Focus skid plate questions

I can take some pictures of mine this weekend. It is on its 3rd iteration and I really like it. It is basically a hoop that bolts to two captive nuts that I installed on the bottom of the front frame rails. It passes between the radiator support and oil pan, which is no mans land on the Duratec powered focus. The skid plate itself is a piece of aluminum that is bent and has a couple of small sides welded onto it to make it much stronger than just the flat aluminum plate would be.

The best place to attach the back of the plate is to use the two holes in the sub frame which are below the attachment points for the steering rack and make them into captive nuts.

What motor are you planning on running in the car? If it is a Zetec you will need to decide what header you are going to run as the header becomes the lowest point on the motor.

My fab and welding skills are to be desired but i have included some pics that may help. i started off by squaring off the front radiator support with tapped holes, built a pair of boxed "stand offs" on the subframe. used 1" beefy square tubing to build a chassis from the subframe to the front of the oil pan. from their the chassis continues up to the radiator support. i used a grill and c clamps to bend the alloy. it weighs about 50 lbs but i can jack the car up by it and it has taken a few good hits in its short life.

Chris, did I mention the idea about drawing arrows indicating force and directions? Car going this way

Force going this way
Ram the skidplate into the rock and resultant force into the car is:

So the force wants to bend things BACK. It seeeeeeeeeeeems a smrat person would want to make the mounts spread the load into strong areas behind and above. Only thing even half strong on any car, but particularly Fuck-uses is the vestigal inner chassi rail since its maybe 3 times the thickness of the rest of the sheetmetal or around paper thin..
Soooooooo, if'n it was smeee, I'd make something flat, outta say 3/8" plate, angling up from the front of the sumpguard up to chassirail and put a couple or 3 bolts into some captive bolts welded into the INSIDE of the chassi rail, with the bolts passibg thru so as to spread the loads into the whole box and not just the outer sheetmetal.

Something vaguely like these.


Going across the front I like a simple L pieces with caps on the end with a single captive nut so the thing will tend to pivot as the sumpguard bends.

In the back something kinds sort like this but scaled down and made of steel seems arf-fully nice with a single bolt again on the SIDE acessible from the outside of the car---not underneath, an insane proposition assuring woe and tears when the bolt heads get wiped off, or if countersunk like some like, the heads scraped by some rock making it impossible to put an allen wrench in the mangled hole..:


Why flat material on edge? Cause its really hard to bend something on edge. So for a light part on edge is good, or a good part is easy to make light.

Remember, your car is heavy, has almost no Beee Haitch Peas, and even less of the desirable Phhhhht/lebz aka Torque..

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
Andrew_Frick
I can take some pictures of mine this weekend. It is on its 3rd iteration and I really like it. It is basically a hoop that bolts to two captive nuts that I installed on the bottom of the front frame rails. It passes between the radiator support and oil pan, which is no mans land on the Duratec powered focus. The skid plate itself is a piece of aluminum that is bent and has a couple of small sides welded onto it to make it much stronger than just the flat aluminum plate would be.

The best place to attach the back of the plate is to use the two holes in the sub frame which are below the attachment points for the steering rack and make them into captive nuts.

What motor are you planning on running in the car? If it is a Zetec you will need to decide what header you are going to run as the header becomes the lowest point on the motor.

Yes Id like to see some pictures if possible. I am running the Zetec. the headers are OBX, previous owner had them installed not even sure if they are any good. lol

I didn't have time to get any photos yesterday as I had to get the car to the welders so he could weld the cage.

Quote
BJosephD
My fab and welding skills are to be desired but i have included some pics that may help. i started off by squaring off the front radiator support with tapped holes, built a pair of boxed "stand offs" on the subframe. used 1" beefy square tubing to build a chassis from the subframe to the front of the oil pan. from their the chassis continues up to the radiator support. i used a grill and c clamps to bend the alloy. it weighs about 50 lbs but i can jack the car up by it and it has taken a few good hits in its short life.

Thanks for the pics! that looks good, are you using 1/4 inch plate?

Quote
john vanlandingham
Chris, did I mention the idea about drawing arrows indicating force and directions? Car going this way

Force going this way
Ram the skidplate into the rock and resultant force into the car is:

So the force wants to bend things BACK. It seeeeeeeeeeeems a smrat person would want to make the mounts spread the load into strong areas behind and above. Only thing even half strong on any car, but particularly Fuck-uses is the vestigal inner chassi rail since its maybe 3 times the thickness of the rest of the sheetmetal or around paper thin..
Soooooooo, if'n it was smeee, I'd make something flat, outta say 3/8" plate, angling up from the front of the sumpguard up to chassirail and put a couple or 3 bolts into some captive bolts welded into the INSIDE of the chassi rail, with the bolts passibg thru so as to spread the loads into the whole box and not just the outer sheetmetal.

Something vaguely like these.


Going across the front I like a simple L pieces with caps on the end with a single captive nut so the thing will tend to pivot as the sumpguard bends.

In the back something kinds sort like this but scaled down and made of steel seems arf-fully nice with a single bolt again on the SIDE acessible from the outside of the car---not underneath, an insane proposition assuring woe and tears when the bolt heads get wiped off, or if countersunk like some like, the heads scraped by some rock making it impossible to put an allen wrench in the mangled hole..:


Why flat material on edge? Cause its really hard to bend something on edge. So for a light part on edge is good, or a good part is easy to make light.

