Nope different pan. The plastic one is in the build pic I posted. This one is in back of it.

But you are right in that you do not need to remove the pan to get to the oil drain. There is a small hole

 

Hmm, I might be talking about something else then...

Whoops! Nope, totally my bad. I just flipped through my infini brochure and you're right mark, I never noticed that before! haha, it sits all the way back near the tranny, oui? It's still got vents like the plastic undertray though... Thanks for setting me straight, I totally missed that.

Steve

 

mtnracer, look at Icemarks pic he posted, there are 2 different pans

 

possibly to help suspension too.

 

beat me too it Ice

 

anyone have an actual pic of it?

 

Nope... too thin metal. No suspension help at all.

 

here is a crappy pic of the one I modified to work on my 'vert. I'll try and take a better pic in the next couple of days

 

Here's a shot from the infini brochure, that's about as good as quality as I can get, but you can make out the tranny housing behind it...

Steve

 

Man, you guys are making a bis *** deal over this tin can under the car, it's a better oil catcher than anything .. I have gone 120+ with it on and off, not a bit of diference, no way wind force is even going to begin to lift the front end of a 2600LB+ car.

but here is a pic I just took for you all;


-Robert

 

one more;

 

Yo,

Since it's no big deal, can I have yours?!

*snicker*

Kevin
1989 GTUs "I want a lower CD!"

 

It's not for reducing lift, it's for reducing drag.

 

LOL, no! Like I said it makes a great oil catcher


NZ- Sorry i only read a couple of posts on this thread... one of them talked about reducing lift .. Lift/drag .. either way, if you have one use it, but I would not go out of my way to get one. If anyone local wants to try mine .. I can pop it off in a heart beat so you can give it a go.. I don't keep that plastic thing on my underbelly at all.

-Robert

 

Isn't the plastic cover important for properairflow and cooling?

 

Ahh, thats more BS. IMO. Show me some numbers and I might belive it... But i have a 53MM Koyo Rad with the stock blet fan and my temps NEVER go up above the thermostat setting. Maybe with a stock oil, and cooling sytem it is more important.. but it's nothing I loose sleep over.

 

Yes it is.

Rpeck is lucky that the rest of his cooling for both the oil and engine are in such good shape, as the vast majority of people will have problems in warm temps without it.

And of course just like the aluminum pan mentioned in this thread, it is also useful in lowering the drag of the car- thereby increasing top speed and gas mileage.

 

I'm sure Mark is right on this .. If you have a stock setup keep that thing in place .. It's there for a reason. I just do so much fiddle fuggin that it become to much of a pain to take on and off. And I am not running stock oil pump, regulator , oil cooling, or rad in my car... so I worry less about it. Some day when I am done tinkering I might pop it back on, for the drag benifit.


-Robert

 

Go talk to an aero engineer. You're wrong about it not making a difference. You're creating a ground effect by using those under body bits. They help. I'm going to make my own out of some very thin aluminum intially because in my opinion the mazda ones aren't that well designed.

 

Go fer it; you might be right .. i'm sure it might have a 'little' effect, I just don't think a big enough effect to warrant building one. When your putting the kind of power down my car is; that piece of tin is neglagable.

same reason i still have my stock fan, PS, Smog pump, and AC system. I am all about comfort, I will gain my power elsewhere rather than little tweaks for 1-2 HP here and there. IMO .. your car by all means do as you please.

-Robert

 

BS? Common man, it's simple logic. Air follows the path of least resistance. Without the plastic undertray the path of least resistance is under the radiator, not through it. Because you have reduced the amount of air flowing through your radiator, you have reduced the efficiency and therefor the capacity of the cooling system.

You can argue numbers all you like, but you can't get around basic physics. The only reason you haven't seen an increase in coolant temp is because you haven't exceeded the capacity of the cooling system. On a hot day with the engine under a lot of load it may be a very different story.

Why spend money upgrading the radiator when you didn't even have the stock system working as well as it should?

Also, you haven't upgraded your oil cooling system, which is suffering the same reduced capacity as the water cooling system. Do you know what your oil temps are?

I'm not picking on ya, just pointing out some gaps in your logic.

 

Aerodynamically, Check out a race car you won't see much of anything under a race car as it is almost perfectly smooth with the exception of loovers to let out heat and allow air to pass through Intercooler, Oil Cooler, Radiator. This is because they are trying to make the under car low pressure so that it will get "pulled" down towards the road/track. This is mimicking exactly how an airfoil from an aeroplane works. Not only does this increase gas millage, it increases agility top speed and acceleration due to less drag.
Tell me honestly do you think a wing on an aircraft would work as well without having a bottom skin to it?
Not Flaming just adding my knowlege to the discussion.

 

Read above NZ, I have upgraded my oil cooling system. I have a 80 PSI Oil pressure regulator, a high flow race version oil pump, and I had the stock oil cooler flushed and pressure tested, along with re mounting it lower in the car so it gets full air flow.

why spend the money upgrading the radiator? common sence. why spend all this cash on mods .. mods, mods and NOT upgrade the radiator? I am runing more fuel, more boost, I live in a very warm climate, kept my AC, and I am runnig over 1/3 the stock HP. No performace vehilce is worth a **** if it's not reliable first .. thus my precautions. But common sence tells me add all that power, you better add a way to dissipate the heat it creates.

Not picking on you or anything.


-Robert

 

My closing argument is this; I think that piece of plastic traps more heat then it helps to remove. It 'might' help aerodynamicly just a bit .. but not enough to warrant the constant removal and putting back that i don't want to do. Then take this into consideration, how many other cars in the world have a big *** hunk of plastic bolted up under the motor? Don't you think if it was such a wise idea all cars would have this? or at least all RX7's? I have never owned a car until this one that even had this, and I have never worked on a car in my life that had this. If GM could cut costs by using a smaller radiator, and a piece of plasic under it to compensate, you don't think they would? My theroy is that mazda used this on Turbo cars to eliminate the posibility of causing fires that they might be held liable for. The turbo is right on the bottom side of the motor. You park, or drive in high grass or weeds with a nice red hot turbo you just might burn down a forest.


-Robert

 

actaully quite a few other Sports cars have that same exact style panel from the front bumper past the rad... BMW, Porsche, Lexus, Honda, etc.

But it is on nothing branded in america though, but lets face it... there is only one american brand sports car even built in america anymore.

I am sorry you don't like it. But Mazda was light years ahead on this. And lets face it... how many times in a cars life would it even need to be removed??? You say you leave it off so you can access stuff from under the car. Are you that lazy??? I mean I can count the number of times I have that panel off on my 'vert I and have swapped two different drive trains in and out of it now.