Hey guys!

 

Im wanting to make a skidplate for my impreza but have no where to start.

The engine is sitting low compared to body so i need a kinked skid plate.

 

Can you guys with body lifts and skid plates post pics of what u did?

 

I may wait till i get a metal bumper to weld the plate to, then bolt it to the front jack-up point.

 

 

my car

 

what im looking for close up pics of,

 

 

 

thanks.

I built a subframe that bolted on to the engine crossmember and the lower radiator support. I had a piece of angle iron cupping the radiator support to add strength and two 1" square tubing runners that I bent and welded connecting the radiator support to the engine crossmember. My skidplate then bolted to the runners.

 

You can see the runners with the plate off in this pic:

 

I hit stuff hard enough to bend the 1/8" steel skid plate but never hit the oilpan again. I would go with a wider skid plate if I did it again, my lower radiator hose and oil filter were a bit vulnerable. The hose never had any trouble but I nearly peeled the oil filter off breaking through 3" thick ice in a pond crossing.

 

The winch bumper had two pieces of box tubing going down to the angle iron on the lower radiator support that the skidplate frame bolted to. That braced it for the twisting force of the winch pull and protected the radiator opening.

if you have access to a tube bender, you could tie in tubes to the 4 12mm bolt support across the cross member. you'd have 2 coming down like an A arm style, with the peak of the A attaching @ the cross member. they have the pipe run forward about 6 or 8 inches and then start your bend upwards and tie it into a cross bar thats bolted to the bottom of your core support (radiator support) then cut 2 pieces of sheet metal, one to fit the front side of the bend and one to fit the bottom side.

 

I've gotta do a similar skidplate on my car so I guess which one of us gets it done first posts the pics eh?

 

Oh and remember, you want a bolt on skid plate. NOT welded on. It is nice to be able to take out 6 or 8 bolts and be able to get under your engine

I built a subframe that bolted on to the engine crossmember and the lower radiator support. I had a piece of angle iron cupping the radiator support to add strength and two 1" square tubing runners that I bent and welded connecting the radiator support to the engine crossmember. My skidplate then bolted to the runners.

 

Genius! I have been trying to figure out how to bend this plate stock and now I don't have too .

I still had to bend the plate stock to get it to follow the bends in my support runners. I didn't have a break, so I cut a dotted line in the plate with the torch where I wanted the bends. I bent it, then welded the cuts back in.

I don't have a break either so I was looking at scoring the backside with a grinder so I could bend. Either way has the same results, I just didn't want to have to weld it.

More pictures! I'm trying to get ideas for my xt. It's lifted 2" and I have a set of 215/75-15's that are going on soon as I drill the hubs. The bumper overhang is biggest drawback and I was pondering on removing it and replacing it with one big skidplade made up of several small panels that would wrap around the front, and extend down underneath the engine. Since the rails underneath are rotten, I was thinking of running tubes from where the lower arms connect to the rear of the car to provide strength.

I must not wheel my subaru hard enough.My skidplate is 1/8" aluminum with an 1/8" thick bedliner coating of some sort.Despite landing on a rock after sliding down a 4 ft ledge the skidplate is still straight...Maybe the coating dissipates some of the impact?

 

 

the bottom of the skidplate under the crossmember is tweaked though...

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