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Front Skid Plate
- Thread starter KegsBdry
- Start date
Long time lurker since I bought my 22 ST in September.
My engine and transmission oil pan are unprotected, some parts are missing ( maybe different car specs for different countries), a member mentioned website selling Setina skid plates so I took a gamble and bought one.It finally arrived.
I looked underneath my car, I found out:
The transmission crossmember holes don’t have threads, my crossmember part number is L1M3-5060-A. Dealership parts department says it’s the right part for my car.
I tapped the crossmember with a size M10 ( oem bolt size showing in the system), found the crossmember to be made of aluminum.
Setina provides 2xM12 bolts, now I’m thinking, should I go 2 sizes bigger to fit the Setina provided bolts or should I stay with a size M10.
I’m worried about the crossmember holes ability to hold the heavy skid plate and their integrity if I hit something.
I’m thinking of using thread inserts (Heli-coil) to reinforce the holes but I don’t know if the whole area will crack with time.
I hope my findings help you guys and I’ll be sure to update if something new comes up.
My engine and transmission oil pan are unprotected, some parts are missing ( maybe different car specs for different countries), a member mentioned website selling Setina skid plates so I took a gamble and bought one.It finally arrived.
I looked underneath my car, I found out:
The transmission crossmember holes don’t have threads, my crossmember part number is L1M3-5060-A. Dealership parts department says it’s the right part for my car.
I tapped the crossmember with a size M10 ( oem bolt size showing in the system), found the crossmember to be made of aluminum.
Setina provides 2xM12 bolts, now I’m thinking, should I go 2 sizes bigger to fit the Setina provided bolts or should I stay with a size M10.
I’m worried about the crossmember holes ability to hold the heavy skid plate and their integrity if I hit something.
I’m thinking of using thread inserts (Heli-coil) to reinforce the holes but I don’t know if the whole area will crack with time.
I hope my findings help you guys and I’ll be sure to update if something new comes up.
An update
Found out the skid plate came with 2 installation instructions stapled together, one for the 3.0 ecoboost and the other for the 3.3 hybrid. My ST undercarriage looked exactly like the 3.3L so I used the hybrid instructions.
Re-tapped the transmission crossmember to M12 ( had 12mm x 1.75 tap I used and found M12 x 1.75 bolts which I used), took 3 hours to get the job done.
Now my ST has a proper skid plate protecting my engine and transmission plasticky oil pans, im going to start monitoring the car temp level to see if the skid plate traps heat ( it’s already 122F where I live).
Found out the skid plate came with 2 installation instructions stapled together, one for the 3.0 ecoboost and the other for the 3.3 hybrid. My ST undercarriage looked exactly like the 3.3L so I used the hybrid instructions.
Re-tapped the transmission crossmember to M12 ( had 12mm x 1.75 tap I used and found M12 x 1.75 bolts which I used), took 3 hours to get the job done.
Now my ST has a proper skid plate protecting my engine and transmission plasticky oil pans, im going to start monitoring the car temp level to see if the skid plate traps heat ( it’s already 122F where I live).
