Help with undertray

[rainagain]

Hi everyone, this is my first post!

Following the advice on here I've added a partial grill block to my 1.9 non turbo diesel 206. Last winter I found this undertray at the side of the road, with many of the factory fixings broken.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...119_142942.jpg

I'm trying to fit it to the bottom of my 206:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...119_164731.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...119_164722.jpg

It's going well but I have a problem. At each side of the front of the bumper there is a flat piece of plastic that goes on to make up the arch liner. This is parallel with the ground. The tray I'm trying to fit slopes down towards the ground from front of the bumper towards the start of the wheel arch. This means I have a gap of about 50mm between the bottom of the arch liner and the tray. I've tried to draw a picture below showing this

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...rchtraygap.jpg

Will this cause a problem? With winter coming I'm worried snow will get trapped in here a rip off the tray.

[jime57]

Looking at the drawing, I see the gap you are talking about. If it were me, and I liked the fit otherwise, I would shoot some spray insulation from a can into the area. That would bond all the parts together and would keep the snow out. The way you show the gap, it might actually help a bit with the airflow around the wheels.

Curious. Where is the Kingdom of Fife?

[Sven7]

rainagain, if you make one more post you should be able to go back and edit in the photos

Anyway Perhaps you thread a carriage bolt in there to hold it in place?

I'm guessing Fife is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife

[rainagain]

Originally Posted by Sven7

rainagain, if you make one more post you should be able to go back and edit in the photos

Anyway Perhaps you thread a carriage bolt in there to hold it in place?

Thanks for the replies, that's the right Fife! (I had to delete the link, with the less than five post thing again) I was thinking about screwing the tray to the arch liner but the liner's only held in with those plastic rivets and I don't think it'll be strong enough to pull the tray up. The idea of the foam sounds good but I think I'll need to cover the arch liner in cling film first to stop the two sticking together as I need to be able to remove the tray to change the oil, etc.

From reading about tyre spats the angle of the tray should help cut down on tyre drag if I leave it at it's current angle.

[jime57]

Originally Posted by Sven7

rainagain, if you make one more post you should be able to go back and edit in the photos

Anyway Perhaps you thread a carriage bolt in there to hold it in place?

I'm guessing Fife is Fife - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looks like both approaches might be right. Use Foam to fill the gap, then use a bolt to the fender liner to stabalize the whole package, without putting "much" stress on the liner. As you suggested use some Saran wrap to keep the foam from sticking to the fender liner. Put the bolt through some plastic tube, like a large soda straw, to make a "drilling" through the foam.

Btw, you can trim the foam after it has cured and you can always apply a bit more if needed. Just remember that this foam expands considerably as it cures, so err on the side of too little until you get a feel for the expansion rate. Start at the "thin" edge and work bakward to the wide edge. I think I'd plan on small multiple applications until I got a feel for how the expansion works. You will want to use somethng to hold the pan up, because the foam expansion will try to push it down. You may want to lay a brick on the wheel liner flat portion to hold it down. With those two measures, the foam expansion will be channeled into the gap.Be sure to get a good layer of Saran wrap on one of the surfaces.


It is a good looking undertray and your installation looks professional. Just your good luck to find it

[rainagain]

Finally got round to installing the tray tonight:



I was worried about engine temps as the tray covers the entire engine bay, except a little bit towards the rear. But on the run home it was as normal, but then weather is only a couple of degrees above freezing!

Thanks jimepting I used your idea of the foam to fill in the gap, I also put duck tape over the gap to smooth it whilst the foam set. Can't seem to get the stuff off my fingers though!

I did have one scare, I was doing 30mph along a dual carriageway and I heard a bang, I looked in the rear view and saw a piece of plastic looking much like an arch liner bouncing along the road! Lucky there was a roundabout just ahead so I spun round and parked. I checked both front arches where the tray was attached and they were both fine.

Confused I checked the back and notice the passenger side liner was missing. I ran along the road and grabbed the arch liner which turned out to my my rear liner. When I was fitting the tray tonight I also remove both rear mudflaps/air brakes, I didn't realise that the bolt at the bottom that holds on the mud flap onto the base of the bumper also holds on the rear liner, so I didn't refit the bolts. Doh!