I have recently bought a used 1998 C70 T5 coupe and have noticed, that it does not have a plastic skid plate attached - the one covering the underside of the engine, with the oil pan. My 1992 850 2.5 glt does have such a plate. After searchig the various forums and other resources I still couldn't come to a definitive conclusion, if the C70 did have such a skidplate originaly and the previous owner lost it, or the car simply came without the plate. I read somwhere the v70 T5 didn't have the skidplate, according to Volvo this was due to improoving engine cooling. Does anybody know for sure?

I'd also like to know if there are any negative effects with mounting such a skidplate. After reading on the subject the only possible drawback I can understand is, that the skid plate "could" interfere with engine cooling, but is that a real issue? I like the plate my 850 has, it really prevents a lot of dirt, water and possibly debris to enter the engine compartment. And it does have quite a few scratches on the underside, so it apparently did it's job.

The last thing I'd like to know is, if a plate from an 850 fits on a C70? The cars should be almost identical, but the engines aren't. Not that I would remove the plate from my 850, but I could get a used one.