1981 Front Valance

[Ludigdrums]

Wow man, awesome to know. I should have also taken a photo from the side too. I will defintately fix this up though if it's not right, although, fortunately I haven't had any temp problems, they are all where they're supposed to be. <-- Judging on where it normally stays on the guage. Don't know what the numbers should be specifically.

I also have an 82 styled hood which has a "ram air" type of thing built into it where this little flap is supposed to open letting more air in and directing it to the top of the air cleaner. I don't really know if it really works cause I don't know of a way to tell if it ever opens up.

Anyway, looking forward to the correct pictures. Thanks!

- Jeremy

 

[mikejpss]

Burglar-
eerrhhhhh, My spoiler aint got no hole in it for a bolt !!!

Recently had mine off the car for a repaint, reinstalled it earlier this week. There is no hole in the spoiler for a bolt, there is no matching hole in the bracket anywhere for this bolt either. My car came from St. Louis, if that matters.
All that I can figure is the "finger" attached to the rear of the bracket should be fashioned so that it is UNDER the lip of the spoiler, and between the 2 ends of the black rubber skirts where they meet in the center.
I noticed from your pics that this finger appears to be on top of your spoiler, with a small bolt thru it. It appears to me that this was a non-factory fix for the same problem I had- which was someone ran the car up on a concrete bumper, etc. and pushed the finger bracket and spoiler upwards.
I will try desperately to get a few pics of mine this weekend and post them- but dont count on it since I aint too swift when it comes to digital pics and downloads. They make me want another beer ;-)
Mike J.

 

[Dave L.]

Mike- The replacement spoilers don't come with the hole in it,you have to drill it.The mounting tab which is welded to that vertical bracket you can see in my picture is probably broken off your bracket. I've seen that before on many 80-82 because of hitting curbs and parking blocks among other things. We had an 82 in our body shop recently which needed this spoiler replaced. There was no hole in the new spoiler. They used my car as a guide to drill and mount the new one properly. I'll post some more pictures tomorrow to better show the attachment. My car also came from St.Louis.

Dave

 

[Dave L.]

I had a chance today to take some more photos of the lower valance attachment.
The first picture shows the bolt and the mounting tab....

Dave

 

[Dave L.]

here is another overall view.

 

[Yoda]

hmmmm I am not so sure that there is suppose to be a bolt through the support holding the spoiler on :confused..

I've replaced one on a 1982 and made adjustments to my '81 and I think the tang.. coming off the bottom of the front bumper guard/nose frame is suppose to be about 4" long and is angled back and up and the middle valance portion of the spoiler fits in it.

The problem is many have be bent due to curbs and parking curb stops I might be wrong on this, Maybe I can Lure Stingray6974 into this discussion

 

[platato]

Uh oh!

Burglar,

Mine does not look like yours either. It almost looks like someone cut off most of your bracket and drilled the valance and remaining bracket to receive a bolt. On ours, that bracket goes through the slot in the rubber in the middle of the lower valance. The bracket is quite long and is bent to receive the plastic valance and hold it in place with pressure. The bracket is hook shaped and appears as if it's designed to allow the valance to be forced up in the event of a curb strike but restricts it from falling below a certain point. I'm going back to Funfest in the morning and will look at some 81's and report tomorrow. BTW I met Rob today at the CAC booth. He's a great guy!

STW! Platato

P.S. Rare 81- Our Vette (Shark 81) sold new at Sanborn
Chevrolet in Lodi. Dad lives in Modesto and I found it during
a visit with him. I Flew there & drove home. The wife was
not happy.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Platato,

Let me get this straight. Bud traveled to Michigan to get his charcoal L81 and took it back to Modesto and you went to Modesto to get yours? Interesting. :L

I'll look at our valance when I get home. I know that it's still a virgin. I think it is just like Burgler's though.

Tom

 

[mikejpss]

Didn't know that when I started this thread there would be such a lively discussion on it. Getting several inputs to say the least!

