I experienced a big downside to not running with an engine tray.

I haven't read about anyone else that's experienced this, but if your car is lowered, you can damage your car without an engine tray.

I ran without one. Those heater flapper boxes drooped just a little without it, and, like I said, my car is lowered.

Backing out of a driveway one night, the edge of the box caught on the driveway and came off and was broken in the process. When it broke off, it also put a little dimple in one of my oil return tubes.

I couldn't run the heater until I got the flapper box put back on and Porsche parts aren't cheap!

Needless to say, I now run it with my engine tray back on.

 

You can loosen the hose clamps and reposition the flaps up higher if you need to.

Just say no to the TRAY!

 

Erik is right,.......

When the tray is removed, the flaps must be properly positioned and secured to prevent such problems.

 

That there is signature material

 

Ok, got my attention...anyone have pics of what needs to be moved where?

 

me too....

 

I got one of mine snagged on a low parking stop when backing into a parking space once. Fortunately it only scraped it up a bit and tore the orange hose.
When I replaced the hose I did both of them and kinda stuffed the back end of the flapper box into the hose a little further so now they angle up toward the back a little and dont hang down as far.

 

Knowing that opinions on this topic are divided, I hope I don't open a can of worms.

But I have to ask the question; Why don't you just leave the engine tray in place?

Porsche must have put it there for a reason

 

Andreas

 

Engine tray is for noise reduction to meet certain regulations. There is evidence it causes hot spots leading to premature valve guide failure. Race versions of the 993 have no undertray which is a hint.

 

Wonder what is the purpose of the flapper box? To dump hot air out from the bottom when heat is not needed? If so, why? wouldn't you rather just block it off so the air being moved by the fan is used to cool the engine rather than just going to the heat exchanger and dumped out wastefully?

I took out the flapper boxes and replaced it with a section of the orange hose.

 

Sorry to hear about the $$$$$$ damage

TJ90 = vindication!

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...s-no-good.html

Craig

 

heater control box is $296 at parts.com. While unpleasant, far from a disaster.

I'd take a few $296 repairs before a valve job.

 

True. And I was able to pick up a pair of heater boxes from an RLer for $100.

That said, after reading the lengthy thread just posted above by cgfen, it doesn't seem there is a direct correlation between engine tray on/off and a valve job. It may or may not contribute to wear. It appears how the car sits in traffic or not plays a much larger role than the engine tray.

From what I gleaned from the pages on that thread, it appears you'd be better off with an engine tray on while cruising down the interstate, than idling in traffic with no engine tray. Idling in traffic over the years seems to play a greater part in valve guide wear than does the tray being on or off.

Mostly I posted to let others know there are other, less documented perils that can occur while driving without an engine tray, my heater box episode being one of them.

 

"There is evidence it causes hot spots leading to premature valve guide failure. "

Ive been asking RL for years for the data and no can produce. Just some ancedotal information on the subject.

I run with a tray for 2 more important reasons - 1) the tray has side wings that protect the engine from heat radiating from the mufflers. You guys think your cooler?! 2) Plug wires get trashed from road debris. They aint cheap. Why not protect them from the road?

See cgfen link above. It was my attempt to empirically prove whether the tray kept things cooler. Im not aware of any other real data on the subject.

If you race, AX or lift the car every other week, your excused with tray delete. It simply is easier to lift without it there. If you take off due to some viral RL explanation.....