Hey there r3v.
Pictures and stories are fun, so lets have a go at this. My disclaimer though is that they are all taken with an iPhone so excuse the quality.
My little m20 powered e30 is quite heavily lowered and has been for quite some time.
My Raceskids skid-plate has held up darn well to the scrapes, hits, and bashes the road has to offer for about 3 years now coming off my old car and bolting onto this one.
About a week ago, after all the abuse, it finally failed me from a hit so tremendous I thought I literally tore through the rack and bent the subframe.
You know how trucks and trailers f*ck up the roads and leave wavy grooves on the road and freeways that match their door-to-door wheel base? Looks like this ~.
Well, yeah. There was a dip and a long one of those grooves on the freeway with a fat lane marker on top and I was merging thru it onto an exit. Holy fucking god damn hit. My car lifted a few inches from the crash going upward into the plate/pan.
Pulled over when it was safe into the residential and peaked under.
I didn't have a flashlight(it's evening time) and just ignored it to be honest. I was on the way to a family get-together and didn't want my mood ruined. Hitched a ride with my fam and went on. Left it parked to get it towed next morning to Castro's in North Hollywood.
The black lunchbox @ said height:
Skid plate height to the ground:
It's about a fat thumb's height in clearance.
Car jacked up and inspecting wtf I did:
So yeah, lol. The plate failed in the rear and pushed upwards into the pan in a very small diameter eggshaped area. To remind you, the hit was stupid hard. It scared the shit out of me and my little brother who knows how low these pans sit.
And now with the plate off the pan, brace yourself, THE DAMAGE:
LOL.
The plate saved my ass.
The damage was nothing but a weldable 2 inch hairline crack.
Now remember, the plate is 3 years or so old and has been taking hits almost daily. You keep bending a paper-clip, it eventually snaps.
It's been hit so many times that it has been bending itself closer and closer to the pan.
Here are some pictures of it off the car. This is when I hammered it back to shape.
Hands were too greasy to take pictures when it was all bent up.
Kind of the area it bent
lol
I'd like to mention my radiator support isn't bent or tweaked at all.
So after taking off the pan and cleaning it spotless inside and out, Castro welded it for me.
I cleaned the pan with a bottle of Awesome so it's not REALLY clean and contaminated aluminum metal isn't the most fun thing to weld and I will make sure I mention that in his defense because I know he will get mad at me, lol.
He's an awesome fabricator and has done a bunch of neat things for my car to show it including other happy customers.
Pan installed, coilovers raised 2 inches, and I'm back to enjoying the car again.
I will be purchasing another Raceskids plate again later next month. I'm extremely pleased on how it held up over the years.
If it hadn't been for the plate, I would be needing a new pump, pan, possible rack, possible subframe, and maybe swaybar?
I don't know. I'd rather not think about it, haha. :up:
Many thanks to ejnight and his product he offers the e30 community.
Thanks for lookin' ***
Pictures and stories are fun, so lets have a go at this. My disclaimer though is that they are all taken with an iPhone so excuse the quality.
My little m20 powered e30 is quite heavily lowered and has been for quite some time.
My Raceskids skid-plate has held up darn well to the scrapes, hits, and bashes the road has to offer for about 3 years now coming off my old car and bolting onto this one.
About a week ago, after all the abuse, it finally failed me from a hit so tremendous I thought I literally tore through the rack and bent the subframe.
You know how trucks and trailers f*ck up the roads and leave wavy grooves on the road and freeways that match their door-to-door wheel base? Looks like this ~.
Well, yeah. There was a dip and a long one of those grooves on the freeway with a fat lane marker on top and I was merging thru it onto an exit. Holy fucking god damn hit. My car lifted a few inches from the crash going upward into the plate/pan.
Pulled over when it was safe into the residential and peaked under.
I didn't have a flashlight(it's evening time) and just ignored it to be honest. I was on the way to a family get-together and didn't want my mood ruined. Hitched a ride with my fam and went on. Left it parked to get it towed next morning to Castro's in North Hollywood.
The black lunchbox @ said height:
Skid plate height to the ground:
It's about a fat thumb's height in clearance.
Car jacked up and inspecting wtf I did:
So yeah, lol. The plate failed in the rear and pushed upwards into the pan in a very small diameter eggshaped area. To remind you, the hit was stupid hard. It scared the shit out of me and my little brother who knows how low these pans sit.
And now with the plate off the pan, brace yourself, THE DAMAGE:
LOL.
The plate saved my ass.
The damage was nothing but a weldable 2 inch hairline crack.
Now remember, the plate is 3 years or so old and has been taking hits almost daily. You keep bending a paper-clip, it eventually snaps.
It's been hit so many times that it has been bending itself closer and closer to the pan.
Here are some pictures of it off the car. This is when I hammered it back to shape.
Hands were too greasy to take pictures when it was all bent up.
Kind of the area it bent
lol
I'd like to mention my radiator support isn't bent or tweaked at all.
So after taking off the pan and cleaning it spotless inside and out, Castro welded it for me.
I cleaned the pan with a bottle of Awesome so it's not REALLY clean and contaminated aluminum metal isn't the most fun thing to weld and I will make sure I mention that in his defense because I know he will get mad at me, lol.
He's an awesome fabricator and has done a bunch of neat things for my car to show it including other happy customers.
Pan installed, coilovers raised 2 inches, and I'm back to enjoying the car again.
I will be purchasing another Raceskids plate again later next month. I'm extremely pleased on how it held up over the years.
If it hadn't been for the plate, I would be needing a new pump, pan, possible rack, possible subframe, and maybe swaybar?
I don't know. I'd rather not think about it, haha. :up:
Many thanks to ejnight and his product he offers the e30 community.
Thanks for lookin' ***
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