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under body plating?


Phizinza
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My exhaust gets hit every time I got out ... never done any real damage to it though, a friend of mine had the headers ripped out of his sedan from a big hit though, so is probably worth protecting it somehow ...

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haha..

Does anyone else do this? Or dosnt it matter to much it the under body gets hit.

 

 

i've seen the subaru wrx rally car(wrc) do the complete bottom side.of course i'm sure it's for air flow but with some of the hits they take i'm sure it's also to help protect the belly parts.

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I've been wondering how to replace the flimsy plastic engine cover that got chewed up the last time I went out. Road signs, eh? Haven't thought of that.

 

Primitive Racing makes some nice aluminum skid plates for the newer Soobs, but they aren't cheap. It might also be possible to adapt the sump guard from an EA-series car. That would at least protect the oil pan and stuff.

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I'm using a sheet of 1/8 steel.

 

I feel it's more of an early warning system than a protection system.

 

As I have it figured, if I hear it hit, I'll incur minimal damage and be able to back off the rock in question. :eek:

 

Anymore protection gives less clearance. There is kind of a trade off between clearance, protection and weight. :rolleyes:

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  • 2 months later...

i need to do something with the under belly of my legacy.didn't they come with some kinda skid plate?

 

i was under her today an noticed some of the hits she has taken(oil pan,exhaust,gas tank shield all scraped up)

kinda worried about doing damage to her belly

 

thinking about 1/4 " or 1/2",is there a big weight difference between the two?

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I need to do some armoring to my Legacy. I put a large dent in the bottom of my oil pan last weekend. (From a rock, I believe.) You know, it's amazing how durable these cars are. I can't count on my car being lifted saving my car, because all that is going to do is encourage me to do crazier things the more I have my Rubasu lifted.

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9465maybe_some_oil_pan_damage-thumb.JPG

 

is yours this bad.apparently i hit it so bad that i caused a small crack near the plug.(or maybe the gasket just went)

 

it leaks a little when parked after being driven,then stops with in like 20-30 mins.i made sure it wasn't anything else.

 

is it me or did they put some of the bolts for the pan behind that cross member :-\ how difficult is it to replace the pan?

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The dent is a little bigger than a golf ball, but it's opposite of the drain plug, so I don't think I've damaged it. I was lucky. I've got some galvanized steel that I think I'm going to bolt onto strategic locations under my Legacy after I complete lifting the front of the vehicle this upcoming Monday. The back will have to wait a week or two.

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Stock EA82 skid plate is pretty tough. I had to use mine to slide over rocks at C4C event. Exhuast is expendable; focus on protecting the oil pump, oil pan, gear box, and rear diff. Don't forget the sump that goes down into your, oil pan so your engine can properly oil itself is VERY CLOSE TO THE BOTTOM OF YOUR OIL PAN. The oil pump also sticks out front and center; easy to snag on obsticles if you dont have some sort of skid plate.

 

I need something a little more tough for the big rocks :) Either considering just beefing up the stock one or building a new one. Wish I had my own welder; I'd be done with it already :rolleyes:

carnage_crawl4cure_015.jpg

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I was thinking... I am planning to armor coat the entire bottom of my brat to prevent any rust from building up, this is my plan

 

First I want to clean all the underbody rust by cutting out and reweld sheet steel where there is rust.

 

Then cover the entire under body (except for where all my mounting points are for the suspension) with 2 layers of fiberglass and the bottom layer with aramid aka kevlar. I will use a metal heat shield and high temp epoxy around the engine compartment and exhaust.

 

Finally cover the kevlar with rubberized undercoating.

 

This hopefully will prevent ANY RUST from showing its face around my car again. The kevlar is extreamly tollerant to punctures and the epoxy will make a totally airtight seal on the metal.

 

This process has nothing to do with a skid plate for the engine/ diff and such.

 

What do you think? It shouldn't cost more then $200-$250.

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