Will do.

 

-I wonder if there is a difference between "belly pans" being discussed here-

My '85 has a piece of aluminum about 18 inches/45 cm wide and perhaps 40 inches/ 1 meter in length that should be bolted to the bottom of the radiator. I believe the '87 and later cars had a full underbelly cover, that extended back to the point where it was parallel to the front tires...

If this is true, then the later cars have something that is probably necessary for good cooling. Removing the "short skirt" from my '85 S2 made no difference at all in temperature readings- my car has nearly always kept its temp needle near the center of the gauge, with only a tiny rise on hot days in traffic, and then only with the a/c running.

(Of course I'm assuming that my temp gauge is correct, though I have no reason to doubt it)

Which brings me back to my question- I have a hard time believing this flimsy piece of metal could protect the bottom of the engine, so why is it there?

Normy!
'85S2 5 speed

 

Normy, I know the S4's had/have a two-piece belly pan. One bolts to the front spoiler and goes directly under the motor. The second piece starts somewhere around the flywheel/flex plate and is like you described.

In short, I think they are there primarily for aerodynamics and as an aid and assist under hood air flow.

 

We have the 87-95 aluminum belly pans in stock and will honor the DEVEK Days sale price of $220 through the end of this week (8/16/02). The regular price is $275.00. Ships as an oversize item so it is about $30.00 to ship anywhere in the USA.

We are working on a version for the earlier cars and will hopefully have a prototype available in about two weeks.

Thanks!

Susan @ DEVEK

 

Hi Susan,

Welcome aboard.......
Yes, please let us know when the belly pans for the earlier cars will be available.

<img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />

 

I ran my car w/out the pan for a little while on my 80' and saw no differences in temp etc. It was removed to inspect the damage caused by a pothole that formed where everybody's left tires sort of sank the asphalt downward. It left a small mountain sticking up right where 928 alternators are. I saw the dip too late and smashed the heck out of my undercarriage. Fortunately that pan likely prevented my altenator from being ripped clean off. Besides a huge dent in the pan which was easilly banged out, the only other damage was the plastic joby that keeps water etc out of the alternator. If you've got one of those pans leave it on! You never know if your repair dollars are going to get to your mechanic before your tax dollars get spent by Cal Trans! I bet this won't happen with the new Cayanne.

 

Normy is right! My car has a shredded belly ban that did nothing to protect my alternater and ac compressor. Both have a nice bevel to them from previous owners dragging the front of the car on whatever they could find. I left it on thinking it might protect something and add to the aerodynamics of the car. Should Devek design a full belly pan for early MYs I'll definately buy one.

 

Sorry for dragging up an old topic, but we do now have the belly pans for the earlier cars available. Actually it is an adapter kit to allow mounting of our 87-95 belly pan. You can see pictures and pricing at our web site. Thanks for the bandwidth and see y'all at the Frenzy!

Susan

<a href="http://www.devek.net" target="_blank">Check out our new 78-86 belly pan!</a> <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />