Air dam install using landscape edging (95 Civic)

[pfunk678]

Parts
I went to Home Depot and bought some landscape edging for 9.99. I also got some nuts, bolts, and screws. The only tools I used were a screwdriver and a box cutter.


Install Details
The edging is about 5" tall. From reading various threads the consensus seemed to be not to have the air dam any lower than the lowest hanging part of the car's belly. With that in mind I found the right height on my bumper and began the install. My car (95 Civic) is shaped in such a way that it was possible to reach behind the bumper in a couple of spots, but most areas of the bumper are very inaccessible. With that in mind I wrapped the edging from front wheel well to front wheel well and made the appropriate cut. I used a nuts, bolts, and lock washers where I could get behind the bumper and I used screws where I could not reach behind. I don't own a drill so I used a box cutter to carve holes in the edging and to start holes in the bumper. I then used a screwdriver to force the bolt or screw in.

The edging loops over on itself on one side. I figured it would be best to have this part closest to the road so it would better hold shape and not flap in the wind.

The whole project took about 2 hours. I'm sure it would have been much faster with a drill. I foolishly got somewhat impatient and the edging isn't as even across the front as I would like, but it's serviceable.

Improved Coasting
I just got my MPGuino installed a couple of days ago so I haven't done any A testing and therefore can't do any B testing. It was such a pain to install that I'm not taking it off. But I did notice that coasting distance after installing the air dam is noticeably improved. There is a hill in my neighborhood that I coast down every day. There is a speed bump near the bottom. Previously I would coast all the way to the speed bump, but now my speed with the air dam helps me go faster than I want to be going when I hit the speed bump. So now I brake. This has happened about a dozen times since the install and it never happened before.

[Christ]

Blast it with a heat gun on high for a few minutes, that will help get the wrinkles out.

Sometimes you can find that stuff with a rounded edge and a bit of a flange on the other end... the flange makes it so you can mount it under the bumper instead of on the bumper, making it a cleaner install.

Since you've already mounted it through the front though, nothing much you can do to fix that. If you're worried about the screw heads showing, you can get plastic caps that the screws go through, then there's a snap cap that fits over the main body to cover the screw head. You can get them in several colors including black.

[Christ]

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