divesnob

I was at the Parts Heaven swap meet and concours event today and saw some fantastic autos. I've got an '87 3.2 black on black coupe with a carrera whale tail and at the event today, I noticed that mine is missing the grille covering underneath the slots. I've attached 2 pics. My tail and one from the event today that has the grille.

(1) Was mine removed at some point by a previous owner and/or was it just missing when it was installed?
(2) Do all tails have this?
(3) If it should have it, where can I get one? Alternatively, does anyone have the schematic for this piece? I've got the big service manual, but it's not discussed in it. I have no problem fabricating something - just need to know.

thanks

Chris57

All the carrera tails and whale tails that I have seen have the mesh screen underneath the slots. I would suspect that it was removed at some point. I am sure that by tommorrow the experts will chime in.

Rick964

It is pretty much just a pice of fine mesh chicken wire so you could probably pick something up at Home Depot if nobody actually sells this part. It is not fine enough mesh to be considered a filter but it will keep out leaves, etc. I believe they are painted black regardless of the tail color, but I could be wrong on that.

Dan Cobb

Yep, they are all black, all aluminum and they all fall out or loosen up over time. A simple flat piece of metal screen will not work as a replacement without some modification because the edges of the factory part are all 'lipped' to form a 90° edge that fastens to the tail itself.
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theiceman

yeah mine is just about fallen out ... dificult to repair.

divesnob

if anyone on the list has one that has fallen out, I wonder if they could take a pic of it so that I could see what it should look like. i'm guessing there's some fasteners that also keep it in place - just wonderin what they look like as well.

also, is there any documentation on this screen in any book?

Rick964

The fasteners to keep it in place are threaded studs on the tail itself, then lockwashers and nuts to hold it down (actually they hod it up). Mine was just out, I don't have any pics but it was a trapezoid shaped piecd of the wire mesh. Trapezoid because it is wider in the back than it is in the front.

Dan Cobb

Here's a bit of knowledge that I just learned about these darned things:
Aside from the aluminum grill itself, there is supposed to be a louvered metal panel directly beneath them for additional support and probably to help direct the air. These metal panels are supposed to be held in with the nuts and washers attached to the inside of the tail.
I'm guessing that those of us with falling grilles will see that these panels are missing.
BTW, I found that mine is also missing the long metal backing plate that is supposed to go between the underside of the decklid and the screws that hold the tail on.
I guess I need to make a shopping list.
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JBO

...this discussion makes me think (which is a dangerous thing!), if one does not drive their car in the rain, would it enhance the engine cooling to remove this mesh grill? Intuitively it seems like it would, but I'm no engineer. Would also save a little weight, which is always good

My87Targa

the mesh grill wont really make a difference in the motor temp, but its the rain gaurds that will. if anyone can find me a part number to the rain guard\air flow director plate that goes under the mesh grilles i would apretiate it alot as i have been in need of one for some time.

Dan Cobb

I suppose I want a set as well if anyone can direct me to a source.
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