Remember, your car is heavy, has almost no Beee Haitch Peas, and even less of the desirable Phhhhht/lebz aka Torque..

I understand what yer saying but I am kind of confused about photo 1, where that would go. Number 2 is that up front at the radiator? It is very nice looking, Aluminum?

Here is my front skid plate support using those parts from JVAB. The alloy cross brace is just there to prevent the skid plate from smashing up, the plate does not bolt to it on my car.

Ok I see, a picture says a thousand words! Looks great! thanks Sean for posting the pics.

Cant wait to get my car back and on a lift.

John. do you have those nice alloy "plates" cut and sitting on a shelf? the "towhook" ones

---

Chris

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Do It Sidewayz
John. do you have those nice alloy "plates" cut and sitting on a shelf? the "towhook" ones

HAD, now I'm down to just one set for ME!

Whatcher gots in mind, eh?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
Do It Sidewayz
John. do you have those nice alloy "plates" cut and sitting on a shelf? the "towhook" ones

HAD, now I'm down to just one set for ME!

Whatcher gots in mind, eh?

Thinking if you got them sitting on a shelf and cut, then it saves me finding the 1/2" alloy, and then someone to cut something.

---

Chris

Quote
Do It Sidewayz

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
Do It Sidewayz
John. do you have those nice alloy "plates" cut and sitting on a shelf? the "towhook" ones

HAD, now I'm down to just one set for ME!

Whatcher gots in mind, eh?

Thinking if you got them sitting on a shelf and cut, then it saves me finding the 1/2" alloy, and then someone to cut something.

Well there's nothing saying these specific parts would be dimensionally gloovy on a Sub-a-rat, or a Fuck-us or a 240, but the general concept can be "harvested" and tailored to whatever..
Espcially on a car like the Fuck-us when the front end is so much a big gaping hole anything that would, when all cinched up, stiffen the front can only be good...

The way I would do it would be start with a big cardboard template, and some beeeeeeeg fawkin scissors and start trimming..

Those 606 copies of the Ford 909 parts are pretty clever in that they are combo sumpguard mount, towing eyelet, and jacking point--the jacking point being the concave bit just behind the towing eyes--you put a bar (with caps) on the dealie you make that sits on the pad of the trolley jack, and the bar engages the two sides and you lift from in front of the car, not underneath.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

John, I like the design of your aluminum cut outs and I actually went down the road of trying to build some for the focus, but changed course because the fabrication was going to be a night mare. Here are the focus short comings to this approach.

1. The frame rails are not straight, once you get in front of the strut towers they pinch in to help make room for the tire at full lock and then flatten out, kinda. You would end up having to make some oddly shaped spacers to match the aluminum bracket.

2. The outer wall of the frame rail is where the crumple zone is so the metal is rather weak and is stamped with an uneven pattern to allow it to deform in an impact. The inner side is a little better but you would have very little clearance on the passenger side because of the accessory drive belts for the engine.

3. The openings in the bumper cover would not line up where the tow hook part would be coming through. This might be a minor issue but may matter to some.

Chris I forgot to take pictures this weekend. I will see if I can get out there this evening.

Quote
Andrew_Frick
John, I like the design of your aluminum cut outs and I actually went down the road of trying to build some for the focus, but changed course because the fabrication was going to be a night mare. Here are the focus short comings to this approach.

1. The frame rails are not straight, once you get in front of the strut towers they pinch in to help make room for the tire at full lock and then flatten out, kinda. You would end up having to make some oddly shaped spacers to match the aluminum bracket.

2. The outer wall of the frame rail is where the crumple zone is so the metal is rather weak and is stamped with an uneven pattern to allow it to deform in an impact. The inner side is a little better but you would have very little clearance on the passenger side because of the accessory drive belts for the engine.

3. The openings in the bumper cover would not line up where the tow hook part would be coming through. This might be a minor issue but may matter to some.

Chris I forgot to take pictures this weekend. I will see if I can get out there this evening.

Know whatcher mean. I did have a LOT of time with that black car to look at things and was sorta stumped--with the time we had.

Maybe a nice flat strip of say 1/8" x 1.5" or 1.75" could be welded in to help stiffen the crumple zone AND provide a base for anchoring the plates...

I dunno, don't have a Fuck-us here to stare at. But Chris is just a few miles away and after his last visit he said he'll drop by and show me the cage and we can work on a Triage List on what to do....
Be good to get "Service Nazi" aka Robert RallyMech over since he's just about 2 miles away and second set of eyes is always a good thing..

One question while you're here: can you say what "transgression" that 01 has in it? IB5? MTX75? the poor boy is stuck with the ZZZzzzzzzze-tec which is appropriately name zzzzzzz but I have a sneaky feeling that a MkIII Ex-squirt turbo box might just bolt right up, and I've seen them for as low as 75 English Squids....they come with 4.2 ratio and a decent VC LSD. 75 squids is nothing.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham
75 squids is nothing.

That sounds like a lot of calamari to me....

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY