latest in the belly pan thrash

[lovemysan]

started on the rear tonight. didn't get far. trying to work out the frame. I am also going to have to deal with the TUMOR muffler.

[SVOboy]

Sweet dude, I love watching your progress.

[repete86]

Sweet. Eventually I'll get around to adding one, but for now, I'm just longing. I'm too afraid of what a belly pan will do to my engine temp in 90 degree weather on back roads travelling across the state.

[The Toecutter]

How are you going to prevent rust, given the holes you've drilled in the body?

That's a big, big worry for my Triumph GT6!

[lovemysan]

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

How are you going to prevent rust, given the holes you've drilled in the body?

That's a big, big worry for my Triumph GT6!

Short answer = nothing. If this car last me 6-7 years I'll be done with it. And I don't think the belly pan will rust off between no and then.

If I worried about extensive prep of wholes I'd still be on the front of the car.
If I was going to prep them the fastest way would be cold galvanizing spray paint.


I don't think I would install a belly pan on a collector car unless I was willing to take a serious hit in depreciation

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Rust inhibitor then paint?

[lovemysan]

I got a little further this afternoon before church. Trip to church netted not so hot results. 47.9 going 49.6 return. 20mph winds, 36f, crazy traffic, Caught by a bunch of red lights. Road construction returning and after that a wreck.

[lovemysan]

I think I'm going to scab in coroplast for the rest of the pan. I fear the aluminum is a good transmitter of noise unless soft mounted.

So hopefully tomorrow I can get the pan on under the cabin. I still have at least an hour more on the rear of the car. I still have no good way to allow the rear suspension to drop while raising the car. So far I've just been crawling under and studying till an idea came to mind. It was nice working on the rear but I was bummed when I installed the panel and lost all my room. I'm a big guy.

[Compaq888]

I actually made a belly pan for my civic. I made a really bad mistake by not distributing the weight right. Wasted 8 hours for nothing. It would of came off and would of ripped my entire rear bumber off.

So I took it off and swore to never work on my car again. It's really weird but my altima was more aero friendly than the civic. But the civic has some vortex generators standard on the rear bumber so it led me to decide it wasn't worth doing the belly pan.

Who cares anyway. The civic can get 42mpg and the best I got with the altima was 31mpg. I still haven't changed the fuel filter, air filter and still using regular oil.

So far I wasted $30 on aero mods with no result at all. I could of used that money to buy a fuel filter.

[CO ZX2]

Originally Posted by Compaq888

I actually made a belly pan for my civic. I made a really bad mistake by not distributing the weight right. Wasted 8 hours for nothing. It would of came off and would of ripped my entire rear bumber off.

So I took it off and swore to never work on my car again. It's really weird but my altima was more aero friendly than the civic. But the civic has some vortex generators standard on the rear bumber so it led me to decide it wasn't worth doing the belly pan.

Who cares anyway. The civic can get 42mpg and the best I got with the altima was 31mpg. I still haven't changed the fuel filter, air filter and still using regular oil.

So far I wasted $30 on aero mods with no result at all. I could of used that money to buy a fuel filter.

Compaq888

Lighten up on yourself. I realize it's a dreary winter day, but "who cares anyway". The sun will shine tomorrow. You probably don't need me, you already have a mother.

Just a little sidebar. I built racing engines for a living for 30 years. I had some of the same customers for all those years. They became very personal friends. Many times I would have to listen to them grumble and groan and say "I've tried everything and nothing works". I finally came up with something to say to them (not very motherly) : "When you think you've tried everything and there's nothing else left that will help, just go sit down and watch the other guy do it." I think it snapped a few of them out of the doldrums.

Don't get mad at me. We have all had our moments of discouragement.

Sincerely, CO ZX2