Hilton

Quick question for the metal stamping newbies like myself.

Can the same tooling be used to stamp aluminium sheet? (or will the stresses just break the sheet?)

IMO, a slightly modified design using bare aluminium sheet (1mm or even 0.5mm thick?) would allow it to be shipped in pieces, and then just epoxied (or TIG welded for those with access to it), rather than incurring the additional manufacturing steps of welding, or the cost of stamping/coating steel. The design in my head is basically adding a couple of edge tabs and opposing slots to an aluminium version, a bit like kids' cardboard models. Slide the tabs into the slots, bend flush, and then epoxy/weld them in place. If the end-user wants them black, some etch primer and paint can be applied easily enough before assembly.

Destroying the tooling seems like a bad idea - Porsche prices keep going up, and at some point it will be economical to use. Or possibly look to recover costs by selling the tooling to someone who can get the manufacturing done more cheaply somewhere like Thailand?

As far as usage goes - the intended market for these was always (my understanding) those who have the excellent 928intl Aluminium pan replacement for the factory plastic one. Most 928's for sale don't come with any pan, so owners who buy the 928intl pan can't scavenge the old vents. I actually bought a busted-up used factory pan just for the vents, but with this project, was considering attempting to repair the plastic one and use new vents on my 928intl pan.

worf928

Exactly my point. When the pans go NLA will Porsche make more? Or will it be like the last run of shop manuals? Where they waited until they had tons of back-order, then did a run, and priced them 4x at $1200?

In that scenario $700 for an all metal pan looks a lot better than $1700 for a plastic pan with metal ducts.

ALKada

Joe, Just saw this update. I'm still in if you start stamping them out. Thanks!

ROG100

Plenty of belly pans in Germany and sorry Joe that you could not come up with an economical alternative. I also believe that Porsche is ramping up on 928 parts and certainly not making them NLA - exactly the opposite. They see the value in 928 parts - my spend with Porsche alone hits nearly 7 figures. I see parts on manufacturing back log more and more where a few years ago it was deemed NLA. They just made a new batch of rear belly pans for the 87 to 95 cars. Porsche is not that stupid - parts mean money and big margins.
I see owners paying maybe $75 to $150 for a pair of ducts but that is it. Yes there are those out there willing to pay $500 (You can buy the complete belly pan including ducts at list price $455) for a pair but they are very much in the minority - if not we would all be driving around in 95 GTS 5 speeds with a Greg Brown stoker.
The only thing we have to fear in the future is price. And those parts that Porsche decides not to make will be made by others. Look at Stoddard's and the 356 tub.
Kudos to Joe for trying to make this work.

Out of interest I looked back at the price of the belly pan in 2008 and it was list $355 and today it is $455.

hacker-pschorr

Interesting that something like a belly pan is getting attention yet fuel lines are still NLA. Silly Germans....

I don't disagree, but parts like this....how often are they purchased? Most belly pans were discarded by lazy mechanics, it's not a wear item you have to buy with every oil change.

Hilton

Most local owners I know have bought one within the last 5 years - usually due to hitting wombats or other large marsupials while driving close to dusk/dawn.

They look cute.. but they're actually 3' long and weigh 70+lb

baystate928

I was optimistic that the price would be a bit lower and allow me to patch up my current belly pan. But, I understand that there is a price to be paid for low quantity production. Unfortunately, at this price, it makes sense for me to replace the entire belly pan, as my current pan is likely 1-2 more hits away from disintegration.

ROG100

Just for the record Porsche stock as at 3/25/15 ------

Front Belly Pan - 87 to 95 - Total 203
Rear Belly Pan - 87 to 95 - Total 103

hacker-pschorr

If the factory plastic ones are really that fragile (or just stop hitting wombats??) I think it would be a proactive move to buy the metal one from Mark and the new ducts.

Just a thought......

Tom in Austin

So I'm curious, does anyone know if Mark plans to offer his aluminum pan with these ducts installed in the future or is the outlook that they'll continue to be sourced separately?

Alan

Some may have been discarded by lazy mechanics - I would bet a good number of those were actually already damaged though - these break very easily - and the older they are the easier they break. Plastic was really not a wise choice here. I'd expect that well more than half the removals are really primarily due to damage...

Getting a set of ducts (from Joe or salvaged or removed from a new donor pan) and installing them on an aluminum pad is probably the best course of action if you care about the function of the ducts AND pan since nothing else is likely to last for the long run. When a plastic pan cracks its very easy to loose the ducts as collateral damage - so you can't rely on harvesting ducts from your own plastic pan later.

Alan

rfuss928

I contacted Roger several years back to get some ducts for my Al belly pan. At that time, even salvage parts had become unavailable. Roger was working on manufacturing some in China. My efforts at the time produced no results and the pursuit faded into the background.
I am glad to see this is still active and would be interested if something becomes available at a reasonable cost - <$100.

ALKada

Not every oil change but I'm sure the wombat that I hit a few weeks back will eventually convince me to replace the pan again. Just not right now. BTW, a big thank you to Mark Anderson for making these!

BC

That's a sharp wombat.

dr bob

Alex-- That looks like a 'paintless dent repair' candidate.

If I were driving where hitting a 50#+ obstacle was that big a risk, I'd look at adding some reinforcement to at least the front part of the aluminum pan. I'd also be shopping for some steel pieces similar to what Carl offers, but maybe with a cross piece/plate that would add impact and more parking-bumper protection between them. Might be as easy as driilling/tapping Carl's brackets and adding some slightly-curved flat stock or formed channel between them.


I still have the original plastic tray on mine. The pan part is intact, but the thin front corner support arms were damaged by parking-lot bumpers and my poor distance judgement. The front would get pushed up as the nose rode up on the parking bumper, flexing the arms and finally breaking the tabs off. So I fab'd an aluminum bracket that bolts on to the frame at the original location just behind the radiator. It follows the original contour of those front support arms, goes across at the rear of the plastic nose where the tray attaches. The little spring-steel parts that hold the factory speed-nuts (5) are still there, but they sit on top of the new part and are not in service. Instead, there are Nut-Serts in the new aluminum part, with machine screws up from the bottom through the front holes in the tray and the rear holes in the nose piece.