Morning all 
I would appreciate your feelings on fitting the floor pan.
As I'm not going for sub-4 secs times (I am running a Pinto after all ) I'm going to fit a steel floor (16swg will suffice I believe?). My
question is, do I cover in the tunnel as well or not?
I guess it would be easier for servicing if I didn't.
JB
Hi JB,
The kit provided by dax doesnt cover the tunnel, so I'm not going to.
A lot of people do fit a plate over it as well though 
so its up to you I suppose!
I'd just plate the whole bottom including the underside of the tunnel and leave the top and side tunnel panels removable to access the pipes and propshaft
why are you fitting a steel floor? how heavy do you want the car to be, if you are running a pinto, aka THE BOAT ANCHOR! you need to save weight in as
many other areas as possible. just use 2 ali sheets for the floor with 1/8 rivets every 2 inches and adhesive (wurth) to hold them on, as already
mentions DAX's dont cover the tunnel part and for good reason, im running a pinto and this is what ive done, and the floor hasn't fell out
yet! 
[Edited on 4/3/09 by omega0684]
omega0684,
What thickness would you recommend? I am going to use RHS cross members to support the seats.
JB
IIRC mine was 2 or 3 mm, i rivetted all around the edge and then put 3 rivets across each seat member
as above, use Aluminium plate, its not that much more expensive, its so much easier to work with, ie, cut and drill and it wont need painting and wont
go rusty. no matter how much you paint a steel plate floor it will go rusty.
its also half the weight.
i think the reason people dont cover the g/box tunnel is to help keep the box cool.
If your buying a full sheet you may aswell use it
Mine is 16swg steel I still bonded and rivetted.
It's worth remembering that aluminium is lighter than steel
but
steel is stronger than aluminium, and can be welded as well
Also there are no galvanic corrosion issue when joining steel to steel
John
quote:
Originally posted by big_wasa
If your buying a full sheet you may aswell use it
Mine is 16swg steel I still bonded and rivetted.
) quote:
Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
quote:
Originally posted by big_wasa
If your buying a full sheet you may aswell use it
Mine is 16swg steel I still bonded and rivetted.
Fair Play
Is it better to bond and rivet than weld or just a matter of preference? (nice job BTW
JB
I used 16swg, welded in, but if I were to do another I would use 18swg (or 1.2mm).
I would then put some cross folds in it to stop the bong.
The top of my tunnel has a bits and bobs tray in it which is removable with four screws
to access the prop and hand brake so the floor covers the tunnel as well.
Cheers
Paul G
quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson
Can't weld aluminium to steel, so it HAS to be riveted. No, it isn't better than welding.
John
quote:
Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson
Can't weld aluminium to steel, so it HAS to be riveted. No, it isn't better than welding.
John
John,
I know you can't weld aluminium to steel, but he said he rivetted and sealed his STEEL floor pan so I was asking which method was best for that.
John
Hi
The reason that you still rivet a STEEL floor on is because you will never get to protect in between the two areas when welding the sheet on. It is
well known that the chassis with welded steel floors have the base of the chassis tubes rotting out after a few years. This is exactly why the 750mc
recommend riveting the steel floors to the locost race cars. Especially after what was seen on some of the early cars.
If you are going to weld the floor on the ideal way is to cut the sheet so it sits inside the chassis so there is no overlap of the floor sheet and
the chassis tube. This then requires the whole of the sheet to be seemed. Not really a good idea as it distorts the chassis quite badly.
Cheers Matt
Sounds pretty reasonable to me Matt
BTW, know where I can get hold of some clico's cheap
Yep, having read a few posts thats the way I went.
Welding was no problem as I welded the rest of the thing.
Its very hard to weld it in with out some distortion and the thing going boing, which I didnt want.
I could have gone with alloy but just could not get my head around the fact my arse was 2" from the tarmac on a piece of coke can 
Welded mine. Going to paint and put a run of silicon sealer around it as well to make sure it doesn't get water into any gaps.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Welded mine. Going to paint and put a run of silicon sealer around it as well to make sure it doesn't get water into any gaps.
I did lots of calculations about steel vs ali for weight and penetration resistance. Look it up, will probably be about 5 years ago.
Its also weight VERY low down so helps performance (my excuse, i'm sticking to it).
Coming back to fitting the floor pan and covering the tunnel - just suppose you have to replace the propshaft after a while! you will have quite a
job on getting it out from above - may even be impossible without removal of the engine + gearbox. I am cheating, my chassis is already built for me
- floor pan included - but as with all 'profesional' built chassis, the underside of the tunnel is clear.
Regards.