I was quite pleased with this sump guard that I knocked up out of some spare ali chequer plate. It's on a K-series so I just took advantage of some spare tapped holes to bolt it on. At least it should give a little protection against major scraping!

[Edited on 16.10.2005 by Humbug]
Rescued attachment 2005-10-16 Locost sump guard.jpg

aren't you increaseing the risk of major damage by having those bolts on hte bottom for something to catch ?

Looks good, but I'd be slightly concerned about those exposed bolt heads. If they hooked up on a high kerb or trailer bed or similar, they could easily remove a large piece of sump.....!
Easily fixed by replacing them with some dome headed hex drive bolts I reckon though.

Damn!! Too slow again...


[Edited on 16/10/05 by GeoffT]

Would have thought it better to attach sump gaurd to chassis with a gap between it and the sump? If you hit your present sump gaurd you still risk damaging sump.

and put some Foam between the 2 plates....

also i would let join the plate the front chasis memeber...

sow nothing can be cut of or get between the sump and the plate...

Kerb, stones..etc..
the foam is for the same reason,
where foam is cant be an stone and it will
take away an bit of energie...


Tks

I still reckon mounting your front number plate level with bottom of sump will give you best protection. If number plate hits the speed hump, you can almost guarantee that your sump will too. Number plates are cheaper than any other mishaps.

tks, what was the reason for the conical bolts??

Hmmm... probably a good point about the bolts heads underneath.

I did think of having a bigger piece mounted on the chassis but didn't have a bigger piece.

Anyway, I think something as a scratch plate is better than nothing?

Also, if you use the number plate as a warning, by the time you realise the number plate has hit a speed bump you will have driven over it and hit the sump anyway

He means countersunk bolts, so that they will not protrude below the level of the guard.

Ahhh... countersunk, doh!!

His English might be a little rusty but it's a hell of a lot better than my Spanish.

Sorry to say, but that sump guard is a liability! For a start, it's a lot more maleable than the sump, so it won't protect the sump from anything.
Secondly, even with flat head socket screws, the sump guard is taking up valuable space and lastly, with the chequer plate facing down, you stand a far greater chance of it catching on something and causing damage.
I would remove it before you wreck something. I have relied on number plates before to give warning of obstacles, but they're expensive enough and start to look tatty with repeated hits.
If your car's really that low (all Locosts are really), then I would weld/bolt a tube across the chassis in front of the sump so the car gets hung up on it before the sump is damaged. It's preferable to reverse off a hump when the chassis grounds than have the car towed to somewhere for the sump to be replaced.
Some lowriders have sturde flat bar skids constructed to equal the depth of the sump and diff etc. then if they hit something at speed, the car makes a gawdaful bang, but slides over the obstacle without destoying the important bits.

from rallying experience, sump guards arent made from normal ally plate! ever felt the weight of them! agree whole heartedly with what everyone has said about it being attached to the sump! its not a case of it might damage your sump, it will! rally car guards are mounted on a bar between the inner wings at the front and at the back the sub frame, you should see the state the mounting holes get in!

[Edited on 17-10-05 by zzrpowerd-locost]