wrecked the oil pan

[Gregmckenna]

well I live in a town were we pay taxes out the ass but still have roads rhat are bad enough that my lowered SS managed to get a crack and the drain plug ripped out of the pan. the car is lowered 3" so its quite low. My question is befor I take the oilpan off the parts car an what not would it be worth my time to take my fathers mig welder ( if needed) an some mild steel and fab up a skid plate. I have axcess to drill press's and welders so Im wondering if it is really difficult to make one of these and if I should take the time to make somthing for the rear diff and gas tank?

[rallysam]

Well, if your likely to smash your oil pan again, then yeah get a skid plate! It'll take some work. You'll probably need a couple bends to clear the exhaust headers, depending on how bit you make it. You'll probably need some tubes to use as standoffs at the front (because it won't flush up against the bolt holes that are already there). If you want to be quality, you can also weld a little wedge of metal to the underside of plate in front of each bolt hole so the bolt heads don't get smacked directly. People use either 3/8" or 1/4" aluminum usually for the plate. The material isn't cheap. There's lots of skidplate out there for Subarus, check one out to get an idea of the pattern.

I'm not as worried about the rear diff and gas tank, but if you're actually hitting them on the ground, then yeah. Rear diff takes a lot more bends. Might want to just think about buying one from Primitive or something.