This mod was done almost two years ago and throughout this time it has saved me a lot of scrapes and damage. I have virtually NO Fear of any driveway no matter how steep.

Jawnthen and I believe GunnerMac and others have followed with their own versions. I know I've provided them with detailed info on how to do this and now I've finally got around to posting it to everyone.

I'll start here with a photo of the finished project.

 

I just changed the black plates after two years of wear. You can see how it was designed to rub against driveways. The black material is Delrin and is virtually shatter proof. It is a slippery material, as if there was WD-40 sprayed on it, but completely dry. So it slides very smoothly on most surfaces.

 

Here's how I started with removing the front end. Note the date on the photo.

The two rectangular metal pieces will be fabricated into my skid plate supports.

 

Here's the rectangular pieces after I cut them up. Those who want to try this on air dams other than RMM can just chose a material with a width that is the same as mine but a height that matches up with the bottom of the air dam chosen. The length will also be determined by the shape of the air dam.

 

The pieces are then welded on. The weld is strong enough that I can jack up the car on this bracket. I also used the holes to attach the straps used, when they dynoed my car.

 

I've left out a lot of details, but that's basically how it was done. Those that are seriously considering doing this, I can provide a few more pics that you will find of value.

 

very nice.... i'd like more detail and more pictures. Is the delron at an angle? It looks like the car should bottom out first onto those plates and push the car up from there without hitting the body. Good idea, but if the driveway is steep enough it could still scrape, counldn't it? It looks like a great idea for those "if"y situations.

I can get something like this fabricated. Is this delron metal easy to come by? I never heard of it.

 

good job!

someone should fabricate a kit like that, I'm sure people would want to buy it. Maybe an universal kit bracket with different size delrons

 

How much does a project like this cost....material, fabrication, installation?

 

You can get this done for $100-150.

The delron is not cheap. I believe it was like $40 a square foot at Tap plastics. But you only need a little bit. A square foot is enough for 4-5 cars. I got a square foot so that if I wore thru them I had enough pieces for replacements, but I think RMMGS4 had them for over a year before they wore down.

I think the metal cost me about ~$30.

Fabrication was done with a dremel, jigsaw, and drill. You'll need some bits that are made to cut thru metal if you don't have some already. Those add up...maybe another $10-15.

Then it was like $20 for a muffler shop to weld the pieces onto the car.

 

whoa...are u sure you used a dremel? the dremel i have could barely cut thru the side of a computer case which was 1/32" thick steel...and the fiberglass cut off wheels i used were breaking left and right. that box iron looks to be at least 1/4", unless you used a different material.

nonetheless...this is a great mod and i'd like to learn more about it, seeing my driveway takes off a piece of my bumper every once in a while .

 

I echo Globe's comments. A kit like this would sell like hotcakes seeing how most here are lowered with body kits and lips.

 

Jawnthen used a dremel for trimming and he didn't do the multiple big holes like I did. You're right, the only way to do those holes right is to have a machinist cut them. These steel pieces are soo heavy and are still strong enough with all the holes. You could look for material with a thinner wall thickness and not drill any holes at all. You can also pay a machine shop to cut the outside dimensions.

This was the material that happened to be available at the time so we went with it. If I wanted to improve on this design, I'd probably try some other options..

So how did I cut mine? THE HARD WAY.

I rough cut the outside dimensions with a jig saw and then belt sanded the edges to get them straight . As far as the holes, each one was done by drilling like 25 holes in a circular pattern with a 1/8" drill bit. Then a hole saw and a lot of WD40 was used to cut through the rest of the remaining material. Then I used a grinding wheel attached to a router to smooth out the edge. Very tedious and not the recommended way to do it. It probably took 4-5 hours and I used up 8 drill bits and one grinding wheel to do all the holes.

They looked pretty when I was done though eh ?

Too bad I had to paint them silver to keep them from rusting.

 

I experimented with a lot of angles and tried a lot of steep driveways and roads. If you get the angle right and mount the delron far forward, you will not hit 98% of the time.

I actually go into very steep driveways almost head on, as the sides will hit if I go at an angle.

Here's another pic:

 

The mounting location for the steel supports was marked on the chassis x-member. You can see that slits were cut using a dremel.