Belly pan: On or Off

[II kings 9:20]

I decided to leave my belly pan off since I do my own oil changes. Combine that with the Fumoto drain valve and oil changes are a breeze. I don't imagine it will affect MPG. What do you guys think and do.

[rogue]

Your engine compartment will need cleaning more often. That bellypan acts like a dust cover more than anything.

My engine compartments a disgrace..

[Ahbizmal]

What Roque said. Unless you like a dirty compartment, or cleaning more often.

[HotRodK]

I took mine off. I dont see a difference in anything.

[II kings 9:20]

I'll keep an eye for added dirt. It may be worth it, I clean the compartment usually 2-3 times a year during a hand wash.

[Northern Rider]

Originally Posted by II kings 9:20

I decided to leave my belly pan off since I do my own oil changes. Combine that with the Fumoto drain valve and oil changes are a breeze. I don't imagine it will affect MPG. What do you guys think and do.

If you are going to leave it off you will get much better cooling in the engine bay. If you do sustained highway driving, you will lose a couple of MPG according to a member who has over 60,000 miles on his.

One thing to watch out for is this: The belly pan holds the front of the inner fender liners in place. At high speed, with the pan off, they will bend back against the front wheels, creating huge billows of black, burning plastic. This happened to Meister. He re-engineered some braces to hold the liners in place. He put a post about this up here some time ago.

[II kings 9:20]

Hmmm, I re attached the two front screws to hold the mini chin pan in place. All the pin plugs are still there. I don't see an area where the belly pan adds any structural support, I'll have to look again. I guess if the pin plugs give way they could bend back, and furthermore a couple mpg on the freeway is huge, that's nearly 10%.