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View Full Version : How thick is your skid plate?



joedoozer
03-12-2012, 02:59 PM
Looped it in turn 3 and 4 on Saturday and packed my rack full of mud, nothing bent or broken thankfully. Digging around in the scrap metal checking out what I have laying around. How thick should a skid plate be? I have a nice big piece of 1/8" aluminum, but I think that's too thin.

FlatTire
03-13-2012, 07:55 AM
I've never ran one and never had a problem. The rack mounting plate on my Larry Shaw is built well so it doesn't bend. Most of the ones I've seen are 3/16" thick.

joedoozer
03-13-2012, 10:28 AM
I am not really concerned about the rack or its mount. More worried about the power steering lines up front. I never worried about it either until Saturday.

shocker33
03-13-2012, 12:31 PM
about the exact thickness of a "road closed" sign........lol

billetbirdcage
03-13-2012, 02:45 PM
You should have something going from the cross-member to the bottom of the radiator. The reason being if you get on a heavy or rough track mud can clump to the front of the rack. Then if you hit a bump that clump of mud can dislodge and bounce up into the fan, it can bend the fan and make it hit the radiator and you have a massive leak that can come out so fast you won't see it on the temp gauge and burn an engine down.

Anything to stop mud from clumping on the rack will save you a lot of grief, look at any touring guy or someone that has raced for a while on heavy tracks you will see they have one for that reason. I learned this the hard way years ago like so many others.

joedoozer
03-13-2012, 03:08 PM
about the exact thickness of a "road closed" sign........lol

My dad has a .080" piece of steel I will probably use. That about "road closed" thickness :).

dualdj1
03-13-2012, 03:13 PM
We've never run one in LM or mod and never had a problem. but our track is typically not rough, and it's not a bad idea as long as it doesn't mess up your airflow

joedoozer
03-13-2012, 03:19 PM
Airflow? Shhhhh! I am going to make it huge to deflect under the deck to suck the car to the track. Maybe rig up some of those exhaust blown diffusers that F-1 made illegal :).

dualdj1
03-15-2012, 12:58 PM
Airflow? Shhhhh! I am going to make it huge to deflect under the deck to suck the car to the track. Maybe rig up some of those exhaust blown diffusers that F-1 made illegal :).


Lol, awesome. If it works, I'm stealing it. lol