It seems that just about every bolt I have put my hands on, on the body parts that is, are metric sized heads. Would be interesting to know what size bolt head you have on that valance retainer Burglar. Nowhere on my valance or it's support is there a bolt hole. If my valance is an aftermarket or EOM replacement, it seems that there would be a bolt hole somewhere on the bracket- assuming it came from the factory with a bolt installed.
Perhaps they did it both ways?
This is the reason I asked in the original thread question for guidance on how to install, since mine had no apparent or obvious positon. I found that mine was jammed in the up position, and only by bending this finger back, could the valance rest on it.
I believe this is why there is a gap in the exact center of the valance where the 2 black rubber skirts meet, allowing this finger to go underneath the valance to hold it in position.

I will take a few pics of mine this week, maybe I lucked out this time and did something right?
Mike J.

 

[Dave L.]

The 82 we had in our body shop last month was set up exactly mine is,same mounting tab,same location,so.....I suppose the same guy altered 2 different cars?
Lets get some other 80-82 owners to post some pictures of the front valance.
attachment for us.
Dave

 

[platato]

Funfest Valance Report

Hi Guys!

Here's what I observed at Funfest regarding the bracket. I probably looked at around 50 or so.

1. Almost 3/4 of the 80-82 brackets were bent, broken, missing or
rusted (these cars were definitely daily drivers or had rough
lives at one time)
2. Two cars did have bolts through the bracket and valance one
of which was definitely a do it yourself job. Neither car was in
very good shape
3. Several cars had a shorter staighter version of the bracket
going through the slot in the rubber
4. Of the rest they were just like mine, a flat metal bracket about
3/4 wide about 1/8 thick shaped like a hook going through the
slot in the center of the rubbers (that slot must be there for a
reason). This bracket is attatched to another bracket which is
attatched to the skid plate.

Take this for what it is worth, I'm only reporting what I saw. I will say that our Vette is a low milage and very intact car including everything underneath. Ours has never been modfied or restored, infact, it still has the original Spark plugs, hoses, exhaust and tires on it. The bracket was bent once though. Our car was born 12 November 1980 in St. Louis.


STW! Platato

 

[Tom Bryant]

This is my wife's '81. She ordered the car and took delivery of it in October of '80 (early St Louis car). As you can see the paint is scratched off a little but it isn't bent. This is all original and has never been damaged.

The first picture is a 3/4 front view. You can see the tab protruding horizonally back through the slot in the rubber spoiler extensions. The valance is supported by this but there is no bolt. or hole for one. If the bolts are correct on the cars so equiped there must have been an engineering change somewhere during the production run.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Here is a side profile.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Here's the rear of the valance showing the tab and no bolt or hole. If you compare Jeremy's photo to mine you see that his guard has rounded bends and corners where mine is very much squared off. Then Daves has a higher welded tab that doesn't look lika a part that has been cut off or modified. I think we are looking at three different design variations of this part.

Bud,

This looks to be an item for the L81 Survey so we can determine approximate serial numbers that this design changed. I would like to see a few photos of '80s and '82s to see what they used.

Tom

 

[Dave L.]

Very interesting. There must have been 2 designs. My parts catalog shows the valance with a hole in the center. If I shoved my valance up in the posistion similar to Tom's(which would'nt be possible anyway) ,The ends wouldn't line up correctly with the bottom portion of the bumper cover.
http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=275884

Dave

 

[mikejpss]

As promised, here's a few pic's of mine. Had to wait on my 17 year old to get home to down load them- that'll tell u how computer savvy I am !
Looks like the finger on mine is somewhat longer than the one on burglar's 81. I suppose they had 2 different designs at St. Louis. Sure hope these upload. Mike J.

 

[mikejpss]

2nd. pic of my valance

 

[mikejpss]

3rd. and final pic of my valance....
hope this helps someone else with the same problem. Mike J.

 

[Ludigdrums]

For some reason, I stopped getting email notification that this thread was still going. Anyway, just checked back to see all these responses.

I will take some more pictures using the same angles as I saw in some of the other pics.

Also, just found out that my car is from St. Louis. While I was putting back in my new wheel studs that I finally found, I saw that my tank sticker was hanging down a bit. I thought great...I can just wheasel it outta there. Of course I ended up ripping it, but did get the lower quarter of the sheet. Everything was readable. I'm real happy cause as I've stated in other posts, I have a state issued VIN that doesn't tell me anything about the car.

Anyway, sorry for so much off topic stuff...picture taking tomorrow!

- Jeremy

 

[Ludigdrums]

Here are those pics I promised. Nightime shots, but they get the job done.

- Jeremy