dbower
Well-Known Member
The rock-crusher that came on my 2002, for some reason:
Skid plat/splash guard
- Thread starter vanbavaria
- Start date
So I have one of the ones from CS-Werk, picked up local from someone who must have bought it and hadn’t used it. I haven’t installed it yet because I am still needing to get under the car in my step of the build and don’t want to have to remove this. Once I’m done I had thought to install it, basically it’s just a piece of plastic with some attachment points. But then, since I seem to always have to find the hard rather than easy way, I wondered whether there would be any value in using this plastic piece as a template to fashion one out of aluminum that would bolt on and protect the underside. A sheet of 24”x48”x1/4” aluminum is about $100 so didn’t seem to be too expensive an experiment. Thoughts? Concerns? I guess the usual question is “why?” to which my answer would be “I’m in the Northwest, it gets muddy and rainy here and although I’m not planning on driving in rainstorms, it might be nice to keep that underside that I paid to have dry ice cleaned looking good”
I can understand something like that for a rally car that's offroad, but for the incredibly rare instance a piece of road debris that actually gets the pan, I can't see the point. It would have to be so heavy duty and connected to extremely stout portions of the subframe, that it just wouldn't seem worth it..besides, the plate would now be lower than the original pan level, which would invite more hits that would've missed all together...I have them on my 76 fj40, but that was born to smash stuff.. Even so, hitting something hard enough to wreck the oil pan would probably do some crazy damage to the subframe from a solid hit to a skid plate..
I understand the concern, definitely, but in 36 years of driving (including some really stupid stuff) I've never damaged an oil pan...and I hit a ladder on the 101 once, going about 60mph...
Just my .02 on the matter..;-)
I understand the concern, definitely, but in 36 years of driving (including some really stupid stuff) I've never damaged an oil pan...and I hit a ladder on the 101 once, going about 60mph...
Just my .02 on the matter..;-)
Makes sense. I was thinking more about just keeping some of the general road grime up off the bottom of the engine/oil pan. Most of my other cars have a plastic shield and they tend to get a little beat up over time - they are flimsy plastic, the moment one connector is pulled free then they start to flap around, etc. J guess that is the point, they protect but are perhaps disposable over time. Was just debating something that was perhaps slightly more durable.
I hear that. I really wouldn't mind making a nicer splash shield type thing for my bav. I may look into that after she's all buttoned up..it would be nice to keep road junk off the bottom of the engine a bit...keep it nicer. I don't think I'll ever drive mine in the rain, but who know...crummy Georgia weather and all..lol