I'm back.....this will probably be a fairly "winded" long worded post so I apologize in advance.
I've begun design, planning and fabrication on the floor. In my head I see the plan and vision, but truthfully it might be a bit hard to explain or show in this post (I wasn't going to post until I was further along, but the pictures were piling up and I didn't want too many at once)
I knew in my head that I wanted to floor to look "clean" from the bottom side of the car. Instead of adding a lot of beadwork for strength, I had envisioned on having all the floor braces and structure hidden above the floor instead of below it, I'll add extra braces / structure to make up for lack of bead work. This serves the same purpose in the end, but it leaves a nice unobstructed floor later (underneath) The problem comes on the inside.....with all the braces and structure it would be hard to do carpet and such, so I'll actually be adding a second "false floor" on top of the braces. This gives me a smooth floor and most importantly the "cavity" between the floors will be an ideal area to install sound deadening material as well as insulation for heat / noise. Eventually as the floor project progresses, this should make more sense.....hopefully!
I'm tackling the floor structure in several different stages: (susceptible to change as I progress further)
1. Driver and passenger front halves
2. Section above mufflers and over rear end
3. Trunk floor
4. Wheel wells / tubs
5. Inner quarter panel structures
6. Firewall / cowl
This picture is an example I pulled off the internet. I discussed having a smooth floor with the customer and he wasn't totally sure. I scrounged up a dozen pics or so, showing examples of some higher end well known builds and talked him into letting me go with what was in my head.
Another example picture I shared with the customer so he could sort of see what I was thinking in my head.
It all starts with a simple flat blank cut and marked for my first floor section.
The basic bends complete. The long edge will be along the frame rail and will become the inner rocker panel. The other bend up is the transition into the driveshaft tunnel.
It may be tough to see but I also added a slight "S" curve towards the driveshaft portion of the floor. This raises the floor edge about 3/8" to gain the needed clearance over the center chassis crossmembers I built in the last post or so.
Here's the first basic panel just set into it's rough location.
I did the same set of bends for 3 more floor sections. My magnetic brake is only 48" width so I had to split each floor side in half (here I've got the front and back half tack welded together.
I also rolled up a rough shape for the driveshaft tunnel so I can visualize and plan accordingly.
Another view of the floor blank sections set into place. I've only rough cut the opening for the transmission as well as the mufflers and rear suspension.
Looking in the rear wheel opening forward you can see how the floor will fit around the chassis. 3/8" clearance above it and a 1/4" gap along the side. The body pucks are a polyurethane bushing, so there won't be any real movement once bolted down tight.
I don't have a picture but I bent up a pile of straight "hat section channel braces" Where the braces need to follow the "S" curve I added to the floor I made them in 3 pieces (top and each side flange) shrunk and stretched accordingly....
Here's an example of the floor braces and the curved one (not trimmed, just there for an example and test) Will fine tune floor curve to fit perfectly when the time comes.
Same process for fabricating each of the brace ends. These will tie the floor braces to the rocker structure eventually.
Here are 6 curved brace ends ready to attach to the straight sections (I made 2 non curved brace ends that go in a different location as well)
I pulled the floor section back out and started to trim and fit the floor braces where needed with clecos.
The customer also dropped off the seats the upholstery shop got for him (really only plan on using the structure, foam and material will obviously be reworked when that time comes)
A little better view of how the bracing is laid out. The 3 with the punched radius hole are the body mount locations. Inside the brace I've added a steel doubler plate to spread the load out evenly The body mount bolt will set down inside the brace (again giving me a clean surface later for carpet)
Other braces are added where needed for seat mounting and general floor structure.
Another view from the front. Again the transmission cutout is just rough at this point (only cut enough to get the floor to set in the chassis) The same for the forward edge....this will change according to what's needed for the front kick up into the firewall.
The next thing I needed to fabricate is a new inner rocker panel structure. If you look at this picture you can see the original inside the rocker panel next to the frame. (The piece with all the holes in it)
I need to do this for two reasons:
1. I want to lengthen it all the way back to the future wheel well / tub
2. It'll be one of the main items that ties the floor and braces into the body structure (to be seen and make sense later eventually)
Getting started on the new inner rocker structure (again needed to make in two sections as it was over 48" in length) It's a "Z" bend. Eventually the top bend will plug weld to the rocker / door jamb area and the bottom bend will be one location the outer rocker skin will plug weld to.
And the completed inner rocker structure. Punched full of holes never to be seen again once installed!ha I suppose it adds a little strength, but I did it to mimic the original a bit.
Another view of the overall floor section. You can see how the rocker structure will eventually attach (plug weld) to the floor braces.
The raised portion of the rocker structure is where it transitions from the rocker to the door jamb structure. Eventually the inner quarter panel structure will attach to the top lip.
Just another different view. The curve of the floor brace ends is for the transition to the rocker / door jamb as the floor braces are slightly higher than the door sill. (It won't follow this exact radius) but that gave me the needed clearance to do a smoother floor transition later.
From the bottom side. This is the inner rocker now (along the frame rail) you can see the two bottom flanges where the rocker skin will attach to later.
Here's a picture with the inner rocker brace located where it will be for reference (though obviously lower and inside the rocker panel) but this shows the alignment to the rear door post structure.
Once the floor was a solid unit with all the braces and structure clecoed into position I was able to bolt on the body bushings and mounts and locate it on the chassis. With everything lined up the body mounts (built previously) were tack welded to the chassis and the floor was finally attached by itself....it even fit how I wanted!ha
I grabbed Adam off of his project for a few minutes since he's much closer to the customer's height than I am (Adam is actually about 2" taller...so that works good for fitting) They are both pretty tall guys and this is a pretty small tight car! I had him check the leg room and how comfortable he felt. The wood at the front is roughly the kick panel / firewall.
He gave the thumbs up and said it was really good.
A good side view of the seating and leg room.
I like this view...it just looks like some wild go-kart or something right now!ha
My next task was to start closing off the area above the driver's 4-link and muffler. I left a good amount of clearance (probably much more than I needed) for exhaust / heat transfer and air flow but yet wanted to keep things compact enough to gain as much seat room as possible.
Eventually everything behind the seat to the rear window will be below a compartment (so this area won't be seen, except from the bottom) I wanted to fabricate it where I can probably mount components to later. A/C unit, wiring harness, battery?, etc. etc.
Side view of this area. The angled portion is over the suspension, the other area is above the muffler.
Different view. I didn't want to do any hard sharp 90 deg. bends. so I've added at least a small radius to every edge. This section will be trimmed and butt welded to the floor panel (not just a flange plug welded on)
With the seat located as far back as it would ever go you can see why I needed to keep the floor around the muffler as compact as possible.