Has anyone come out with a small version of the skid plate to protect that Fan?

Any pictures? Not sure if I want the large/heavy plate, just something to protect
the Fan.

 

I saw one in the newest Moss catalog. Here's a picture...


I find their online site hard to navigate, so this took a while to locate. Look under ENGINE and then ACCESSORIES for the link.

 

That's the first time I've seen the new Moss solution which quite frankly, looks like one of the best solutions so far (I installed the full skid plate soon after taking delivery). There is an extensive thead on this topic offering a number of seriously creative and simple home-built solutions that focus only on the fan.

 

I saw the Moss fan plate in the latest catalogue too. It looks well designed for the purpose, however the full sized skid plate protects much more than just the p.s. fan. I recall a recent thread about a MC with a holed oil pan that resulted in a seized engine. That is what the large plate should protect you from. Remember, its collisions with debris on the road that causes the majority of these sad problems. If you frequent the highways, you could benefit from the full skid plate. Mine's already collected a couple of tractor trailor retreads on I-75, with no damage to the car nor plate.

 

Check out some of the other threads RE skid plates causing engine problems. Not to say it is the cause. But I've seen a couple threads heare where people have had engine problems and the dealer pointed to the skid plate (probably the full plate) as part of the problem.

 

Not to rehash the entire skid plate argument, but it seems like the dealers who blame cooling fan failures on skid plates are just as likely to blame the little plate as the big one since neither are standard equipment (and hence are fodder for dealers trying to weasel out of warranty claims).

That said, I believe that the full plate weighs something like 20 pounds. In general, I'm looking for ways to reduce the weight of my MCS to improve performance...and it doesn't seem to me that strapping 20 pounds of steel on to the front end is a step in the right direction. Other than the PS fan, I don't think there's much on the MINI underbelly that needs protection. You can hole the oilpan on just about any car if you're not careful. In short, the small plate really seems to present an excellent compromise solution to solving an engineering problem w/o creating other problems (e.g., weight).

Oh, and I think that the smaller handmade electronics grills that some on MCO have mentioned are a) too flimsy and b) involve pop-riveting, which I'd rather not have to do. The Moss small plate mounts with bolts on factory-supplied locations.

 

Installed the small fan plate on my MINI this week.... Please check out the last post :

Moss Motors PS Fan Plate

Sam

 

You can get some heavy gauge wire mesh and do the same thing for a lot less than $40.00(and S&H). I think that price is outrageous for a piece of thin stainless with some holes drilled in it!