A tip for folks who have warm weather coming up.

We periodically see requests here for better radiators, tropical fan clutches and any other possible aids to better cooling. Here's one I was unaware of until a friend pointed it out to me a few weeks ago.

So far as I know (thanks to my friend who clued me in), most or all 240s had a deflector behind the front air dam, placed to direct air flow up to the radiator, from the air captured by the three large center holes in the air dam.

I only recently learned that this was on the car. We have three 240s and none still had the deflector. My self service junkyard had three 240s when I looked for one and only one of them had the deflector. It's now on my car. Installation was a snap.

If you get one, do as I did and give it some extra security at the bottom edge where it could possibly pop free. I suspect the "passive" attachment at the lower edge is the reason that so many of those deflectors have been lost. I used some stainless wire looped through the existing holes. I'm sure that other good attachment methods are possible.

You certainly could fabricate one rather than get one from a yard. At the front edge, it is split into three 'tongues' which rest at the bottoms of the three openings in the air dam. The back edge is inserted into four metal clips which you will likely find still located on the radiator support bracket, just below the a/c condenser. Of course if you make up your own you may need a different attachment device at the rear edge. The deflector has vertical side pieces about 1.5" high to help direct the airflow inwards towards the radiator area.

Thanks, JS, for the tip!
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Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns, tach, small clock. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.