E28 535i skid plate

[Brian O]

There is a link to some pics of the finished prototype on the previous page. I'll try to get some pics tonight of it mounted.

[dcains]

If you are doing 12 GA, AL should work better and will be much lighter overall.

What will be clearance to the oil pan?

12ga. Is only ~0.11", and I would think even steel in this thickness wouldn't offer much protection from a good pothole impact. The 3/16" (0.1875") seems better to my mind, but again, I'd pick steel over aluminium, especially with only 1/2" to 3/4" of deflection needed to contact the sump. The sump guard on my Alfa Spider is heavier 1/4" steel, and even that can be deflected by a good pothole.

[shipsareneat]

I believe that 1/4" aluminum would be the best material for this application. I assume the alloy available is 6061-T6, which is common (please confirm)?

The yield strength of this alloy is actually higher than that of stainless typically. Therefore, the increased weight (3x that of Al) and cost of stainless is not justified.

While steel may be more ductile, the small clearance between the plate and the oil pan does not actually give room for the material to deform, which makes this property less relevant to our application.

The slots in your design look like they will not pose cooling issues for normal/spirited road driving. Thanks for designing!

[dcains]

1/4" 6071-T6 sounds reasonable, but not the 12ga. I'd like to see some destructive testing of the steel versus aluminium.

[glorentz]

I will take one.

[shipsareneat]

Any updates? It appears that there has been enough interest to make this feasible, right?

[Brian O]

Sorry for the delay, I have been getting my e28 all ready for paint and have been slacking on the thread, sorry. The skid plates are good to go, they are made to order. They should take about 2weeks to make and come with stainless steel hardware. pm me with the material type you want and I will start getting the ball rolling.

[palmerondrums]

INTERESTED! count me in