Heh, Yeah! I have been doing the 'sitting and watching' part far too long, that's why I'm getting in the game now
Plus it gives me something to do this winter. If the skid plate pans out, I'll post up the template so you can take a stab at it

As for the plate, its actually dPag, but I couldn't help one little edit

 

lol...now that I look at your place I see your little photoshop trickery. Nice job I must say. lol. Too bad your plate wasn't dbag. That would be a lot funnier.

 

as I pulled it out of the foam, I was very close to ROFLing , but then the sobering P became all the more clear. no such rofl.

btw, the subtle photo shopery was done in paint

 

First of all let me say:
So tonight I tackled the biggest part of my first fabrication project.
Here is the template I was working with:

After tracing out my out line, I loaded up the and went to town. Interestingly enough I found that standing on my work bench and using my weight to hold the plate down worked best. WD40 served as my cutting oil, and I kept a spray bottle of water on hand....

So I got to chopping and roughly 2 hours later managed to chew my way through all that damn aluminum.
the big center hole is the access for the oil filter. I plan to carrage bolt a plate over the hole and hinge it. Access will be gained from the outside (driver's side) top and bottom, the the plate will drop away toward the passenger side on a hinge. We shall see...

It's rough cut now. Tomorrow I want to clean up the edges and will probably silicone on something to trim the edged (fuel line or something) so I dont slit my wrist changing my oil or working around it. and


See a few pictures: Here Nothing great... Just pictures...

**EDIT** great... now all of my animated sawzall smileys are dead links

 

Heres a quick (lol) run down of all of the trackable maintenance that has been done to her in the last 20 months.... hold on to your check books and rental keys boys and girls...

Cap, Rotor, Wires, Plugs, cooling System, Front Brake Rotors, throttle Blade Adjust (?), Fuel System Flush, Front Door Pins and Bushings, Oil Change, Air Filter
Tires, Alignment
Trans Rebuilt and Serviced
Fuel System, Brake System, Cooling System
Oil Change
New Fuel Pump, Thermostat, U-joints
(I buy her for $1,800)
Replace Engine (84k miles) oops...., motor mounts, belt tensioner, starter, air filter, new PCM
oil change, rear differential serviced, cooling system flushed
New Windshield and spare tire
4 new shocks
New TCCM and Fuel Cap
Oil Change
Both CV axels
Clean EGR valave, MAF sensor, and Throttle body
Oil changed, transmission serviced
Pitman arm, idler arm
Replaced both upper and lower ball joints, RF and hub assembly
New oil filter addapter housing and seals that go with it
new TCEM.
New driver's side door, bushings and pins

That comes out to roughly buying the car three times over in 20 months.... good thing only 2 of the re-buys are mine (not counting initial purchse....)
god this thing really does eat money....

Still broken
inside hatch release button doesn't work (replaced button twice, no change....)
ac compressor smoked
ac recharge
blend door accuator
right size spare (mine is 235/70r15)
new D side door needs paint (FIXED)
still throwing evap code
still have warning airbag light
both dash speakers (stock) are blown
cut power window tracks when installing 6.5's in both(!) rear doors (FIXED-ish... unplugged power window switched )

 

It's pretty much a brand new truck looking at that list of parts..lol.

 

how the hell did you do that Curtis?

 

a drill and a dremel *cue rim shot!*

no, when i dropped the 6.5's in they stuck out a little (1/4" or so). i looked at the hold up, it was a bit of metal that made the edge of the hollow spot the speakers drop into. Since GM put the metal in just to foil me, I came prepared. Got a drill, punched a connect-the-dots style line outlining the semi circle i needed to remove. Then i used a dremel to connect said dots. BLAM instant fit!. Problem was: my windows were all the way down AND the metal i chopped held the track for the auto windows once they reace about 2/3 closed. After much swearing, I managed to get them closed and all was good until i bumped my rear windows down by mistake. after about 2 months, I fixed the offending window AND disconnected both rear switches, rendering them inoperable. Problem solved... for now

Long story short: DONT CUT RANDOM CAR METAL!

 

soooooo many words i could use to describe you right now, hahahahaha!

 

all of them are good too i suppose
Hell i'm honest though.... can you believe people actually take some of the advice I give around here if only they read this thread first...