Skid Plate underbody panels for Gen II Prius

you need more posts to ad pix. if you wanted to make an aluminum skid plate, that would be cool as heck. plastic would be useless and steel is too heavy. other than that I'd like to reinforce the flimsy radiator core support.

 

Here's my lead tech changing oil for the first time. I put this 1/8" ABS plastic belly pan on our Prius five years ago and it has really kept the engine bay clean:

 

great pic, thanks.

 

While waiting on my lift kit, I went looking for skid plate info, and this still appears to be the most recently it's been discussed.

Still no option but to DIY?

 

:: crickets chirping ::

If the DIY route is the only way to go with this, the first thing I'm thinking about is some kind of frame. I don't think just sheet metal is adequate protection for the front radiator, although I suppose it depends on driving conditions.

Would 1" (ID, probably 1.7" OD) schedule 40 black pipe be adequate?

 

Crickets are maybe chirping cus not too many people picture the Prius as a rough-n-ready off-road vehicle?

 

Granted, however there was enough interest that I read tales on this very forum of skid plates being offered up for sale.

My own radiator took a ding from some ice buildup after a particularly bad winter storm a few months ago, and that was without going offroad. Just earlier this week, I hit a particularly nasty pothole exiting a Walmart parking lot that I was unable to see ahead of time due to approach angle

 

Touche, even city streets can be pretty rough when the snow starts melting.

 

if I was gonna do a skid plate, I'd use aluminum sheet (maybe steal a large road sign?) and just use the plastic panels as a template so that it would attach in the same places as the plastic did. I would also try to reinforce the lower core support, because its made of thin steel, and not sturdy at all. I don't think black pipe is a good choice to reinforce the skid plate because its too heavy, and won't bend to shape.

 

As much as my inner anarchist would like to perpetrate, my aspiring Catholicism compels me to procure through legitimate channels :: sigh ::

As for the black pipe, I was primarily thinking of reinforcing in front of the bottom of the radiator with it, then wrapping the plate around it from the bottom and up to the bumper

... unless Mendel, et al continue to provoke me, in which case I may have to see about extending the pipe further into the form of a brush guard

 

Yeah, it's ridiculous: the bumpers need a bumper these days.

 

Pretty sure everyone has seen the 'no longer available' BT skid plate by now, would've that covered the area(s) described above?

 

Found this photo for the gen1 skid plate, and though they have a gen2 offering there is no photo in the product listing. There offering looks fairly robust, but also doesn't protect the bumper. Is it even possible to protect the bumper?

Here is a link to their Gen3 skid plate for reference, linked here.


Here is a photo of the old gen2 BT tech offering, notice the separate bumper strip :






Access holes are covered this time



and another bt tech skid install

 

I like it! But......hang on.....wouldn’t this shield aid in partially protecting the Gen 2 catalytic converter from being easily sliced out from under the vehicle? At least from the front section?


iPhone 6s +

 

If it covers the cat and near airtight, not good, they need decent air circulation to dissipate heat? Maybe with louvers though. I don't think the ones pictured above go back far enough, but interesting concept.

 

that plate stops at the subframe. the cat is mostly behind the subframe.

 

Louvers over the cat, now I am sad they don't make a thicker set.


Pair of Straight 11 Louvered panels 4" - Rod Louvers and Sheet Metal design

 

Good finds - better than I've been able to dig up!

The Offroad Manni plate is listed as 2mm thick (.08 in). Of course, it's also listed as "out of stock"...

Before I go bugging them, is 2mm thick enough? 3/8ths (10mm) might be overkill for a non-rockcrawling, non-Jeep Prius, but still...

 

So I went ahead and bugged them, anyway. They say they can ship it in 8 weeks for 334 euros (~$375).

I'm thinking that once I get my lift kit on, I will crawl under with some cardboard and scissors, and take it from there