Skid plates to protect exhaust..
Discussion
Rower mentioned here www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=11&t=36714 that he'd got skid plates fitted..
Since I've basehed the pipe again, (Snale Pass is wonderful but deadly to an S), been considering such a device. Only thing that concerns me slightly is if its strong enough to protect the pipe, will it lift the front wheels off the ground rally car style and hence potentially cause all sorts of other problems? i.e. loss of ability to point it where I want it to go, thence potentially insurance complaining etc in the event of something nasty.
Ideas anyone?
Since I've basehed the pipe again, (Snale Pass is wonderful but deadly to an S), been considering such a device. Only thing that concerns me slightly is if its strong enough to protect the pipe, will it lift the front wheels off the ground rally car style and hence potentially cause all sorts of other problems? i.e. loss of ability to point it where I want it to go, thence potentially insurance complaining etc in the event of something nasty.
Ideas anyone?
If you hit the floor hard enough to deform part of the exhaust then you'll probably deform the exhaust anyway even if you have skid plates fitted. The only way to deflect the impact on to something else would be to attach the skid plates to something like the chassis rather than the exhaust but then you'd transfer the impact to the chassis which wouldn't be a good thing.
My impression of the job of skid plates was to stop damage to the exhausts through abrasion rather than impact. In my experience I have only had a fairly hefty impact on the downpipes from a speed bump and never abrasion caused by the car bottoming out of the road. In the instance of the speed hump impact I was glad that the downpipes deformed rather than passing the impact on to the substantially more expensive manifolds/exhaust/chassis. If you are getting abrasion to the pipes from the road from protracted bottoming out then skid plates may well help but I suspect the problem would probably be better sorted by making sure your exhaust is fitted correctly (downpipes pushed high onto the manifolds), making sure your springs are 'fresh' and ensuring that your tyres are the correct size.
All imo of course.
Regards,
Mark
My impression of the job of skid plates was to stop damage to the exhausts through abrasion rather than impact. In my experience I have only had a fairly hefty impact on the downpipes from a speed bump and never abrasion caused by the car bottoming out of the road. In the instance of the speed hump impact I was glad that the downpipes deformed rather than passing the impact on to the substantially more expensive manifolds/exhaust/chassis. If you are getting abrasion to the pipes from the road from protracted bottoming out then skid plates may well help but I suspect the problem would probably be better sorted by making sure your exhaust is fitted correctly (downpipes pushed high onto the manifolds), making sure your springs are 'fresh' and ensuring that your tyres are the correct size.
All imo of course.
Regards,
Mark
I hadn't thought of putting one there I must admit... good idea now you mention it and it would have saved me having to get the leading edge of my silencer rewelded when I split it on a another speed bump.
Rower said: Mark is quite corect, the plate purely acts as deflector, it takes the form af metal plate welded to the silencer box at one end and then the other end welded to the pipe itself , this will then provide a slope to allow the box to ride over the obstruction rather than snagging it.
Mark
Mine's running at the right height (confirmed by DB) and running 60 profile tyres...
There are some SIGNIFICANT speed bumps round my way... some are best approached head on.. S L O W L Y, whilst others have to be taken at 45 degrees... and the ones like spots are to be avoided at ALL costs.
A load of the roads I use are single track in places... and due to wear, the camber is accentuated... so the tyres sit in the groves and scrape the exhaust...!
Is there any room to have a custom exhaust, so that the lowest point would be at sill height...? - I'm even having to take a 4 mile detour on occasions just to avoid some roads!!!!
There are some SIGNIFICANT speed bumps round my way... some are best approached head on.. S L O W L Y, whilst others have to be taken at 45 degrees... and the ones like spots are to be avoided at ALL costs.
A load of the roads I use are single track in places... and due to wear, the camber is accentuated... so the tyres sit in the groves and scrape the exhaust...!
Is there any room to have a custom exhaust, so that the lowest point would be at sill height...? - I'm even having to take a 4 mile detour on occasions just to avoid some roads!!!!
