by "Rainbow" (rainbeaux)
Published 10/03/2017 at 07:46
by "Rainbow" (rainbeaux)
Published 10/03/2017 at 07:46
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STARS: 0
My Escort is on its last legs, and I really want to make it into more of a rally car before it finally dies on me. That said, would a street sign hold up fine as a skidplate? I dont have access to any fancy tools, so thats the eadiest way to get something that’s already about the right size. I already have a stop sign, anyway.
Also, would it be too unstable to mount fog lights to the plastic bumper cover? I want a set, but I feel like they might shake loose.
"Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner" (gavinharter30)
10/03/2017 at 07:53, STARS: 1
I’m guessing so.
"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
10/03/2017 at 08:15, STARS: 1
The makings of a rally car usually end up upside down in a ditch. So I’d start there before getting fancy with a stolen stop sign. Then go full Orlove with a tin of petrol and set it on fire...
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
10/03/2017 at 08:45, STARS: 1
I’ve seen roadsigns used as skid plates. I bet a proper aluminum or steel plate would be better, but use what you got I guess.
More importantly, is a skid plate actually needed? Is there anything that would be easy to puncture up front, and any roads you want to drive on that have large sharp rocks that could cause damage?
Lights mounted to a plastic bumper will be wobbly over bumps. See if there’s any metal underneath the bumper cover you can mount to instead.
"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
10/03/2017 at 09:04, STARS: 1
I mean if it’s a cheap build on a car that may not live very long? A street sign should be fine so long as you aren’t doing a high speed run at Moab or something lol.
As far as the lights go, that depends on how heavy the lights are. My 6 inch rally lights were so heavy they were stretching out the threads I drilled into the bumper.
Interestingly enough though, I secured my lights to my bumper using a tiny mounting bar with 8 holes to drill into the bumper from eBay ($18). 4 holes were secured with a bunch of zip ties, the other 4 screws. When I took the bar off, the zip ties were holding hilariously strong, so for mounting lights to a weak plastic bumper? Zip ties.
"vicali" (vicali)
10/03/2017 at 09:49, STARS: 1
A sign is going to be too thin for any real protection. It’s been done, but I wouldn’t say it’s a skid plate solution.
Lightbars need to be solid- shaky lights do more harm than good.
What kind of rally are you building it for?
"MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner" (montegoman562)
10/03/2017 at 10:15, STARS: 1
Are you planning to just RallyX it?
Because if the Milan can do it anything can in stock form. Just go race it man.
"gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
10/03/2017 at 12:19, STARS: 1
Street signs are generally 1/8" aluminum. Usually pretty soft too. They’d help a bit, but if you hit anything that would actually do damage it would probably catch and tear the aluminum, leaving sharp things hanging down to shred tires. It would for sure help with sticks or bushes or things that can catch and tear lines and wires, or as a splash guard, keeping mud out of the engine bay, but I wouldn’t put much faith in it stopping rocks or other things that could damage an oil pan.
As for the light bar, mount it to the hood, or some other sheet metal up there. Plastic body parts wobble around too much, and you’ll likely just tear out the holes. I am curious though what could be accomplished with a carefully shaped (form-matching and load distributing) bracket that’s held down with the double-sided 3m molding adhesive tape. But it’s for sure easier to drill and bolt to a hood.
"Rainbow" (rainbeaux)
10/04/2017 at 08:46, STARS: 0
Mainly just that. I’ve already done it a few times, actually. I mainly want a skid plate just to say I have one.
"MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner" (montegoman562)
10/04/2017 at 09:50, STARS: 1
OK then, I mean, if you want to mod just to mod that’s definitely cool, do your thing. I was just making sure you didn’t think you NEEDED one.
For lights, I saw one guy at our races with a Pontiac Vibe GT (Arrowhead Toyota lol) that built a rack mount for lights on the front of the car using small pipe that was connected underneath the car. It kind of made a brush guard/light rack out of about 1 inch pipe.