V70 lower splash guard
 

My car doesn't have the lower splash guard ( where the sump is ).

A lot of P2 cars don't seem to have this fitted, should I try and find one in a scrap yard or is it unnecessary?

it is a large plate, hard to find at the breakers. I was lucky to find one. Most mechanics will discard it because unfortunately it didn't had a hole for the oil filter, so it has to be removed every time. Volvo sells the 7 bolts special for this splash guard skid plate. The two rear brackets will break often times

I prefer having it for these reasons: in winter it protects the belts from freezing water/ice. It protects the metal power steering lines which are prone to rusting on 2001-2004. It protects the underneath from any road debris.

I do have it, has its advantages and disadvantages, the engine stays cleaner, but also hotter...

When I lost a pair of the original bolts put an standard 13 mm with washer

I was told the original V70 one won't fit my V70 AWD, so never took the plunge (and have been driving without one for about a decade). Although I expect I should be able to make it fit by simply cutting whatever area poses a fitment problem...

Given a table I saw once about airresistance, where 30% (!!!) supposedly was created in the enginebay, I do still want one as it could potentially lower my fuelconsumption by up to 10% (wild guess).

That is quite surprising if true, I was only thinking to fit it to prevent corrosion.

Found a pattern part here that looks promising:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNDERTRAY...oAAOSwpYxcEOF5

Thanks for the informational all. :regular_smile:

The major reason for it is to assist in controlling drive by noise.
Additionally, the cooling for various components will be modelled on a total air management system whereby flow is directed to the parts that need it.



(Funnily enough, this morning I had to attach a trickle type battery charger to a brand new BMW X2 and it was quite impossible to get the cable inside the battery compartment without simply dragging it across the bodywork (I always prefer to route it through an opening so it look more invisible and won’t get caught on careless feet.). There was literally no openings anywhere apart from near the OS driveshaft and that’s right in front of the crank pulley. Every single hole was covered by by ducting. Even the bloody grille was blanked off by active cooling control....)

Do you know how long the replacement bolts should be and are they all the same?

well when they first started fitting these to the last of the Volvo 140 in 1974 the lack of undertray reduced the top speed of the car from 106 mph to 98 mph work that one out :-) bolts are about 15 mm long M8 thread , best use stainless steel ones ...

i got this for my 2002 xc70 auto fits perfect and cheap too
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-S80...53.m2749.l2649

It does indeed reduce a little the airflow, however a good working engine doesn't get hot - if a petrol engine feels overly hot at the top, there is a problem with it (even if the temp gauge sits at 12). Mine was also really hot at the top and I didn't had the undertray at that moment, I asked people on forums and some said it's normal, it turns out there was a problem with my engine, don't remember exactly what (perhaps wrong spark plugs or clogged coolant passages or faulty air intake thermostat for the N/A engine) but once fixed, my engine now has a very good top end temperature much much lower that before, and now I have the undertray in place as well. In fact, the engine bay gets cooled down by air passing through the large radiator unit, as it's both blown through by the speed of the car and sucked in by the fan unit when it kicks in, all this air gets around the engine and exits at bottom, at the end of the undertray