Show Us Your Skidplates!

[Luke]

It definatly did its intended job. What we hit was the equilvalent of hitting an 8" curb at full speed. Several other teams hit this ditch and ripped complete wheels off or did an endo and rolled. My plan is to basically rebuild it as it was except instead of a the 1x2 steel crossmember it will have a x-member made of 2-3 pieces of 1" square 4130 steel.

[Geoff]

maybe run a plate between the side of the support tubes to the skidplate to triangulate the side of the skidplate.

like this cross section view
O\_
___

O = tube
\_ = triangulation plate
___ = skidplate (ignore the gap)

Then maybe some more cross members if they can be put in places where they won't whack the tranny if compressed?

[Jordan]

Is it possible to make the plate too stiff though? I mean it crumpled just enough without causing real damage to components...if its any stronger won't those forces be sent through the cars body as well as yours?

[Luke]

Is it possible to make the plate too stiff though? I mean it crumpled just enough without causing real damage to components...if its any stronger won't those forces be sent through the cars body as well as yours?

Yeah thats why my door didn't want to open after that. Any lesser of a skid plate and we would have been out of the rally 3.9 miles in on the first stage.

[GRMPer]

Ahh, read the thread over on special stage...sounds like that dip should have been marked ditch..yikes.

any paint popped off your cage on the driver's side?

[Jordan]

yeah... there was no official recce either. The caution paint I think was saved for the triple+ cautions.

[GRMPer]

Yea, probably don't want to caution everything that's dangerous on those stages...some of them made me nearly poop my pants in 2006.

[Luke]

Thats the main rib thats made out of 1x2 1/8" thick box steel. I couldnt have bent it like that if I tried.

[GRMPer]

I'm working on my plate now..have the skis bent and I'm tacking them to the tabs that bolt to the new L shaped mounts that are welded to the body.

one question..how much or how little clearance w/ the downpipe? I've got the stock downpip on there now...would a header go down further or is it tucked further up? Looks like it's going to be a tight fit, as I'm trying to retain as much ground clearance as possible.

[Luke]

I think the header will only extend down a little further than the stock pipe, as long as you give that some breathing room you should be ok. I have a 2.5" pipe down there and the main x-member of the car is still the low point, not the exhaust. Make sure you put some sort of padding between the main x-member and the skid plate, even some 1/2" softwood would be ok, just put something there with some give.

[GRMPer]

Huh, ok, the downpipe is clearly the lowest point. I wonder if the motor mounts are a little sagged.

[Luke]

Thats weird, even on my first exhaust setup which wasnt as tight fitting as the current one the pipe was still about level with the x-member. I wouldnt think that the motor mounts would sag that much, maybe its just a poorly fitting aftermarket downpipe?

[GRMPer]

On this car, it's about 1/2" down. Just enough to make it a PITA. oh well. It'll self-clearance :lol: