making skid plates

athousandleaves

New member
I'd love to hear some measurements for the 185...
I was thinking of making a skidplate out of lexan this summer seeing as Its cheap, light, and fairly durable.

I was also going to add some air vents to help it act more like a diffuser too. Sorta like what the WRC cars ran.
 

GT4RC

New member
Rick89GTS":27xjo5oy said:
In case you haven't seen it before, here's a link to Paladek's CUSCO ST165 Skid plate thread (more pics in link):
http://alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

IMG_3132.jpg
I've seen this skidplate in person. its beefy, and looks hardcore.
 

athousandleaves

New member
then it'll add too much weight to the front of the car & undo all the weight loss of AC removal etc.

edit

my friends are whiners.

and isn't aluminum pretty expensive?
 

l00k0v3rth3r3

New member
so I purchased my metal stock and its on its way to my house, i went with the 3/16" (~5mm) thick aluminum 6061. It was like $160-170 for a 2' x 4' piece. So we'll see how that works out. I have all the dimensions worked out, still working on a good mounting system, the one posted above looks pretty cool, and easy to do. Once I get this done, I can post some pics of it on and off the car with weight and everything, and let you all know how much it would cost to fab up a few more of course you could pick the material.
 

athousandleaves

New member
I'm more than willing to make skidplates... I just need to find the right source for materials and some time to make em... I have some preliminary designs mocked up already on paper with measurements and bolt locations too. :twisted:
Only problem is that I don't have any more money to sink into another project...
 

BNZ

New member
Can you share your plans/designs ?
I want to put them in CAD therms and give them a try at the water cutting machine
 

makenzie71

New member
aus jd 2703":2k7ygzo4 said:
are u sure bout this?
all kitchen and medical area's are stainless for several reasons one being iuts corrosion resistant. this comes from the nickel content in stainless.

bzzzzzzzz worng. Stainless is used in medical institutions because it is hypoallergenic and has a high heat tolerance which makes it very easy to sterilize. Has nothing to do with it's ability or inability to rust...and, yes, if it's made of metal, it WILL rust...even stainless.
 

makenzie71

New member
wow I didn't realize there were quite so many pages and such...

athousandleaves":39dqnk9z said:
then it'll add too much weight to the front of the car & undo all the weight loss of AC removal etc.

edit

my friends are whiners.

and isn't aluminum pretty expensive?

Aluminum is a LOT lighter than stainless steel...about half the weight per volume. You could make the plate twice as thick as the stainless piece and be in the same ball park. Also, aluminum is not too expensive. You can get a 2X4 ft sheet of diamond plate for a lot less than stainless.

I've made all my skid plates out of 1/4" dimaond plate because it's strong enough, light, readily available, and cheap. If I hit something hard enough to punch through it, I was lightly doing something wrong anyway and need to adjust my technique.
 

ToySlider

New member
Sorry for reviving an old thread but I too am interested in a skid plate for my st165. I am going to be rally-X'ing it this year and don't like how the oil pan is open to the elements so to speak. If any of the guys who have skid plates, have measurements of there skid plates and how they mounted them I would greatly appreciate the info so I don't have to start from scratch to try and make one.

Again sorry for reviving this thread it just seemed like there were a lot of people interested and it just kinda fell off.
 

jonnyboygt4

New member
you must think about the materials a bit more. stainless steel rusts fast if not painted well. second is weight! i think alluminum would be a better idea, only problem with that is cost...also what thickness of material do you plan on using?[/quote]

umm...stainless will not rust at all...ive got a 1/8 inch stainless skid plate on my GMC Sierra and its been ran through 3 canadian winters and not one bit of rust at all....stainless will only tarnish ...will never rust... and stainless is very durable...much more durable than aluminum....the stuff i used was very hard to drill as it was a very dence stainless.....pretty well armor plating !
 

BNZ

New member
After 3 days of designing,measuring,trials i've made myself a light replica of that Cusco guard,and i can make more of them in different thickness

Mine is 3mm hard-Al perfect for light gravel racing due to reduced weight.
At first i was going to do it from 7mm Alu but i realized I'm not going to race on such tough rallyes and belly-surf on gravel :)

Price is 199$ + shipping,although shipping from Europe to US will add some charges.

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