North American Enginebay Undertray

[daver27]

In putting the bodywork on my frontend back together, There are a number of metal recieving clips on the bottom of the bumper and threaded recivers on the enginebay underframe.
Did the car have an undertray when New?
I've tried to see on all the pictures and blowups that I could find without a definative answer.
Undertrays often get dicarded at the first major service but serve a usefull purpose.
Thanks for any help - Dave

[Enright]

There's a shield underneath the front bumper which bolts to the radiator supporting frame. It's about 3 feet wide and a foot deep. Does that help?

[daver27]

Interesting....
The North American one that I have has a flat plastic horizontal connector about 2' w x 3" front to back bolted to the rad support and lightly connected to the bumper.
There are metal clips outboard of that on the bumper with nothing attached to them. The treaded holes in the frame under the engine gave me cause to think there was more but those holes may be to support the Euro tray that you have.
Thanks - Dave

[Doug]

there was no undertray

Nitroman Matt can answer in detail if he shows up -- check all the pictures of the underside of his car -- he has the cleanest Elans on earth!

[tigerdog]

Is it possible the clips along the back edge of the bumper are for the black rubber chin spoiler. On UK cars, this is right at the bottom of the nose and very visible. On the Fed cars, it sits back underneath more because of our extended bumper.

[nitroman]

BOTH my Elans are at the "Top-shop" at the mo', probably get them back Thursday & will take a pic if I can't find one.

Still have to get under the new car with my SCUBA mask on (Do you think I'm kidding? Really? You shouldn't.) & wash away 11k-miles of dirt & grime; then wash same off self with large tub of Gojo!

The pleasant part of the job is waxing all that clean uncovered paint. It's one of those transcendent moments where it's clear work matters.

The addition of the little 3" power-buffer to my tool-kit will make buffing the tranny-case MUCH easier! That's a job worthy of an Armstrong. I might even do the WHOLE case this time.

[tigerdog]

Nitroman, you must have some really TALL jackstands if you have that much room to work.

[lotusgirlmarie]

I was looking into making an undertray awile back and have since only gotten as far as getting the materials. Will post pics as things progress.

[Doug]

didn't Alan Betts make one before from Thailand??

I know there was one done but the details elude my memory right now.

[nitroman]

Here's what to expect, based on buying one from MIE for my Maserati. http://maseratinet.com/SPARE_PARTS/oilpanguard.asp

Same as that car you're trying to protect the sump, although in its case, a truly beautiful piece of cast/machined aluminium.

The sump guard (undertray) must by necessity lay inferior to the already caudal sump. This forces the undertray to become a sacrificial metal structure. As long as you can accept this unavoidable fact, and look at the multitude of longitudinal stria imbued upon the guard as the savior of your sump, you'll be content the (sacrificial) undertray is fulfilling its mission.