Hiya all.
I would like some opinions on my best course of action. I'm looking at how best to secure the cockpit floor. My options as I see them are
thus...
1) Weld it. (Pro's: can do it reasonably quickly and easily. Con's: Risk of heat distortion and BONG! something I'd really like to
avoid.)
2) Rivets through chassis rails. (Pro's: easy. Con's: would have to buy tooling and rivets. Possibly compromise the integrity of the chassis
due to holes in the chassis. Swarf in chassis)
3) Rivets through flat steel brackets welded to chassis. (Pro's: maintain the integrity of the chassis. Con's: buying toolng and rivets.)
4) Rivnuts through chassis rails. (Pro's: no harder than rivets, having tools and rivnuts already, flooring can be removed if need be. Con's
Swarf in chassis rails, possible integrity issues as per rivets.)
5) Rivnuts through flat steel brackets welded to the chassis. (Pro's: no Swarf in chassis rails, flooring can be removed, nothing to purchase.
Con's: This is the most time consuming option.)
Would Mr IVA hve any issues with option 4 and 5? What are your opinions?
Thanks in advance as all opinions/guidance is, as always, very gratefully recieved.
Buy a rivet gun, then bond and rivet the panels to the chassis rails. Rivnuts would be crazy, you would need so many cheaper and quicker to buy a rivet gun and do it the way everybody else does
I vote number 2
go for alluminium you will regret steel then it limits you to rivets and sealant
Option 2
Can't believe you have a rivnut tool before a rivet gun!id avoid rivnuts in the chassis myself due to the size of hole you need to drill compared to rivets,and rivets are pennies compared to nuts.mines held in on tags welded to chassis tho.
Can't see any possible reason why you'd want to remove the floor at any point in the future, so I guess that would rule out rivnuts
altogether. Number 2 would be the most sensible and practical option (especially when bonded as well with PU adhesive.)
Phil
As above, have an ally floor and bond and rivet it! Can get a cheap riveter or maybe even borrow one and rivets cost nothing. Also you'll find riveting the floor hard work, rivnutting would be so much harder!
For speed TEK screws and a really good quality bonding. The former makes tha later real easy. GRP floor panels just adds the icing.
Option 2
Or 6) Drill the holes in the steel floor and plug weld it to the chassis ( like spot welding), no more tools to buy and not much chance of distortion if you weld the panel like torqueing a cylinder head.
Another vote for rivets & PU adhesive - maximum strength for minimal cost.
However, honeycomb (like the F1 cars) bonded to the rails would be lighter and stronger 
Option 6 - Borrow my rivet gun. I've also got loads of 4mm rivets and 4.2mm drill bits. I'm in Verwood so not too far from you. Send me a
U2U if you're interested.
Cheers Alex
quote:
GRP floor panels just adds the icing.
I did (1) originally, and cut it out to replace with (2) a few hours later on.
The thinking behind hoptions 4 and 5 is thus.
It would potentially make working on the pedal box/under dash area easier down the road if the floor could be removed. Also I could replace the steel
floor (definately don't have the money for ali at the moment) with ali or even CF down the road if I wanted. I have all the tools and rivnuts
already and having done a rivnuts with the make ends meet tool I found it easier to use than a rivet gun. Also if the floor was removeable it might
(MIGHT) make seat changed easier down the road as well.
I was planning on using a silcon adhesive as well as the rivnuts.
However it would appear the general concensus is for option 2.
[Edited on 13/11/10 by DorsetStrider]
Option 2 with sikaflex, as it is the most commonly done. For reasons. Tried and true is going to be better in the long run. It's never easy building these things, and if you can make it simpler and less stressful, you'll enjoy it more!
quote:
Worries me on a road car, something bounces up at speed under your ar5e , ooh don't bare thinking about, Ally's soft enough as it is.
quote:
Originally posted by DorsetStrider
It would potentially make working on the pedal box/under dash area easier down the road if the floor could be removed. Also I could replace the steel floor (definately don't have the money for ali at the moment) with ali or even CF down the road if I wanted.
quote:
Originally posted by interestedparty
quote:
Originally posted by DorsetStrider
It would potentially make working on the pedal box/under dash area easier down the road if the floor could be removed. Also I could replace the steel floor (definately don't have the money for ali at the moment) with ali or even CF down the road if I wanted.
I bet I could drill out a bunch of rivets faster than you could undo the same number of rivnutted bolts.
quote:
Originally posted by DorsetStrider
You possibly could... but then you have even more swarf rattling around the inside of the chassis rails.