anyone still have an under cover?
- Thread starter tonysupra
- Start date
Adjuster
Supramania Contributor
A few reasons I like the Plexiglas idea. (Although I still have my stock one, and mostly hold it in place anymore with zip ties and a few remaining bolts. My FMIC is not stock, so it fits slightly weird, but it fits.)
Good mod? Use left over cam cover bolts and washers.. they are longer than you need, but in my case, they are just right in a few places, and since they are stainless, they don't rust up.
Ok, back to the plexiglass.
1) You can see through it even on the darker material. (This makes drilling out the holes for the screws SUPER easy when you think about it. Just locate it where you want, then you can "look" through it, and trace out areas you want to cut out to make it fit right, and holes you need to drill to attach it to the stock bolt locations etc.)
2) Durable. Lexan, or plexiglass is somewhat flexable, but is going to be stiff enough to resist extreme bending at speed and under pressure if it's mounted right to the stock locations.
3) With some fore-thought and planning, you could reinforce areas where you mount it with two layers of plexiglass. Just glue them together. In my case, where the FMIC is lower than stock, and I need to make up the 1/2" or so gap between the lower radiator core support tie bar, and the cover, a layer or two of the lexan would make up the gap, and allow my cam cover screws to firmly mount the lower cover to the lower tie bar.
In my case, I want to build one that replaces the lower stock air dam, and forms a splitter, so I figure 3 or 4 layers along that edge would make for a nice thick splitter edge, and still retain some flexability to minor impacts and scrapes. (Bend before it just cracks or breaks I hope.)
Being made of plastic, no rust issues like sheet metal. (I suppose if you use aluminum, no rust there either, but it's going to bend upon impact with anything, and then stay mostly bent v/s flexing back to the shape you want.)
Another idea was using a sheet of polyethlyene, or Teflon that we use in food processing. These plastic sheets came in 4 x 8' sizes, were not to hard to cut with simple tools, shaped and sanded well and were nice and flexable. The only down side was the cost. IIRC, the teflon was really expensive, but the other stuff was not much cheaper. I just checked, and full sheets can run over 1000.00 now. DANG the cost of materials has gone up.
I'm off on a quest to find low cost, low quality ABS, or other 1/2" thick, to 1" thick sheets of plastic/PVC type material that would work well in this application. (The stock part is ABS or HDPE IIRC.)
Good mod? Use left over cam cover bolts and washers.. they are longer than you need, but in my case, they are just right in a few places, and since they are stainless, they don't rust up.
Ok, back to the plexiglass.
1) You can see through it even on the darker material. (This makes drilling out the holes for the screws SUPER easy when you think about it. Just locate it where you want, then you can "look" through it, and trace out areas you want to cut out to make it fit right, and holes you need to drill to attach it to the stock bolt locations etc.)
2) Durable. Lexan, or plexiglass is somewhat flexable, but is going to be stiff enough to resist extreme bending at speed and under pressure if it's mounted right to the stock locations.
3) With some fore-thought and planning, you could reinforce areas where you mount it with two layers of plexiglass. Just glue them together. In my case, where the FMIC is lower than stock, and I need to make up the 1/2" or so gap between the lower radiator core support tie bar, and the cover, a layer or two of the lexan would make up the gap, and allow my cam cover screws to firmly mount the lower cover to the lower tie bar.
In my case, I want to build one that replaces the lower stock air dam, and forms a splitter, so I figure 3 or 4 layers along that edge would make for a nice thick splitter edge, and still retain some flexability to minor impacts and scrapes. (Bend before it just cracks or breaks I hope.)
Being made of plastic, no rust issues like sheet metal. (I suppose if you use aluminum, no rust there either, but it's going to bend upon impact with anything, and then stay mostly bent v/s flexing back to the shape you want.)
Another idea was using a sheet of polyethlyene, or Teflon that we use in food processing. These plastic sheets came in 4 x 8' sizes, were not to hard to cut with simple tools, shaped and sanded well and were nice and flexable. The only down side was the cost. IIRC, the teflon was really expensive, but the other stuff was not much cheaper. I just checked, and full sheets can run over 1000.00 now. DANG the cost of materials has gone up.
I'm off on a quest to find low cost, low quality ABS, or other 1/2" thick, to 1" thick sheets of plastic/PVC type material that would work well in this application. (The stock part is ABS or HDPE IIRC.)
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Thanks Adjuster! I found some really cool plexi the other day that is tinted... The plastic itself has a dark tint to it, so it's not like it can wear off. I think I'm gonna pick up a good sized sheet of that and go to town when I get my bumper all mocked up and such.
Drew: I bet that thing sounds like a thunderstorm goin down the highway...
Drew: I bet that thing sounds like a thunderstorm goin down the highway...
heh, yeah, I was wondering about that...
what are you going to do with the front? its open, isnt it?
EDIT...
just realised it was metal, i know you told me it was, i think, but at first it looked like thick heavy-duty rubber...kinda like a mudflap, or a big rubber "rug" or mat for better grip, like the kind you might see at a supermarket entryway.
i wonder if that would work?
what are you going to do with the front? its open, isnt it?
EDIT...
just realised it was metal, i know you told me it was, i think, but at first it looked like thick heavy-duty rubber...kinda like a mudflap, or a big rubber "rug" or mat for better grip, like the kind you might see at a supermarket entryway.
i wonder if that would work?