Wood sheet protecting engine came loose - need to order replacement, any suggestions?

[neutroncore]

Hi there,

I just purchased a 1995 RX-7, and I\'m a total newbie to the world of rotary engines. I joined the club before picking the car up this week. Any advice on the following would be much appreciated please! Perhaps other users of the board have experienced this problem with the car before.

While driving on the motorway up from Bristol to Ullapool in the Highlands of Scotland, a piece of wooden sheeting underneath the front of the car had become loose, and caught on the road. There was no damage to the vehicle, but I could not continue driving with this attached, and decided to remove it.

Can anyone tell me if it\'s at all unsafe to the vehicle, to drive it without this (obviously I intend to get it replaced asap)?

Has anyone else replaced this part and perhaps could offer advice about what to tell my Mazda dealer, in order to get this sorted efficiently, with regard to obtaining the part, anything to bear in mind, options etc).

My local Mazda dealership (Inverness, 60 miles away) say they can order parts in, but won\'t do discounts to private individuals. Any advice would be welcome regarding obtaining parts for the car, with regard to the rotary club discount. Perhaps I can order parts myself at a discount, and get them sent to the dealership?

If I can also find out what this wooden sheeting is referred to as, it might help (as the dealer wanted to take a look at the car on a ramp, and it might save some time to know exactly what needs to be replaced).

It might be worth taking it in so they can check it all out, but I thought I\'d get a heads up from the rotary users first!

Thanks,

Robin Brinkler

[grinder]

Welcome to the club !!

i have to be brutally honest here - what the hell is a piece of wood doing under your car

as far as i know ( and i would love to be proved wrong ) - Mazda never used wood on the FD !!!

i can only assume someone has very cheapily replaced the plastic undertray with a peice of wood

you really need to get some pics of this

Stu

[BlitzBoy]

no wood used as the undertray my man, Its a plastic undertray, take a pic of where you took it off

[neutroncore]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I could only describe it as wood as that\'s what it looked and felt like (the inside layer, harder material was light and hard, looked like smooth chipboard in a way!) but it was coated with a layer of what looks like carbon fibre. Maybe that was the normal material, and I just described it badly through my own naivety!

Basically it looks like it had caught one too many speed bumps; the layers had frayed, and the hard interior material had broken away where the holes held to bolts on the underside.

I\'ll take some pics of where it was attached.

[grinder]

UNLESS it was a carbon fibre undertray and they have left the wooden template inside it - cant see why they would though

as they always say - a pic tells a 1000 words

[SiH]

Sounds like someone has fashioned a DIY flat undertray

[neutroncore]

I took some photos of the front underside this afternoon, you can hopefully see the bolts which the undertray was attached to. Sorry some of the pics aren\'t great but it gives an overview of the situation!

http://www.neutroncore.com/rx7/undertray/

A few friends have suggested I might get a replacement in Max Power mag, although I\'m taking the RX-7 into the Inverness Mazda dealer to get it checked over and get a replacement side light, so perhaps they can get something ordered in. If it\'s not that difficult to replace, there are garages up here, or knowledgable friends, but is it better to get things done by Mazda or an approved garage for insurance purposes?

There\'s also a couple of pics of the rear side panel which is a little separated from the rest, which I just neglected to remove from the gallery set.

Thanks for such a quick response on this guys.

Rob