Well, I took off the silly belly pan of my Forester for good, despite the dire warnings of half of USMB and other, less-worthy forums. Although I would love to put on a Primitive or Subtle skid plate, if they weren't $200+.

 

Next project: exhaust shield rattles. Yes, I've read countless posts on this, and tried a half-dozen clamps, nails, screw, etc.

 

After removal, any reason not to spend $25 and wrap the pipes with exhaust wrap? I am thinking that should calm any concerns about heat retention and the cats, floorboard hot spots, etc.

 

steve

Son of a gun! On my first drive after removing the plastic belly pan I noticed a strange lack of rattling noise from the undercarriage. :-\

 

Could it have been the plastic belly tray all this time making such a racket?

 

There still is a faint rattle from the exhaust heat shields, but perhaps I can secure that portion and be done with it.

You could always get a old highway sign and make a skid plate out of that. Thats what i did on my gl10 and it works great.

I think I saw pictures of your rig--was it a Stop sign?

 

Where can I get an old sign, legally?

 

You could always get a old highway sign and make a skid plate out of that. Thats what i did on my gl10 and it works great.

Where can I get an old sign, legally?

 

You could try calling the highway department. They have to have tons of them that they replace when they are damaged, vandalized, faded, etc.

So this highway sign actually got knocked off by the snowplow and i took it off of the highway (can't do anything about that) and it got bent but the one thing that i would recommend is something about 4 inches longer. the back of my skid plate is held on by one little little bolt on a skinny piece of frame

Well, I took off the silly belly pan of my Forester for good, despite the dire warnings of half of USMB and other, less-worthy forums. Although I would love to put on a Primitive or Subtle skid plate, if they weren't $200+.

 

I dunno why it's a big deal. I don't have plastic trays on either of my Legacy's. Never really had an issue.

Although I did pack the engine bay of my sedan with snow once. I think it was just the right combination of snow coming down and thick slush on the roads. It packed up all the way to the hood, was all around the belts and packed into the radiator fans. I had to park the car and let it melt because I was worried it might overheat. There was no way any air was getting through the radiator like that.

The problem with that fiberglass wrap is that it will hold any oil that may leak from the engine and that oil can catch fire and burn up the car. The other is that the wrap speeds up the rust on the exhaust and you'll replace the exhaust sooner.

That is bad

You really are giving me ideas.