The Last American Indian an FWD Ground Pounder

[Last American Indian]

Now I’ll shift for the moment to some body components. I’ve seen many people put wider wheels & tires on both the front & rear. But no one seems to care that it looks odd! These protrude past the lower parts of the covers! So I addressed this in the front & rear.

First I will show the rear cover upgrade.

Before!

 

[Last American Indian]

After!

 

[Last American Indian]

How it was done!

 

[Last American Indian]

Rims, Rubber. Wheels increased from 16”X6.5” to 18”X8” & tires went from 225/60r16 to 245/45r18. As mentioned the front track went from 61.7 inch to 64.5 & the rear track went from 61.1 inch to 64.5! This adds substantial stability to cornering. Additionally the increase in rim & tire size changed nothing tire diameter. So the speedometer still reads accurately.

 

[Last American Indian]

The front cover, the SD air dam & the front splitter are somewhat complex from a build standpoint. To make the OEM front cover & the SD air dam one homogeneous unit will take some time. It will require assembly & disassembly more than once on the car to get the proper layout of the assembly. The OEM cover needs to be mounted as it would be normally. Including attached to the inner fender. Then the SD lip placed on it & arranged properly. It will require SS screws, body filler, some thin (.025) aluminum sheet. & great stuff foam & 3M panel bonding adhesive. If done in the manner I did it will change the look of the front! In factory form the front nose appears weak! Especially from the side view it is basically pointed. With a sharp slope from the hood to the front grilles. Then the cover tappers backwards towards the tires.

With this modification it gives a more blunt nose. Which actually makes the whole front nose look more aggressive & bold.

Hopefully the pictures explain most of it with fair detail.

 

[Last American Indian]

So here is the start of the build.

 

[Last American Indian]

So first mount the OEM cover as it would normally be installed. Next you are going to cut off the end of each side of the SD air dam. Looking at it from the back face, not the side. Cut off the end. In doing this correctly you will not shorten its length. At this point, leaving the two side tape on, start to mount the SD air dam. When mounted as you want it, with a felt tip mark the cover on each side so when removed you can make sure the side heights match & you can also put it back where you had it easily. I would also advise using spacers of some kind & clamp it at the bottom as you will see in the attached picture. This not only gives rigidity to the structure, but helps hold the two parts together before they are attached together.

You will also notice in some pictures the .025 aluminum filler plate that becomes the permanent connection between the two parts on the ends. And allows for a good structural support to finish the two as a one piece unit.

 

[Last American Indian]

The first picture, these screws are attaching screws for the aluminum plate.
Picture #2 is the screw coming through from the front by the fog light area. This screw pulls the SD air dam tight to the OEM cover.
Picture #3. The black caulked areas are the heads of the screws that pull the SD air dam dam tight on the side.

 

[Last American Indian]

Picture #2 shows the original opening of the SD air dam to be increased in size.
Picture #4 shows that increase. This larger opening will be used as a secondary enhancement to the ram air based on Bernoulli’s principles..
The third picture is the basic finished end of the two parts.