Quote:
Originally Posted by sregord
Sounds like a big trapeze.
All, even aluminum sheet, would...should have some focus'd protection from the wheel wells, well secured leading edges that face especially forward, but also left, right & the rear and keeping it away from catalytic converter & other exhaust piping heat.
...as Piotrsko mentioned IF a "pond" were to develop, a first inspection drain hole?
One more thing to ponder  is ease of drive-train maintenance. |
yes, the actual 'bottom' of the 'pan' should be 'flush' with the bottom of the airdam and rocker panels, requiring any splash or spray to make it vertically upwards and through the 'maze' between the perimeter
box' inner surface, and any 'gap' in between the pan superstructure and this boundary.
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Any exhaust component with a heat flux strong enough to compromise the fabric would need to be wrapped with thermal insulation, and, or, provided with enough heat-shielding ( multiple layers if necessary )to buffer that flux.
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As to 'ponding', a $7 leather punch can provide drain holes, centered on any fabric span, reinforced by a brass grommet from a $7 grommet kit from any hardware store. As soon as any ponding conditions were to occur, they'd immediately begin to self-drain by gravity.
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Over time, you're going to need access to the entire underbody, so constructing the pan in handy sections allow for partial, or entire removal. I use vertical tension hangers, attached to the frame rails, extending down, with stubby L-sections bolted to those, creating a horizontal attachment surface hardpoint, with spring-steel, 1/4-20 female speed-nuts clipped to the pre-drilled holes that stainless-steel, 1/4-20 hex-bolts are inserted and tightened into; which hold my belly sections. And I use 2-inch fender washers under the hex head of the bolts to distribute the holding force over a larger area to reduce 'point-loads.'
The speed-nuts have a slight interference thread, and bolts cannot loosen until you put a breaker bar or end wrench to them. And they can't fall 'off' as they 'clip' themselves onto the host hole until forcibly removed.
Don't use the cheap, crappy, zinc- electroplated bolts. They almost immediately begin to rust, create Galvanic corrosion, and will want to 'seize' in the speed-nuts, even if you apply anti-seize compound.
PS
When you're in town give my regards to the folks at the 'Bucket of Blood Saloon.' I had a nice lunch there with my brother a few years ago. Had I known you lived there, we might have droppd by to pester you.