I have had to clean out the area between the condenser and radiator on my '86 Coupe several times.  It is somewhat time consuming as there are many screws and some hoses to disconnect before the top cover can be removed.
I see that Mid America sells a mesh screen that can be attached to the intake area and prevent the accumulation of leaves and crud.  They want $60 for the item.  I cannot see how it attaches to the bottom of an '86.  Have any of you purchased this item?  How does it go on?  Why couldn't I just purchase some plastic screen from a hardware store and make my own attaching holes?

If you take a look at this set up, it uses the factory screws in front, and apparently just sits in a trough at the rear. I've seen lotsa guys make their own screens...no reason you couldn't.

http://www.wheelskin.com/sc-3001.html

Joel:
Thanks for the info and the picture.  It looks like the screen is installed on a later C4.  My '86 is a bit different.  Do you know approximately how wide the screen is?

http://www.c4vetteregistry.com/member_uploads/13701_13800/13759/C4_air_dam_screen_-from_gutter_guard_2r.jpg

http://www.c4vetteregistry.com/member_uploads/13701_13800/13759/ZEA6E_C4_air_dam_screen_-from_gutter_guard_1.JPG

I had that problem, big time.  I drive through farm country to+from work every day.  The Corvette's front acts as a vacuum to such up air into the condenser and radiator.  Also sucks up dead birds, chipmunks, leaves, and other critters and debris.  I had to replace the front fan, condenser, and radiator.  Then my mechanic had a great idea to put some kind of screen across the opening above the black plastic air dam and bounce unticketed passengers away.  I came up with a cheap solution to his solution.  Went to hardware store (Home Depot, Lowes, Ace) and bought a two dollar piece of curved mesh screen for keeping leaves out of roof gutters.  Perfect size (about 6" tall and 3' wide) and it's a stiff metal screen with good sized openings and the curve shape acts like a deflector, while allowing air to get in and the air dam do its damn job.  With mine, we just cut the screen to fit, put in a couple screws on the top corners where it touched flat plastic, and used zip ties to hold it down around the edges and bottom.  Looks cool, too.  No problems since and it has no patent!  If I knew how to post pictures, I'd show you how it looks.  If anyone wants me to send pictures, just pm/email me (batayloresq@msn.com).


(changed two large images to links-aapple)


|UPDATED|7/6/2012 10:19:02 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Sorry for the sucky picture post job.  I tried it and you can see pictures of what I did with the gutter guard screen.  Anyway, this is a good tip and I'm finally glad to be able to add something useful, from someone who can't fix a Corvette, but loves to drive one...and appreciates all the tips from those who can fix 'em.

Great solution.        I did the same to mine, except painted it black. LIked it so much I fashioned the same material and made covers for the fog lights that I can pop in or our in black also.