Reinforcement plate alternative?

So I've been doing some search on ways to protect my undercarriage.
I came across this:

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330...late/ES128604/

however it states for vehicles produced from 02/2001. I believe my car was produced in 01/2001, according to my vin. On my door jam though it says 2001/02, but i'll just go with 01/2001. With the last 7 digits being FV02995, I used this to figure it out:
http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi


Now my real question is since my car uses the tubular reinforcement (I'm assuming), like this one (#3):


what are my alternatives in getting a plate like the ones for post 02/2001 vehicles for my 01/2001? The reason I am asking is because I had just busted my oil pan on road construction and I would like to protect it as much as I can without having to raise my car.

I believe my coupe was built in 11/99 and definitely has a plate - http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/51718260810/ES130062/ to be exact. I would get under your car and see if you have the eight mounting holes. My guess is that any of these plates would bolt in correctly. However, they are structural portions of the car; you need to be careful that you aren't affecting these characteristics by replacing the tubular reinforcement with the plate.

Luke

I'm with the above poster, it may be a bolt-in replacement. Think it has to do with Sport suspension. As early Coupes got this. I think the date has to do with CAB's being a larger size. But you just use a few washers to clear it. It even says so in the Bentley. My coupe had this and it was a 2/2000 build date. You should be able to find this cheaper in the "Parting out" section in Classifieds here.

I'd love a new plate. I struck something on the freeway and it got bent. it did its job. Still looks fine but is deformed. At least I cleaned it when I had it off the car. It must've had 10 lbs of rocks and dirt stuck to it then a nice layer of oil to hold it all together. Since then, i've fixed all my oil leaks