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Unfortunately i can't take pictures of the car, for the moment.
I saw the solution on "Wheeler dealer" about building a Ford Escort rally car.
Instead of one hole whit a screw, you make to holes and use a ziptie as fastener.
I started building a rear diffuser (using "clean lines" as you suggested for aero stuff in the past) but there was a "mental disconnect" for lack of a better word, because our cars with the rear transaxle and fuel tank & exhaust... but with a pan that begins in the front & progresses rearward I'm hoping the car will show me what is required.
The rivets will not be from the body to the panels but from panels to brackets which will get bolted to the body (alum to alum & steel to steel). Trying to make it as convenient & quick as possible for servicing the vehicle. As it is the batwing section takes longer than I like, but I'm bound to conform to Porsche's valence design, and it's not too bad. I hope to make the middle section super quick & easy. Like 5 mins to remove, 5 to reinstall. The batwing is like 10 to remove & 10 to install.
We won't know how much added features are required to make the centre section rigid & quiet in all around driving conditions. Its something like 8 feet long (rear of oil pan to rear of tranny) It needs a lot of stiffening!
5mm thick sounds IDEAL. Just today I was driving on gravel & saw a 7-9" boulder on the road. I knew my existing batwing oil pan protector wasn't enough, especially since I only have 6" clearance.
The sheets are probably 1mm thick or thinner. I am keeping everything lightweight, so anticipated weight including the batwing/nose tray centre section and rear diffuser (yet to be added) will come in at around 60 lbs.
I hope that it'll pay for itself by saving weight (mud is heavy!) and just keep the undercarriage safe from fuel line damage & rust & so on. Keep mud off the bottom of the car. The purpose is prevent fuel lines from spraying on exhaust when I go off the road, and to deflect rocks from the steer tires that are literally destroying the exhaust, and to improve aero on the tarmac.
At a later date I hope to add select beefy guards that will hide above this pan, to not hinder air flow.
----btw-click on the little "youtube" icon on the video that I posted earlier... it's really good.
Noah, What about spraying foam between the body and your panels. Just in areas where there would be no heat or movement. Spray on panel, trim to fit. Almost no weight. Just thinking outside the box a little.