The disappearing underbody covers.

Underbody Covers - The 993 was carefully designed to have a smooth underbody. This includes three underbody covers.

• The front underbody cover is rarely removed and is solidly screwed in place.
• The transmission cover is regularly removed during servicing.  In addition to its role in aerodynamics, it protects the transmission and its linkages from dirt and road debris. Many of these covers have gone missing during inattentive service work and they are expensive to replace. I had this problem so now my cover has my name and a “please reinstall me” note in graffiti style bright orange spray paint emblazoned on it. I recommend others do the same next time they have their car up on a lift. It may give your mechanic a little chuckle but, I feel it will also increase the likelihood of him complying with the request.
• The third cover is a tray under the engine, in my opinion, it just serves to hide maintenance issues such as an oil leak and make jobs such as changing the oil a lot more work. I read a posting on a technical forum that debunked the idea that the cover causes the engine to retain heat. The posting involved doing tests with an infrared laser pyrometer.
• In the Fall the third under engine tray does help to avoid having your car set a pile of leaves under it on fire and;

avoide a very very embarrassing visit to your street by the local Fire Department; 

involving all your neighbors standing and watching from their lawns; 

as one profusely apologizes to the fire chief, who just happened to ride-with on this call; 

while he explains they usually gets these calls where a teenager is turfing someone’s lawn and sets it on fire and; 

how surprised he is to find an older guy like me as a factor in its causation.  

Going forward I just leave this cover off and avoid backing over piles of raked leaves. Whoo..got that all out in one sentence!