Belly Pan

[snydertalon]

So i've been working on my belly pan, and I have it cut pretty close to non-machined perfect. The tow hooks and oil pan have access, its fits in snug. I am rather proud of how it turned out.

FAIL. How the ** do I connect it? I talked to the guy at Lowes and he suggested some plastic push thing that works like drywall anchors. Except the whole it doesn't work.

From Daox's Matrix Build thread, where did he get these



or these



Or what are they even called so I can go find a place that sells them.

Stupid areoclips makes me wanna.........


Thanks for the help

[brucepick]

Hmmm. Try a pm to Doax.

I've started using rivets for some of this type stuff, with fender washers like you see in the photos above wherever there's plastic. I can't tell for certain if those are rivets but they look like they might be. If fastening plastic to plastic I'd use a wide rivet like that on both sides, otherwise the rivet will just pull right through. I found that 5 mm. (3/16") rivets go well with some standard size washers I found.

Rivet gun is maybe $15 or so?? Rivets are not too much - a few dollars for a small box.

[Cd]

Very , very nice.
Very clean and professional.
I think he might have been refering to dzus fasteners.

I work at BLowes, and we don't carry them. ( At least not in my particular store. )

Actually, it looks like you already have them on the grille block. There are several types of push fasteners. Check the pull out drawers in the hardware department. You might find something useful there.

I just used self tapping screws and drilled into the frame ... but I don't drive a brand new car like you, so ....

[Cd]

Harbour Freight has some really good deals on rivet guns - less than half the price of the ones at Lowes. At Lowes, we don't carry plastic riveters either, but I saw one at Harbour Freight ( complete with something like 30 1/4" plastic rivets for something like twenty bucks.

Good luck.

[snydertalon]

Originally Posted by Cd

Very , very nice.
Very clean and professional.
I think he might have been refering to dzus fasteners.

I work at BLowes, and we don't carry them. ( At least not in my particular store. )

Actually, it looks like you already have them on the grille block. There are several types of push fasteners. Check the pull out drawers in the hardware department. You might find something useful there.

I just used self tapping screws and drilled into the frame ... but I don't drive a brand new car like you, so ....

Originally Posted by Cd

Harbour Freight has some really good deals on rivet guns - less than half the price of the ones at Lowes. At Lowes, we don't carry plastic riveters either, but I saw one at Harbour Freight ( complete with something like 30 1/4" plastic rivets for something like twenty bucks.

Good luck.

I wish I could say that was my install. That is Daox's. But i agree, very clean.

I will look for a rivet gun. How easy is it to remove for maintenance?

[itsmedc]

you can get Dzus style quarter turn fasteners at jegs.com or just search for "Dzus fasteners"; but you still have to rivet in the little wire nutplate things that the Dzus head grabs on to.

[Daox]

Haha, I'm glad my simple grill block has inspired you.

Those are simply thumb screws with fender washers. They attach to another fender washer and wing nut on the back side. I wanted to keep it a tooless design in case I needed to remove them on the road. I picked them up at the local home improvement store I believe. Any good hardware store should have them too.


Thumb screw:




The screws on the bottom are just a fairly good sized phillips head screw and fender washer. I drilled holes in the bumper cover and let the screw do the tapping work. They hold great.

[snydertalon]

that was demoralization simple.

I am going to take other peoples advice and try the rivet idea. Are there such things as removable rivets?

[lunarhighway]

I am going to take other peoples advice and try the rivet idea. Are there such things as removable rivets?

rivets are usually quite permanent, but aluminum pop rivets can be drilled out again without much damage to the surounding material.

for most underbody work in plastic or alluminum i use self tapping wood screws or sometimes nuts and bolts as these can always be undone with simple tools.

[Funny]

I wouldn't use rivets, they are far too permanent for the application of a belly pan. What happens if you need to get to the underside of the vehicle for a repair, wasted minutes of work removing rivets and possibly damaging the belly pan? I would use self tapping hex head screws and fender washers, they are less likely to damage the belly pan, are easier to take off when repairs are needed, and with the fender washers, are more likely to hold the belly pan against the body without the pan getting pulled off (like if you bottom out).