable) use an extension & remove each corner screw from the center air dam, these are facing up (7mm socket).

6. First remove the passenger side of the air dam by pulling towards the front & then downward.

7. Now slide the air dam towards the passenger side of the car about 2" - 3" ( this is the tricky part because the drivers side is still attached you need to work it a little).

8. Now it should come right off.

Reverse order for installation.

Installation Note: When you put the new piece on start by placing the drivers side of the air dam to the right (passenger side) of it's actual location (2"-3"). There's a piece of shroud or something that prevent you from just putting the part in place and it needs to be worked some. Then the passengers side will snap into place easily.

Red Sleeper

Thank you, looks like I'll be busy this weekend.

Gearhead Jim

Haven't done anything with the C6 yet, but on the C5 I would remove it about once every 20k miles by hitting a big truck tire tread on the road. Worked well for me.

Doppler1992

**********************************

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I realize this is a very old post, but maybe you can assist me with a question, or redirect me to another post or thread if you don't have the time to respond: Due to damage from being forced to drive over truck tire debris at 70 mph, I took my 2005 Z-51 to a local dealer for an insurance estimate, to get a feel for how much work might be involved in replacing the three-piece air defector and a few additional parts. I knew the three-piece air dams were between $100 and $200, depending on whether GM or aftermarket, but the insurance adjuster's quote also allowed 2.5 hours labor to remove the front bumper fascia. I'm wondering why the bumper fascia would have to be removed. Perhaps this is where you suggested pulling the very pliable fascia down to access fasteners or screws, and maybe they add the "remove and reinstall" labor on the fascia to help the body shop pay the rent.

I have additional damage and will need to replace the front portion of the left front fender liner, but with my initial inspection, I do not see why the bumper fascia would have to be "removed" at 2.5 hours labor. If indeed it DOES have to be removed, it must have a lot of hard to access fasteners, because 2.5 hours adds about $150 to the cost - if I elected to allow a body shop to do the work.

My instincts tell me to go buy the parts from a local Chevrolet dealer or order from GM Parts Direct, and hope there is no need to remove the front bumper fascia. The only way I'd let a dealer do the work is if my insurance would pay for repainting the entire bumper fascia, to cover twelve years of my wife scraping those concrete curb stops at parking spaces. That would run the cost up to just over $1,000 but my deductible is only $150. The claims adjuster hinted that it is unlikely the insurance company will pay for paint, since every Corvette has paint damage from curb scrapes. The truck tire caused very little paint damage.

Thanks for mentioning the required shove toward the passenger side to dislodge the center air deflector. I would never have seen that coming, using only jack stands to raise the nose of the car. I'm hoping this task will be as simple as the air deflectors I replaced on my '84 Vette several times. Never did the bumper fascia impede replacing the deflector sections on the '84 Corvette.

If you know of a good picture post, please advise. I have a tendency to over-think simple projects, but I always try to have everything I need before engaging the task. I hate surprises half-way through the repairs.

Doppler1992

4SUMERZ

The instructions given are correct for removing the center air dam.
You "DO NOT" need to remove the front facia/bumper to remove the air dam, or to remove the inner wheel liner.
Give me a few minutes, and I'll post a PDF to help you a bit on inner wheel well removal, and the bolts to remove to loosen the bottom part of the facia.

Wheel liner removal PDF inserted and bolts to remove for air dam inserted. Both with pictures.

Doppler1992

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Thanks to LV2TOUR for the quick reply. This looks far easier than when I replaced the water pump and more like the skill level required for an oil change. When the lady said the bumper fascia had to be removed, I got nervous.

I'm including photos of the damage in case you see something I might be overlooking. You will note the large piece missing from the fender liner, outlined in yellow. Some parts look like they got shifted or misaligned, even on the passenger side. Not sure how I will close the gap on the passenger side where you can see the teeth that mate with holes in the fascia. Maybe when all bolts are removed things will line up better. The photo with the question mark looks like something else might have broken, due to the non-horizontal orientation. I guess I will move forward and worry about additional pieces when I get all the bolts out for a better view. If I let a dealer body shop do this, they would screw up something else, even if they repaired the damage properly.

