I am tired of trying to work around the belly pan when i do an oil change, so is there any reason why taking this thing off and leaving it off is a bad idea, or is there an easier way to get the oil filter out without taking the belly pan off. I go off road rarely if ever, so i dont see hitting a rock or something as a likely occurance. Just trying to get some feed back as to what other have done. I hate taking the thing off and then putting it back on because i always end up breaking one of the little body rivet type thngs. Thanks, Shaun
it wont hurt anything, but it will get dirty under there. the plastic offers little to no protection from big things like rocks, animals, tires, ect, its up to you.
Leave it on and just use the 5 screws that hold it in place -- I ditched those plastic pop rivet thingys after the first oil change.
I thought (and I could be wrong) that the plastic piece was there to aid with the aerodynamics and engine cooling. I would leave it on and just use the screws.
havent had mine on for over 2 yrs now... at 150mph I use .5 gallon more fuel due to teh lack of aerodynamics.. ha ha ha j/k
So I need to pick up several more screws that are like the two holding the pan on in the back. Or do you just use the two screws to hold the whole pan on?
There's 5 of them; three across the front and two on the back crossmember. Well that's at least how the 04+ WRX ones are. The 02 WRX ones are smaller; I'm not sure about how many screws they use.
aftermarket is the way to go. also it isnt that bad to remove the thing everytime you change oil. you just get used to it. takes me ~15min longer to change my oil to take off and put on the plae again. and i dont even jack up the car.
I've got a cover as well. Until Bikerboy just raised my car up I was hitting things with it and quite glad I had it on. Rear diff protector as well. You just never know what you'll run into.
I leave a 12mm and 17mm socket, a cheap ratchet, and a flathead screwdriver in the car. That's all you need to change the oil.
