1 or 2 piece floor
 

A bit of a rushed question this one as i am wondering weather to save some chequerplate from the scrap bin at work.

There is a piece of 4.5mm o-p tread plate going to scrap which would be large enough to cut in half and use for the 2 large seat areas of floor but not big enough to cover the whole floor including the rear end of the transmission tunnel in 1 piece.
The book shows the floor in 1 piece from what i remember but i have seen photos of just the 2 seat areas covered.

Any thoughts or advice.

Andy

Consider this for a while the floor is effectively the only diagonal that joins one side of the chassis to the other, ie the near side of BR12 to the offside of BR11. If you make the floor in 2 sections then there is not as much bracing as having it in one continuous piece. There's nothing wrong with making it in two sections if it's more cost effective you just need to weigh up the pros and cons of both. (disclaimer) The added tubes in red which I'd make 20x20 are what the one piece floor would do to the chassis in my mind, please bare in mind that this is only my opinion and I have no way of proving if it makes any difference what so ever.

Thanks for your reply.

Its a tough one. I doubt i will ever get a big enough off cut to cover the whole floor. but obviously strength is an issue. Ideally i would like a thinner floor too but beggars cant be choosers.

since posting i found this.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/view...php?tid=140729

Whilst on the subject of the floor. Is it ok to rivnut / nutsert the floor to the chassis.
If so what size (i have available m4,5 & 6). and what sort of fixing crs.
Is there any advantage or disadvantage to using this method over pop rivets other that being easier to remove and refit the floor at will (other that the sealant).

Thanks
Andy

How often do you think you'll have to take the floor off, is this while your building or when you have finished it? If it's only while your building use cleco's to hold it in place. Rivnut inserts don't always grip like they should if you get it wrong or you snap the thread of the tool trying to tighten it, we used to use a tig to fuse them in place. If you use a pop rivet that is a few mm too long you know when it's tight enough as the pin comes out, just my experience of course.

I have taken out the engine, gearbox, diff and prop when I upgraded my engine, the gearbox and engine are out again now as Im rebuilding the gearbox to heavy duty spec/long 1st gear

I have never once thought it would have been handy to able to remove the floor!

Rivnuts also need a large hole in relation to the diameter of fixing that goes into them

Im happy with my 1 piece ali floor thats sikaflexed and riveted to my chassis, seems to be doing the job just fine

if it's in the skip and free..

Get it anyway!!


I have a 2 piece floor.


4.5mm is a bit thick and will be quite heavy, but it could prove useful for other projects.

TT

I have given up worrying about weight. the chassis is made from 2.5mm box section. As long as its free it will be OK as long as the build quality doesn't suffer.

Ill just have to have a really powerful engine later down the line to compensate.

With regards the floor plate bracing the floor. will the seat fixing sections not help to brace this area. I haven't looked into that bit yet but I gather that more steel is welded into that area to fix the floor to.