making skid plate, any advice?

[Red XS]

That's the same design that I used for my MY06 XS. I made mine a bit wider to protect CV's and other things out that way, but pretty much the same design. I used 3mm alloy as well which I could bend by hand with a vice. Each bend had to be done in small sections at a time because I couldn't bend the entire length at a time. But I got there in the end.

 

[crazydave]

That is the same as mine I had mine pressed out of 2mm ( could a
actualy be 1.8) steel I reckon it is strong enough I have managed to hang the car on it it got bent but no damage to the sump etc

 

[NachaLuva]

Depending on the type of offroading you do, but I would make it out of 3mm steel or 6mm alloy plate.

teflon, make sure you put the checker side facing up. If it faces down it will "grab" on rocks, sand etc & slow you down & also do more damage when a rock grabs on it instead of sliding along it.

You could also add an extra flap at the front bent upwards. This will stop the front edge acting like a shovel, forcing sand, mud, etc between the guard & the chassis. It will also stop it from bowing out, as you will find it has a habit of doing.

As you've already cut the guard out, you could cut another section ~100x520mm & rivet it to the front. This will strengthen this section.

I would strongly recommend riveting a second reinforcment layer under the sump for better protection. You could glue it as well to further strengthen it & avoid vibration with polyurethane such as Sikaflex.

My sumpguard is 2mm steel & it didnt resist bending under the sump very well so I added some 5mm plate there. That was overkill lol, but you get the idea :lol:

 

[Red XS]

Another thing that I forgot to mention is I put some spacers on the bolts at the front of the bash plate in between the plate and chassis. This was to make the bumper and the plate level with each other. As you can see in the top right hand corner of this pic.

That way when I reverse the bumper won't catch on stuff and fall off.

I mean it won't catch on stuff as often.

 

[crazydave]

NachaLuva
Fair enough with the comments on type of offroad I hate to think what you are doing to you cars if 2mm steel is not thick enough.

When I fitted the guard I jacked the car up on it. Yes it deformed but didn't touch the sump and bent back after. When I hung the car on it it was a rock and one of the front wheels wasboff the ground enough to loose traction again I checked and no contact with the sump. Although it ddid need a bit of panel beating

 

[Ratbag]

^ Gidday Dave

IIRC, the sump guards on a number of our cars back in the 1960s were made from 1/8 th inch steel plate. That's 3.175 mm. It is possible that the one on our Austin 1800 was 3/16 th inch ... It was strong enough to deform the entire car when it took a bite out of the Earth's crust about 2.5 feet wide, by about 6 feet long and around 3 to 4 inches deep ... The car was travelling at around 90+ mph when this occurred. The sump guard wasn't damaged, as I recall ... :iconwink:.

As for NL's off-roading style - I don't think it would be exaggerating to say that he is a little bit hard core ... :iconwink: :biggrin: :lol: :rotfl:.

 

[NachaLuva]

I prefer to think of my offroading style as "enthusiastic" :biggrin:

There are still a few tracks I havent tried yet although others have, but then they have better drivelines...

 

[shotgun willie]

My plate is pretty similar to red XS'. I took a 3ftX3ft peice of 3/16? in galvanaized steel, bent it around the sump and bolted it up there in place of the plastic stock cover. Bending the steel was a bit of a challenge with no power tools but I managed it somehow.

It ain't the prettiest but it was cheap and only took about 30 min to install. Its taken some pretty good hits since installation and its never had any damage done to it.

https://imgur.com/a/CHc0Q

 

[crazydave]

Shotgun,

I had a look at your pics I don't think your plate is 3/16 that is 4.6mm you would never bend that without proper gear - probably 16 gauge - 1.5mm thick that you could bend with difficulty

 

[Ratbag]

^ I agree, Dave.

But 16 ga. steel is still pretty strong though ... :biggrin:

 

[NachaLuva]

Simple but effective :biggrin:

 

[NC Native]

Here's how I did mine awhile back.
A local shop had an 1/8" 36x30 sheet of Aluminum for $42. I used a piece of cardboard to make my template and transferred it the aluminum. Luckily my work has a metal break, so I didn't have to break my back, just about had a kid bending it though. The finished side was really scratched up, so I used 80 grit sandpaper to give it a textured look. I used 3 5/16' washers epoxied together and 3" bolt with a ~2 3/4 stand off (didn't measure that).

Here is a link for multiple designs on skid plates. I used StealthTL's drawing for a rough idea

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[NachaLuva]

That looks good but why put the bend in front of the front bolt holes, which necessitates using those tube spacers? Putting the bend on the other side means one extra bend but a much stronger result

 

[NC Native]

Both Primitive Racing and Subtle Solution in addition too StealthTL's skid plates look similar to the way I made it, so I used theirs as an idea template. I didn't like the look nor how the front corners might catch on something the way redsx (just as an example) did his. Believe me that is way easier to do. The front of mine tucks up under the front bumper and the leading edge sits on the front cross bar for added support. The main reason I did the stand offs was to overcome the drop front to rear.
What I should have done was modify the front bumper and ran it pass it.

 

[shotgun willie]

you're probably right, I couldn't exactly remember what thickness it was but it either way it has worked so far. Bending it was a challenge though with no tools, me and a buddy used the bottom of a balcony railing and pushed against the sheet of metal as hard as we could. It eventually bent after much cursing and back pain.

 

[Red XS]

My outer front corners actually sit right up hard in a grove in the chasis rail so the bash plate won't catch on any thing and adds extra support to it. The rear outer corners also rest up hard on the chassis rails as well. The more places it connects to the chassis the stronger it will be and the more it distributes the load on the car.

Also, if you tuck the bash plate up over the bumper, the bottom of the bumper can catch on things when you reverse. I tried to make mine as level with the bumper as possible, but it would be better if they actually connected smoothly to each other.

 

[NachaLuva]

Also, if you tuck the bash plate up over the bumper, the bottom of the bumper can catch on things when you reverse. I tried to make mine as level with the bumper as possible, but it would be better if they actually connected smoothly to each other.

Can you extend the bash plate a little further over the back edge of the bumper & use a few bolts to help strengthen the bumper? Just a thought

 

[Red XS]

^That should actually be fairly simple as there are already holes in the bumper (on my SG model anyway) right in front of where my plates bolted onto the chassis. I'll add it onto the list of things to do.