vectorwolf

A couple of weeks back, most of the plastic undertray beneath my radiator was blown away by some sort of animal carcass... I've just now found the time (and a garage) to get it taken care of. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get to a few bolts that are still holding the current damaged tray in place. If anyone has the slightest idea of how to do this, please let me know.

*pics below*

Picture of the damage.


Pic of the new undertray in front of the car.


Pic of the undertray itself.



At best guess, the only bolts that aren't coming out are the three along the section that "stands up" on either side of the tray... Again, if anyone can offer any help with this (or point me to a thread if this has been done before), it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

the two very forward holes on each side the upper part are removable plastic rivits, a bit of a booger to reach your hand in to the far forward one

undertray is shown in the lower left corner:

vectorwolf

Great, thank you!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

edited above

army_rx8

wow that sucks..but at least the plastic tray was the only thing damaged :D

vectorwolf

yeah, I know.... I have a nice dent in the radiator where, I'm guessing, the thing smacked off the car... Looks terrible.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

do you need the small radiator shroud piece shown in front of it?

vectorwolf

Haha, looks like I do... If you hadn't mentioned that I would never have known there was such a part. lol. Looks like I'll have to order that too.

Oh, and thanks again for posting those diagrams. I finally found the other bolts I couldn't spot at first (can't believe how obvious they were once I knew where to look...). Just got the tray off, underbody washed, and the poor frog that got wedged in there somehow has been removed. Should be able to replace it in no time. Thanks!

vectorwolf

Here's a pic of the old/new trays side-by-side...

BlueRenesis82

Since you have the tray off I would get some sort of screen for that radiatot. RB makes one, and the hardest part of the install was trying to get that stupid tray off.

vectorwolf

Sweet. I'll look into that right away. Thanks!

Diabolical RX8

How much did the Tray cost? I took mine off cuz it was hanging down severely and made the 8 look so ugly.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

put that hanging undertray back on! it's an important piece that directs air over your radiator for cooling!

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

You actually damaged the AC Condensor, not the radiator. They are one behind the other.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

^What he said - without it, the air goes under your car instead of through the fins.

vectorwolf

The undertray? It was about $140-160 if I remember correctly.

warrenl

i just ordered one from my mazda dealer. It was 174.00. I hit some road debris that tore it up

Nubo

You can probably straighten those up with a radiator "fin rake" or possibly radiator pliers. Now is the time, before you get the shroud back up.

juikster

when my underbody air flow piece desintegrated when it lost a fight with gravity , I built a stainless steel pan and side walls... turned out ok and looks better than the crappy plastic

avakiannl

iTrader: (1)

Go any pics? I want to do build one out of aluminum. M

Mine is messed up too, hit a flattened green plastic trash can at 70 mph that popped out from under an SUV. RB screen saved the AC. It got stuck under the car and melted to the cat.

adrian-1

I'm willing to bet it's back on the car since this is a 9 month old thread.

ramirezja

wow, mine has been off since i bought it from the last owner, deffinately going to buy it and put it on... geez, wonder what else i'm missing.