Splash Pans...Lets Sort ‘Em

[keithb7]

My ‘38 Plymouth has a pair of bolted-in splash pans. One on each side of the engine block. Down low. 
 

I also have access To a 1928 Dodge. It too has similar splash pans.  One on each side of the block.  Both cars,
bolted to the inside of the fender. 
 

Looking  down in my ‘53 Chrysler Engine bay , there are no splash pans. 
 

I am interested in learning what their intended purpose really was.  I can make a few guesses.

Keep water and mud out of the engine bay? Prevent the distributor from getting wet?

As I scrape away 80+ years of grease and dust, I discovered fluid gutters.  It seems they wanted to direct water flow from the block drain maybe? Along the splash pans to a central drain.  Maybe the pams idea was to assist with directing airflow from the fan? Guiding it along each side of the block, exiting the engine bay by the bell housing?

 

When did they drop splash pans?  It seems someone must have figured out they no longer served a purpose. What purpose was that? What changed?
 

They do look cool when in place. Making a nice looking enclosed area around the engine. 
 

 

[desoto1939]

have the bottom splash pans on my 39 Desoto.

 

rich hartung

[Worden18]

No splash pans on my 51 Meadowbrook.  I'll speculate two things without having any way to back either one of them up:

1. There were less asphalt roads in the 20s &30s, meaning more dirty, muddy roads messing up the underside of your car and possibly the engine bay.

2. It was a money saving thing to get rid of them later.  By what year I have no idea.  At least by 1951 I know that much.

[Skrambler]

My 39 vert 40 sedan and both the 41 coupes and sedans have similar pans. They seem to keep the other pans tight, and in place. With an introduction of "wheel wells", I believe the separate pans went away. My two cents worth.

[chrysler1941]

Like Skrambler, my 41 has them too. Part list call them Engine Dust Pan.

 

I think they had multiple purposes like Worden18 mentioned, deflecting road debris, (poor roads back then) and directing airflow to radiator. I for certain know my 39 Cadillac will get hotter without similar shields. 

 

I guess they dropped them when engine bays where lowered and roads where asphalted.

[Andydodge]

My Oz 1940 Dodge which was essentially a 1940 Plymouth had these when purchased in 1971 as did a couple of other 1940 Dodges that I bought over the succeeding few years............my understanding of their function was as just a dirt,water and dust shield for the engine bay......the "fluid gutters" I think are just reinforcement grooves stamped into the panels to give them some strength or general support........I also think that they may have aided in directing airflow from the radiator thru the engine compartment via a venturi effect.......maybe.........lol..... although this feature may have been via good luck rather than good management.........lol..........when I installed the V8 in 1973 they no longer fitted and I have no idea what happened to them........the 1941 Plymouth Coupe I had did not have either installed when purchased and I was not concerned about their loss................I think that their removal and subsequent non reinstallment may have had more to do with any steering box and/or fuel pump repairs over the years as these items would possibly have been in the way and just left off....................andyd.

[Eneto-55]

My 46 P15 (basket case) came with them.  (In regards to the other current discussion, it also has the shock absorber guards.)  W/o looking, I recall that they are called "dust shields" in the parts book.  Mud and water shields might have been more accurate, at least in Oklahoma in those years, keeping water from splashing up around the distributor, etc.  I do plan to put them back on, I think, although I suppose they would serve no practical purpose on today's roads in most parts of the States.  (My brother had a 47 P15 parts car that also had them, but my 49 P15 didn't have them, at least not anymore when I got it out of a Nebraska salvage yard in 81, with a blown engine.)

[busycoupe]

I think that the P15's and D24's had them, but they were probably lost over the years as mechanics took them off for access to the engines.  

[Dan Hiebert]

Our '37 Terraplane has them under both the passenger and driver's side.  Purpose explained in the Hudson/Terraplane manual is to keep road spray and debris away from the engine and electrical components, away from all those openings in the firewall, and aid in ventilation of the cabin.  The latter because Hudsons and Terraplanes of that era had a permanently open muslin screened vent under the rear seat that needed the ground effect's (though not called that at the time) low pressure to pull air through the cabin.  Those panels increased the ground effect.  No mention of aiding in engine cooling.  The distributor is mounted at the bottom rear passenger side of the engine, a very vulnerable location.  Most of the '30's Hudson and Terraplane folks I know say the best thing to do is get rid of them, for various reasons.  I kept them because everyone seems to have gotten rid of them, so now they're kinda unique, although standard equipment at the time.

 

Our D24 had them.  It has the mounting holes in the frame for them that had the wear around them from them being mounted at one time.  I understand it was an option, and/or provided in locations where it made more sense to have them (bad roads, bad weather, etc.) only for the driver's side, and primarily to keep road spray and debris out of the cabin and away from all those components between the engine and frame on the driver's side.  

[knuckleharley]

Their purpose was to let heat out of the engine compartment. Those old,heavy flatheads ran really hot and needed the air circulation.

Edited March 25, 2021 by knuckleharley