New belly pan

[Ferris11]

Hi gang,

During my winter rebuild I'm going to replace my belly pan.

Question, . . .
On my Vector the belly pan stops at the roll hoop / fire wall and has a removable pan under the engine.

Would it be smart and stiffen the chassis to make a bonded pan that went to the rear of the engine bay as well?

Are there cars with a full bonded pan instead of the tow peice pan my vector has?

Thoughts, .. pros, . cons, .. advice???

Curtis
Vector FF

[timmy]

Have you read the belly pan bonding article written by Tom Johnson at F2000.com? Start there.

Yes, it is important to stiffenup a lot of VDs in the rear. Not much Vector knowledge. You could do it and report back. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Ferris11]

Froggy,

Where is that article by Tom??

I couldn't find it but did find a copy on the FF Fed web site.

I know the newer Vectors ( 2000 ) had a bonded pan under the engine but I can't get anyone at vector to talk to.

Maybe I'll split the difference and make the pan go 1/2 way back under the engine bay and make the other 1/2 removable for service. .. .. hummmm

Curtis
vector FF

[fcracer17]

Curtis,
You might try checking with Paul Marciano at [email]pmspeedfreak@aol.com[/email]. If I'm not mistaken, he used to be a factory driver for Vector and knows those cars pretty well.
My suggestion is to bond the whole thing. I don't think you'll be giving up much in serviceability and the additional stiffness is well worth it.

[keithc]

Just make sure you drill holes in pan at the forward corners of each chassis section, even under the fuel cell. That way you can jack the back of the car up and let all the water, oil, and other goo run out.

[sracing]

Check the following site [url="http://www.mlink.net/~aleger/index_english.html"]http://www.mlink.net/~aleger/index_english.html[/url]
and you may want to talk to Mauro Lanaro. His LM scuderia use Vectors and he may have some advise for you.