an aluminum turkey pan. It actually looks very nice and blends right in with the aluminum piece that the black OEM pan attaches to. I'm surprised that it looks clean and not like it had been duct-taped together :P
I only did the passenger side since that's the part that I was missing. It was never really a priority to get a replacement, and I was fine with out the piece since I figured it would make changing the oil a bit faster. But then a posts I read earlier this week got me thinking about putting something under there. Some people here have suggested cloroplast (?). I was brainstorming some ideas on what materials I could use. I was going to get one of those big square tubs and cut out a nice flat piece and trim it to size, but then I was at the store the other day and came across some turkey oven pans. Cheap and easy to shape/cut.
I used the rectangular ones and not the oval ones. I also preferred using the pans with simple parallel grooves and not the ones with intricate ones. The flat bottom measures 15 x 10.5 inches, good enough to cover just enough to the oil drain plug. I velcroed the side that would attach to the black piece closest to the wheel and secured the other side with a bolt that goes through the hole on the stock aluminum piece.
I know it's not going to protect the oil pan from scrapes, as it's pretty flimsy, but it's sturdy enough to give a nice areodynamic and clean look to the bottom. I tried taking a pic but the car wasn't lifted and i couldn't position the camera to get a nice shot.
Most digital cameras focus quite closely. Do this: Run your car's two wheels (slowly, of course) up on a curb (the higher the better). Set your camera to "no flash" and "self timer," hold the camera facing down from approximately the bottom of your car's lifted-height distance to the street, depress the shutter half-way down while focusing down on the street to lock focus, depress the shutter the rest of the way down, and immediately, before it fires, place the camera under the car facing up. You should have ten seconds to do so. If you don't get the exact area you want in the picture, repeat the process until you get it right.
But even without seeing your pictures, as an inveterate tinkerer and frustrated engineer... huzzah, brother. I admire your ingenuity!
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Driving on down the road in my 2001 CVT, going "Boogety Boogety" ...and until avatars are provided, my car looks just like the original silver Insight on the header, above... =)
Boogety, thanks for the camera tips. My current crappy HP 3.1mp camera probably won't take much better pics than what I've already done. Hoping to get a new camera soon.
The foil pan seems to be holding up well in freeway driving. I've been sorta looking around at mostly grocery stores to see what other kinds of baking pans there are. I've found some foil pans that are a bit thicker and thus more rigid than what I have. So maybe down the line I will do some more tinkering.
Owning a Volvo 240 can make a McGuyver out of anyone :P I love my Volvo! I'm hoping the I1 will be just as easy to work on as my 240.
I am planing on using flat aluminum flashing that I got at the hardware store for just a couple of bucks. 16" wide and any length up to 20', by the foot priced.
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Jim Isbell
2000, 5 speed, 250,000 miles
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
So tell me how that worked for you? My dealer keeps taking pieces off each time they do maintenance work on my 2001. I get better service from my Napa service store on my Insight? They do my tires, oil sensor, water pump, and brakes and after maintenance work were performed by dealer mechanic and did not fix them or could not even tell they were bad? I guess I am still lucky at 298,000 miles at 52 MPG?
Too cold to work on the car. Its about 55 degrees out there and I dont go out in that temperature! It hasnt been a priority for me as I am getting excellent mileage. My projects now are MIMA and refurbing a spare battery (indoors).
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Jim Isbell
2000, 5 speed, 250,000 miles
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
I picked up a 1/8" thick, 2' X 4' sheet of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). As soon as the weather gets better I'm going to adapt it as my new belly pan / protector. The sheet cost ~$25.
I hope to take a pic of mine soon. I have to say it looks pretty nice for a $1 upgrade and has held up well. About a month ago socal experienced some heavy rain, and boy was I glad to have put on a shield under the passenger-side engine area.
Blue-civic-hybrid, where are you in SD? Are you anywhere near Irvine? Do you know where the Irvine Spectrum is? I heard that it's somewhat near SD.
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CHEAP MOD/FIX - made my own belly pan using...