The exhaust runs down under the center of the car and the pipes run directly under the gearbox mounting cross member which can't be raised any higher. That (I think) is the lowest point and is unfortunately the middle of the car in both directions (more or less) and is also where the pipes go into the silencer box so that is where it hits the floor if the downpipes don't hit the floor first. The pipes already enter the silencer at the bottom and the top of the silencer is recessed into the chassis under the prop. The only way I could see of reducing the height would be to make the pipes more oval so they are wider than they are high but I don't know what effect this would have on power and if you kept the same volume of the pipe then the silencer wouldn't be wide enough to accomodate the width of the pipes if you see what I mean. You couldn't make the silencer any wider as it would no longer fit in the chassis recess.
Is there any room to have a custom exhaust, so that the lowest point would be at sill height...?
The only thing I can think of would by to run the manifolds out of the bonnet and build some high vertical exhaust stacks but that may not look so great
Mark
Edited to say: Are there any spacers between the body and the chassis? If there were maybe you could fit thinner spacers and then increase the spring length which would have the effect of raising the chassis and the exhaust but not making the car look 'jacked up'.
>> Edited by dern on Friday 25th April 13:32
Think my car rides at the right height, springs and shocks all ok and drivber weight isn't too much of an issue..
Not much in the way of silencing on mine, the bit that always snags is where the downpipes turn 90 degrees to run along the length of the car. The company that made the pipe flattened them by about a third, (gives me more clearance but can't be good for power), but the near side pipe has taken 2 significant bumps, further constricting its diameter. One I know I did, bouncing along Snake Pass we momentairly left the ground and came back with a thump. Speed bumps are a pain, but I don't think have caused too much damage, but when I sort the pipe over the summer I'd like to protect this bit if at all possible..
Not much in the way of silencing on mine, the bit that always snags is where the downpipes turn 90 degrees to run along the length of the car. The company that made the pipe flattened them by about a third, (gives me more clearance but can't be good for power), but the near side pipe has taken 2 significant bumps, further constricting its diameter. One I know I did, bouncing along Snake Pass we momentairly left the ground and came back with a thump. Speed bumps are a pain, but I don't think have caused too much damage, but when I sort the pipe over the summer I'd like to protect this bit if at all possible..
shnozz said:
Podie said: Hmm... is there anything else that can be done to give greater ground clearance..?
I went for new springs (shocks were ok) and back to the original 60 profile tyres.
other than that - the driver can lose weight.
Hmm... lets see who's carrying more pie next Friday eh..?
:legsittothegym:
shnozz said:
Psychobert said:
Not much in the way of silencing on mine
you dont say
can we get a mpg of your exhaust on PH somehow?
BTW Simon - expect to be in contact next Monday with final details
Was thinking of entering the PistonFest most subtle exhaust note contest
Be interesting if I can show those big V8s what a little V6 can do
Have an mpg somewhere thanks to Joolz; will send a mail or two and see what I can do..
Might mail you with a different email address, (my PDA is refusing to talk to my phone at the moment so may be email and PHless for a week..)
Psychobert said:Might mail you with a different email address, (my PDA is refusing to talk to my phone at the moment so may be email and PHless for a week..)
What language is that written in??
I have your number mate. Will call you Monday probably - spoke to Mungo today to sort out the final arrangements and he will be coming back to me by monday.
shnozz said:
Podie said: Hmm... lets see who's carrying more pie next Friday eh..?
:legsittothegym:
oh I think i know the answer to that one already
still, if you have a big nail, you need a big hammer to knock it in
Not always; couple of good whacks with a bit of subtlety and the appropriate leverage will do the bizz with a large nail and modest sized hammer..
shnozz said:
Psychobert said:Might mail you with a different email address, (my PDA is refusing to talk to my phone at the moment so may be email and PHless for a week..)
What language is that written in??
I have your number mate. Will call you Monday probably - spoke to Mungo today to sort out the final arrangements and he will be coming back to me by monday.
Ok.. No worries..
Translation is roughly that I'm stuck in a hotel for the week with a laptop that can't connect to the internet due to work not allowing it and a hand held gadget that would connect but is sulking.
shnozz said:
Psychobert said:
Not much in the way of silencing on mine
you dont say
can we get a mpg of your exhaust on PH somehow?
1.6 meg avi on SleepyFish c/o Luca Brazzi..
Link is here: www.sleepy-fish.com/video_page.htm
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