Splash Pans

[nealkeith]

Many of photos of the Zs i see online do not have a belly, engine splash tray. What is the story? My 74.5 260 Z doesn't have one. I live in Houston and some times it rains a lot, I need one. Any ideas?

[BuDavid]

I don't know what are you talking aboutLOL

[beandip]

I don't know if your 260 had one , although my build date 8/73 '73 240 does . They are NLA as far as I know. Most of them have been removed and tossed. Like the hub caps . They do help to keep the engine bay cleaner and I have read that it helps to allow the air that builds up under the front of the car at speed , to exit back under and out and they increase the air flow through the radiator. I don't know if any of the air stuff is true but I did feel the difference in how the car felt when I pulled it off and ran her up to 95 , then installed it did it again. It could be a case like seat of the pants dyno telling me it is better, I don't know. I will say that I read the information AFTER I tried the on off test. I had just removed the pan to clean it and paint it . Then a couple of days later I installed it and drove over the same stretch of hi-way . A month or so later I read the article . Gary :surprised

[Virto]

They do make a difference when it comes to engine bay cleanliness. I've still got to put mine back on.

Because they were often removed and forgotten about, you can find them once in a while on ebay, but you might get a hit from someone with a parts car on here.

[nealkeith]

Hey, anybody have a splash pan they don't need? Acapulco gold is bad arse weed! Sorry I couldn't help myself!

[TomoHawk]

I have a photo of one for a 240Z from a topic here some while back ( I saved it to my hard drive on 4/11/2005).

I might consider making one for my 280Z if I could find a photo. I think I saw some bolt holes under there that I didn't recognize- I'll have to go look again.

240z splash pan (don't know the year):

[beandip]

Just as a point or reference . The splash pan that fits my '73 will not fit a '71 . Scanlon tried it on his Z . Gary

[KDMatt]

Tomohawk-

My '76 has a splash pan. I could send you some pics of it if you'd like... I still haven't put it back on after replacing the radiator back in April... I should get around to that... hrm...

It might be hit or miss though seeing as Gary said the pans changed from 71 to 73... No reason to think it couldn't have changed from 76 to 78...

[sakijo]

The splash pan also helps protect the bottom radiator tank (at least mine does) from damage by airborne road debris. They occasionally sell them here on Yahoo Japan, but it's FRP reproduction.

[sblake01]

I have a photo of one for a 240Z from a topic here some while back ( I saved it to my hard drive on 4/11/2005).

I might consider making one for my 280Z if I could find a photo. I think I saw some bolt holes under there that I didn't recognize- I'll have to go look again.

240z splash pan (don't know the year):

Tomohawk, you should hook up with alissa280z in Ct. She's parting out a 78 and maybe it has the splash pan. My 78 has one and others I've checked also do. Yours probably got lost/misplaced by a previous owner.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?p=186385#post186385

[bpilati]

I have a photo of one for a 240Z from a topic here some while back ( I saved it to my hard drive on 4/11/2005).

I might consider making one for my 280Z if I could find a photo. I think I saw some bolt holes under there that I didn't recognize- I'll have to go look again.

240z splash pan (don't know the year):

I guess Datsun and other technicians in the states thought they were smarter than the engineers back in Japan. Engineers don't strap on stuff with no purpose. Engineers are not trained to add gimics. If you see gimics, that's the marketing executives forcing engineers to put them on. Trust me, I know. That pan was there for a good reason, and so was the fan cowl on the radiator. The buffeting of air flow under the radiator fan blade area is disruptive to the airflow the cools the radiator. Turbulence is undesireable. But who can convince some of these automotive technicians who want to play automotive design engineer?

I have one that I purchased from someone, but have not installed it yet. I did put a ton of paint on it.

Tomohawk, have you held one of these pans in your hands. I'll tell you that this is a very complex sheetmetal stamping. I started taking measurements to make a pattern and gave up, and I'm an engineer. You might be able with much time to make a primitive one. I'll say it again, this stamping is VERY complex.

[240ZX]

Man, I've been searching for one of these splash pans for my 1970 for a while and have resulted zippo!!! So, anyone with a lead on finding and purchasing one, please notify me.....It would be greatly appreciated!

Tom