DIY Guide: Sump Guard for CSR (and possibly other metric Series 3 cars)

[John Vine]

Re #72:

Does this still allow you to use the cruciform as a jacking point?

No -- at least, not in my case.  I now use the towing eye instead.  The only snag is that I have to slide the jack in at a sharp angle across the nose so as to leave sufficient space for the axle stands.

Re #75:

...the strength and stiffness of the cruciform area.

That's certainly very much the case with a CSR as it has a vertical strut which the S3/SV cars don't have.  I'm hoping (trusting) that the long launch ramp will help to ease the take-off shock.

JV

[DougBaker]

Hitting something with the sump can push the engine back enough to write off the chassis anyway. So given that the sump guard is attached to the jacking point that should have the required strength.

[john milner]

I think a builder's foam crumple zone would better suit my 5mph speed bump scrapes. The sound would give me the chance to slow to 2mph.

[John Vine]

Re #78:

Very possibly.  But would it cope with a 50mph strike on a 4" flint rock?  That's what cracked my sump!

JV

[john milner]

At 50mph who knows what might happen to the cruciform and or chassis with a solid block..

My concern is the likes of Ford spend millions on assessing potential damage and we are relative minnows comparing the benefits of wood vs builder's foam. Builder's foam or similar is likely to have the least adverse problems of changing from doing nothing although it might fall well short of the best which could be a lump of oak.

[BenF]

I don't think you can ever expect to have a solution which will protect the sump from all potential impacts - without risking damaging the chassis.

I'm all for something like builder's foam - I'm going to ask at work next week as we have a few materials specialists there.

Would there be interest in a bulk buy for this?  I think the wedge and the skid plate itself could be common across lots of cars, but that the mounting plate will have to be drilled differently for each model.

Happy to investigate if there is interest - I've benefited from lots of Bulk Buys in the past here