Thanks again for the instructions and posting photos.

The parts listed by the dealership lady are: RT Lower Deflector 20896060, LT Lower Deflector 20896059, Front Deflector 21992641, LT Ft Fender Liner. Not sure if my local dealer will give me a discount on body parts, but if I stay with GM parts is it worth the difference compared to some of the aftermarket 3-piece kits?

Doppler1992


UPDATE: Local dealer gave me 25 percent off, so parts will be here this afternoon at about $220 including the fender liner. Probably could have beat the price at GM Parts Direct, but I need to get started while I have a good weather window.

4SUMERZ

Photo 1-2 & 3 are the broken inner liner, so a new liner will fix those.
Picture 4 with the question mark is the lower facia on the driver side that is just pushed because of the impact. Once you remove the bolts from the under front facia, things will straighten out and should re-align when you put it back together.
Picture #5 shows that the outer air dam edge is damaged. A new one will fix that.
Picture #6 that the inner wheel plastic liner (pass side) got pushed, and the new one should fit tight and those gaps will close up.
Pic #7 also shows the damage to the driver side outer air dam, which also had the chunk missing in picture #5.
The new liner will close the facia finger gaps shown by the arrow.

Good Luck

11LS3A6

I was going to suggest...

Kingman99

Great Post

Cherokee Nation

When I had my on my black 08 I put about 4 coats of gloss black paint by Krylon so they matched the color of my vette.

Cherokee Nation

Post #3 is not the way on my 08/Z51 There are 3 10mm bolts that hold it on the steel bar and 2 push type pins that go in the 2 pieces that is attached to the center piece, but you do have to remove those 7mm bolts because they go under the facial and it is a PITA unless you get lucky....

Doppler1992

Thanks again for taking the time to respond. Re: Picture #6 passenger side, I did not buy a new Front Fender Liner for passenger side, as I did not see any breakage. Maybe it will self-correct with all bolts and fasteners removed and reinstalled? If not, that might cause me to have to leave the car on jack stands in the driveway overnight, if I have to order passenger side Ft. Fender Liner. I have the Left Front Fender Liner and the three sections of the air deflector in hand, so that'll get me started. Good heads up on differentiating Z06 and C6 in previous PDF file photos earlier today. My car is not Z06 but is Z51 which probably is non-issue with the parts I am replacing. Had to walk by two brand new Z06 Vettes in the showroom to get to the parts counter today. Very nice, but one was $109K and the other was nearly $111K or double what I paid in April 2005. I got every option available when I bought mine, but they are out of my price range nowadays.

At age 72, I still have a lot of personal pride in keeping the 2005 going. The concrete driveway and garage floor gets a bit harder on the bones at my age, doing repairs using the same jack stands I think I saw in your photos.

Never have had to let a dealer touch it so far, other than the recall upgrading the differential fluid to synthetic back in the early days. That task would not have been difficult, but I figured the dealer could do it without screwing up something else. If I eventually have any indication of the low-beam headlight issue, I'll do that recall fix myself, as I spent 20 years servicing electronic hospital equipment in the field. Seems like I ran across a good photo post on that fix in this Forum. I recognize my skill level limitations, and eventually will probably have to let a high school dropout GoodWrench mechanic fix something, but not yet.

Bought the orange plastic comb today to fix the potential hazard associated with the Service Active Handling safety recall. Should have done that fix long ago, but no symptoms have manifested. Several good photo posts in the forum for that fix.

Doppler 1992

4SUMERZ

That passenger side may well correct itself when you loosen everything up, replace the driver side liner, and the air dam pieces.
Hopefully when you re-attach everything, it will be to your satisfaction.
I have saved a lot of threads and posts over the years, made most of them into PDF files to make sure the pictures were saved.
If your looking for a specific DIY, I may just have it. I'll be happy to share.
I have PDF's for the Low Beam recall, the Active handling TSB, and many more.

Good Luck with the repairs. It seems like you have it well in hand.

joliett

You say, after removing the 7 or 8 screws (they're obvious when you look at it) from the bottom of the front fascia, pull the fascia down.

Don't you mean PULL fascia UP? Just wondering if I have to remove the screws from the top of the fascia also.

Thanks!