K Series sump guard

[Brian Deacon]

Just fitted a 2mm alloy plate sump guard or skidplate.  Not for Rally Cross! But should protect the vertical front face of the sump from road debris, and act as a sacrificial surface for the bottom of the sump over speed bumps/ferry ramps etc.  Front edge is on rubber mounted U bolts to the chassis. The rear is bent up between rear of sump and front of gearbox then Tie Wrapped to chassis. Rubber strip between guard and sump at the rear to maintain an air gap and prevent any vibes. Tie wrap is heavy duty reusable, and the whole thing can be removed in five minutes. Not sure if I should have put a row of cooling air holes in the front though?  

Photo added.   

[Jonathan Kay]

I think there'll be a lot of interest in this.

Tried to put a photo on but cannot find how to. 

Do you want to upload the photos to this site, or put them on a server somewhere and link to them? Ian B's excellent Forum Guide.

Jonathan

[Brian Deacon]

Thanks for photo link. Photo now added to original post.

I am sure a lot of people will think "just added weight" but for touring it seems sensible to me.

[Paul Richards]

I've toyed with the idea of a sump guard in the past but on a 7 there are no real strong points to attach to. I  was always concerned that a hit on the guard would cause damage to the chassis here guard is mounted. I also felt that the addition of a guard lessened ground clearance even more and there's little enough to start with. 

I do however like the idea of the "skid" at the front rather than the square of the sump making contact with something. I understand why you have put rubber between the guard and the sump but I would suggest some foam along the full length. In my experience a void (albeit with a steel sump) will fill with bits of stone/pebbles and a hit on the guard would punch them through the sump. I would probably fill the void with something like camping mat to prevent debris entering. I'll be interested to see how you get on. Please update us.  

[Brian Deacon]

Ahh. I had not thought of getting stones in between the guard and the sump.  That is a very good point. I will look at a simple solution as you suggested.

It does reduce ground clearance by about 1cm.  

[Brian Deacon]

Now modified. Rubber pad removed and thin rubber strip put in its place. Gap between plate and sump in now about 2mm which is less than the sump fin depth. So any stone/debris that gets in the gap should fit up into the fins and no puncture the sump in a grounding. 

Also found that the front mounting covered the chassis cruciform area so that I could not easily jack the front of the car.  Now cut a deep U shape in the centre front of the plate, both allows access to jack the car and also gives a cooling air flow through to the sump fins.

Now fitted again and seems to work ok. Already has several scratches from speed bumps encountered at the weekend.