Replace or not replace belly pans

[bonehead]

Had a small mishap during the Texas Hill Country rally. While driving behind Steve, he kicked up a very large rock which I had no way of avoiding. Drive right over it. Heard the most ungodly sound under the car. Ajai was behind and saw bits of it spit out from the back of the car. Didn't see any obvious damage or fluid leakage at the next stop.

Got my oil changed yesterday and turns out it fubar'd the belly pans causing big scrapes and gouges with through and through holes in two of them.

Question is are the pans purely for aero (ok to leave them like this with just 'normal' highway driving) or do they serve some protective purpose to the undercarriage where holes would not be good to leave?


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[Howard]

If it were mine (I'm no purist) I would remove the pans and hammer them back into (approximate) shape and fill remaining holes and cracks with suitable epoxy.

Howard

 

[nota4re]

Got my oil changed yesterday and turns out it fubar'd the belly pans causing big scrapes and gouges with through and through holes in two of them.

I thought these belly pans were supposed to be as thick and tough as F150 truck beds..... oh wait. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist.)

 

[ChipBeck]

Ed,

I had the same thing happen when I was driving behind Blue Moose John. Horrible sound. I bought new belly pans and will just put them away. We will hammer the old ones out and keep them on the car in case it ever happens again. Having those belly pans beat up like that would bug me if I didn't have new replacements tucked away in my parts stash.

Chip

 

[bonehead]

Thanks guys. Kevin at M2K is going to try to hammer them out and fill in the holes. I'll update here with what he did when I get the car back.

 

[Sinovac]

Ed,

Consider riveting aluminum patches to fill the holes.

 

[MTV8]

Agree on repairing the existing pans and getting a spare set. If you need either of the side pans that are riveted in, those may only be available in silver and not black.

 

[soroush]

Ed fix it but if you plan on doing more than 225mph you may want to replace it

 

[KJRGT]

So sorry to hear Ed. Please keep us informed of the eventual fix.

 

[BlackICE]

How about welding in some new sheet metal to fix the holes like is done to body panels.

 

[bonehead]

The fix is in

Kevin hammered out the panels and welded in some patches.

Hard to tell the difference between the before and after Does look a bit better, but more importantly, no holes. I may still buy replacements and squirrel them away, though.

Aside from the pans, there were dings in the heat exchanger, battery tray and radiator hard line. Fortunately, it's all cosmetic that no one will ever see.

Thankfully the pans were there. Can't imagine the carnage that rock would have caused if they weren't in place. Thanks Kevin and M2K!

Before:


After:

 

[KJRGT]

Holy cow Ed!
I did not imagine that amount of damage.
Great improvement.

 

[mmlcobra]

I would buy the replacements for the future, but leave those on the car for "driving".
Best,
Mark

 

[viva gt]

OUCH!!!

 

[soroush]

The fix is in

Kevin hammered out the panels and welded in some patches.

Hard to tell the difference between the before and after Does look a bit better, but more importantly, no holes. I may still buy replacements and squirrel them away, though.

Aside from the pans, there were dings in the heat exchanger, battery tray and radiator hard line. Fortunately, it's all cosmetic that no one will ever see.

Thankfully the pans were there. Can't imagine the carnage that rock would have caused if they weren't in place. Thanks Kevin and M2K!

Before:


After:

Ed I was so glad the pictures were clearly marked i was a little confused :biggrin

 

[NorthwoodGT]

I would buy the replacements for the future, but leave those on the car for "driving".
Best,
Mark

I agree with Mark. leave them alone for driving but have spares waiting in the wings for the day it rolls over Barrett Jackson's floor cameras and hammers at $800,000.00 like all 05/06 GTs will in the future! jmo!

 

[PILOTJPW1]

Sorry for the damage.

That must have been a 4-5 inch Boulder?

 

[Magic]

I was in the lead and first one to go over "the rock". Guess I'd better get my car up on a lift and have the belly pans checked too!ack

 

[Xcentric]

That was a bigass rock.

I'm surprised it didn't take out the splitter, unless Ed went over it with a tire.

Amy and I looked at each other and we both said something like, that must have sounded like the end of the world.

I have an armored (skid plates, rock sliders, etc.) 4wd, and I always think of the GT belly pans as skid plates rather than aero bits.

Ed proved their value as skid plates.

 

[Simon]

I was in the car when it happened. It was extremely loud and disconcerting. Ironically Ed asked me if I wanted to drive that part....I am glad I passed on the opportunity to mess up his GT.