How to mount factory Front Air Deflector on 1980 Square Body

[Raider L]

@Wrench At Home,

Wow! Your truck is really awesome! It seems to me, though that you've posted something here before and your truck does look familiar. Awesome no matter how many times I see it.
Yeah, I saw those "tabs" in the diagram and didn't see a pic of it on yours. You are right, you may need to make a tab on the ends.

 

[Wrench At Home]

Wow! Your truck is really awesome! It seems to me, though that you've posted something here before and your truck does look familiar. Awesome no matter how many times I see it.
Yeah, I saw those "tabs" in the diagram and didn't see a pic of it on yours. You are right, you may need to make a tab on the ends.

Thanks man, yours looks great as well! I've posted in the 'introduction' topic a couple of days ago, but that's it! There's probably a couple of look-a-likes on this forum though, lol, or you might recognize it from my YouTube videos? Could've been a previous owner posting pics as well of course.

 

[Raider L]

@Wrench At Home,

It's cool that you have a American truck in the Netherlands. How did you find it in the Netherlands? When I had my business making custom parts for custom cars and trucks, I sold a few in the Netherlands but to custom shops that were buying muscle cars from people in the states, shipping them over there and then resto/custom building them and then selling them to whoever. I sold some products to peolpe in Holland as well. I would answer faxes at 4 AM buying products. I thought it was neat.
I don't remember seeing air dams until after '81 when GM changed the front clip, they angled it down and went to dual headlights, which I liked.
How stiff is the one you have? Does it seem like it is stiff enough to keep it from flapping or bending in the wind? The reason why I ask is it looks really wide and thin. I've never seen one of these off the truck so that's why I ask.

 

[Wrench At Home]

It's cool that you have a American truck in the Netherlands. How did you find it in the Netherlands? When I had my business making custom parts for custom cars and trucks, I sold a few in the Netherlands but to custom shops that were buying muscle cars from people in the states, shipping them over there and then resto/custom building them and then selling them to whoever. I sold some products to peolpe in Holland as well. I would answer faxes at 4 AM buying products. I thought it was neat.

Thanks! I was looking for a Squarebody truck for a while, having set some alerts on local car selling platforms. There aren't many for sale over here, but once in a while a nice one pops up. This one in particular I had my eyes on for quite a while actually, and when I finally went to go check it out in person I was immediately in love lol. Luckily the owner could see how pumped I was and felt that the truck would have a good home with me, so he gave me a great deal on it.

I don't remember seeing air dams until after '81 when GM changed the front clip, they angled it down and went to dual headlights, which I liked.
How stiff is the one you have? Does it seem like it is stiff enough to keep it from flapping or bending in the wind? The reason why I ask is it looks really wide and thin. I've never seen one of these off the truck so that's why I ask.

It's pretty stiff, as in, when it is mounted at all 4 spots it won't move much. I think if you only mount it to the frame rails and don't attach the outside holes to anything, the sides will probably bend backwards in the wind. But, my truck has the three speed automatic gearbox, so I won't be going fast anyway!

When I have finished mounting the deflector, I'll post a video about it on my YouTube channel, you'll be able to see how stiff it really is off the truck.

 

[Wrench At Home]

I made the first bracket! I used a galvanised metal connecting plate, dimensions 200x15mm, and it involved a lot of walking back and forth from my vice to the truck, marking the metal strip with a sharpie and hammering it into shape bit by bit. It's very sturdy, more than enough to keep the deflector in place. Pretty proud of how it turned out!

Now to create another one for the other side..

I will be spraying these brackets with a rust converter primer and a couple of coats of automotive black paint when I'm done "fabricating".

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

More pics: https://imgur.com/a/uSxO8TX

 

[Goldie Driver]

I made the first bracket! I used a galvanised metal connecting plate, dimensions 200x15mm, and it involved a lot of walking back and forth from my vice to the truck, marking the metal strip with a sharpie and hammering it into shape bit by bit. It's very sturdy, more than enough to keep the deflector in place. Pretty proud of how it turned out!

Now to create another one for the other side..

I will be spraying these brackets with a rust converter primer and a couple of coats of automotive black paint when I'm done "fabricating".

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

More pics: https://imgur.com/a/uSxO8TX

Hell, yeah - improvisation!