Time for a skid plate? Anyone have pics?
 

Hey guys, I recently did this to my bellhousing (better that than the pan!). And I am getting a nice Canton road race pan next month. Because I drive on sh!tty Norcal roads, I am always hitting some kind of sniper in the road it seems. And I don't like to drive too cautious. That's no fun.

What's a good "blueprint" for a nice skid plate? Searched and couldn't find any pics.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/DSCF3019.jpg

Dang! Going to be interesting to see what you come up with.

Dave - the only skid plate template I can think of is a GM factory truck skid plate, which may not work at all but will give you an idea of how one mounts up. Think circa 2002 - 2006 1500/2500 w a 5.3/6.0 LS style motor. I'm not sure that this will extend past the bellhousing but you could look at the part and see the design, how far back it protects your drive train, how low it hangs and how it might be modified/adapted.

I could be way off base here, as the factory skid plate might be too far forward, but that's where I'd start...

Thanks for the idea Ron... I will do some searching on that.

Ouch Dave, That had to hurt.

Very interested in your ideas on this.

Not just trucks have them.

Subarus can get them from rally armor, and a few other companies.

I ended up making my own out of 1/16 T-6 6061 aluminum, I'm sure you could do this too but might need to fab up some mounts underneath on the subframe and possibly the crossmember too. my 1/16 would not stand up on a rally course but for the street i'm sure it will handle anything thrown at it.

Good Luck

Thanks Ron for the idea. yeah I found the skidplates that you can buy for those trucks online, and their shape is pretty detailed and form fitting it appears, which is good. I just need to get one custom fitted for mine I would guess would be best. Should be a terribly difficult task I think. I hope. :)

Yeah I've had some hard bumps in this thing already!

Hey very cool, Clay. Got some pics of yours you could share? Sounds like 1/16 would be enough.

Thanks!

Sure. I used my plasma cutter to make the whole plate. went really fast once I had my template. I would imagine it could be cut easily with a grinder.

To get the bends lol I layed down a wood "bar" like the one in a closet you hang your hangers from, and placed the sheet metal where I wanted it bent and ran it over with a car lol. Not professional but it got the job done exactly how I wanted it done.

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a..._6236107_n.jpg

and here is a picture of it installed on the car. It's a tough shot to see because the car was not jacked up very high.

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a..._3937804_n.jpg

Clay, that is awesome man. Thanks for the pics. Looks like a great blueprint for me.

Nice work!

That is awesome!!!