Re: BlueScooby's 06 STI - Underbody Panels (Phase 2) Revisited...
So the ABS underbody panels I built for the "tunnel" area under the cabin of the car have warped pretty good... The "amplitude" of the waves is only about an inch or so, but I'm not satisfied and I think the "benefits" of the flat bottom are potentially not there as much now.
SO, I bought a 4'x8' sheet of 1/16" thick aluminum. I am in the process of cutting out the replacement panels. I had the sheet cut down to 2'x3' and 2'x2' sections to get them home and will weld some of them back together as needed. I will maintain the underbody in a couple large pieces just for ease of access to the bottom of the car. One giant sheet would be impossible to work with...
Heres the good news! Although I'm not finished yet, I am confident the aluminum panels are (while being more rigid and needing less support) will be lighter than the ABS panels! This is in part due to the extra hardware added to the ABS panels for rigidity.
I will take this opprotunity to add some stabilizers to the underbody panels as well. I can easily rivit or weld on a few of these guys for some extra air stabilization:
I have a feeling the benefit of the panels will be much improved with the stabilizers. Ultimately they will stretch from the back of the front wheels (probably) all the way back to the connection with my eventual diffuser.
I would like to be able to add front and side splitters at some point too, but the front splitter would be a track-day only feature due to how low the front lip is...