240z Radiator Pan/Belly Pan Fabrication

[mr_han_solo]

I am in the process of adding a Radiator/Belly Pan to my 240z. I wanted to do this because my bumper is flexing at high speeds and its making the paint crack. I'm hoping this will stiffen it up.

 

First off, I ran my wiring harness through the front tube. In the stock form the harness just rests on the tube. Just a hole-saw in each end and fishing the wires through. Simple as that. Here is some pictures of that part:

 

You can see some inner fender rust in the above photo as well. I will be patching this up during the winter when I replace my struts/springs.

 

Here is the finished look:

 

I used the middle piece (the piece that extends out from the middle of the main tube) to hold up the front of my bumper. You will see in the next photo how my bumper has bent around that piece.

 

Here is a rough mockup of the radiator pan itself:

 

I plan on finishing up the fitment of the mockup and cutting out the sheet metal tomorrow. I suppose if I have a question it's for the others that have done this before (and for aerodynamics). Should I make the pan itself curve up on the sides and cover the holes on each side that lead to the wheel well or is what I am doing suffice in that respect? In the future I would like to get some abs plastic or something like that and actually make a full Belly pan that goes from the radiator to the transmission tunnel.

 

 

[z-ya]

I'd be worrying about the front frame rails flexing. You got some serious rust issues in the front frame rail area.

[mr_han_solo]

I will be fixing/welding the frame-rail withing the next month/month and a half. 

 

Here is what the finished pan looks like:




Next, I'm going to order a huuge sheet of 1/8' ABS, (60"x48") and fabricate a true belly pan going from the lower part of the front bumper to the transmission. I'll work on this when I weld the frame rails and replace my struts/coilover conversion.