Punko

Are there any plastic engine belly covers or engine skid plates?

Macster

Going to do a bit of rallying this winter?

Punko

Hopefully only on road and rubber side down.

Macster

Well, then I'm at a loss as to why you think your car needs such a thing. First there does not appear to be any reports of any cars sustaining any damage that a belly pan or skid plate would have prevented. IOWs, given the number of vehicles in service and their use in a variety of regions and climates problems a belly pan or skid plate could have prevented do not appear to be common at all, in fact quite uncommon as to be dare I say non-existent?

An under engine belly pan or skid plate will almost certainly effect the aerodynamics of the car. I'm not saying the car will fly off the road at speed. While that is a possibility, mainly at this point my concern would be for the negative effect this would have on air flow through the engine compartment from the top through the engine compartment lid past/around the engine, and then out to under the car and away behind the car.

That said... here you go:

http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/99610798100.html

Oh, you wanted plastic. Sorry, the above is metal. I can't find any plastic skid plates, or engine pans.

Oh oh. I just read the fine print and the pan at the link above is not for Turbos. I did a search for Turbo skid plates and turned up zilch.

powdrhound

The 997tt and 997GT2/3 has a belly pan under the engine. It bolts directly to the rear diagonal cross bars (same part on both 996 and 997 cars) under the engine and ties into the 997 undertray. Both can be retrofitted to the 996tt with a little bit of modification. I have the 997GT3 under tray on my car as it has NACA ducts which supply additional cooling air to the rear rotors.

Punko

Thanks, I will check that out.

powdrhound

The 997 belly pans are nice especially if you run bigger brakes in the rear and need to get more cooling air to the center of the rotor. There is definitely an aero benefit as the 997 undertrays will give you a smooth architecture under the car all the way to the rear.. For running around on the street it's probably a lot of effort for a minute benefit.

Dock

How much of the bottom of the engine do these pans cover?

powdrhound

Pretty much the whole engine. The rear cover is triangular in shape and fits between the two silver diagonal braces that it clips on to. Look under your car and you will see what I'm talking about.

Dock

There are no engine cooling issues? The compartment fan blows air down over the engine and out the bottom. Seems like covering the bottom of the engine would leave the cooling air with few exit options.

powdrhound

I guess I wasn't clear enough. The rear triangular cover (the one NOT used on the 996tt/GT2/3) stops just forward of the engine skid plate so there is still plenty of opening, really basically still the whole engine. You can see it in the picture below. The 996 cars do not have this triangular cover and the section ahead of it is shorter in the 996 cars and does not have the NACA brake ducts built in. So, if you want to use the aft 997 cover, you must also use the panel ahead of it as the two tie into each other.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/10027728346/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/10027728346/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

Dock

OK...so it doesn't really cover any of the engine.

jimq

I have the one from my 964 in the attic. Maybe it will fit since its the same engine case