Lowering Floor Pans

cbjroms · #1 27th November 2011, 15:19

Just got to the stage of cutting my plywood floors and am now wondering how best to lower the floor pans to get the seats as low as possible.

I have seen davecymru's photos of his fabricated pans and this looks a good way to go except that I will need to purchase a MIG and learn how to weld. Quite excited by the prospect but wonder if there is a quicker and easier way to go.

I watched Trevor's solution quite closely and it seemed a quicker way to do it.

My other thought is whether I can put together a solution using plywood and glass-fibre but this could take alot of work to get it looking good and also strong enough.

Any other ideas out there?

Chris

davecymru · #2 27th November 2011, 15:33

how about contacting a scrapie and seeing if you can get two more front floor pans, seeing as they are already lower by about exactly the amount we need you could flip them around and mod them?

This way you may be able to avoid welding all together as you should be able to just bolt them into place?

Although...... It will all depend on if they are large enough to fit your seat bases in!

Dave

Mister Towed · #3 27th November 2011, 15:38

I'm planning to mock the whole thing up with the seats in place then sit in it before deciding whether or not the floors need lowering.

Have you tried that yet to see if your head 'n' shoulders are going to cause too much drag at speed?

garyh · #4 27th November 2011, 15:39

Quickly sneek in the kitchen

Mister Towed · #5 27th November 2011, 15:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyh

Quickly sneek in the kitchen

Yes... Put the baking tin on your head to deflect the slipstream. It's so simple it might just work...

lancelot link · #6 27th November 2011, 16:15

Chris , I see no reason why a pair of well made plywood drop sections couldn't work ....you could make them off the car , screw , glue and glass together and then fit them into the floor using angle iron top rails or similar....it doesn't need to be complicated.
Trevor simply fitted angle iron shelf brackets at the bottom of his chassis rails and dropped a shelf into the hole ...it works !

If you are going to weld anything in place , consider an inspection to name change your car first....minor additions are usually ok ...rules say , ''of a reasonable size '' when talking about bracketry - trouble is no one can tell me what size that is !!

cbjroms · #7 27th November 2011, 16:22

Baking tins plan is doomed to failure. Wife caught me in the kitchen looking at cooking utensils and immediately knew something was going-on. I explained the plan and she said that it was absolutely riduculous!

She reckons that one of those bike helmets that the professional cyclists use would be a far more sensible way to deflect the slipstream and cheaper than me buying a MIG welder.

Chris

cbjroms · #8 27th November 2011, 16:28

Gary (lancelot link),

Thank you for the sensible contribution.

Your way sounds the most straight-forward and avoids the need for metal bending and MIG welding.

Chris

davecymru · #9 27th November 2011, 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbjroms

Gary (lancelot link),

Thank you for the sensible contribution.

Your way sounds the most straight-forward <snip>

We can't be having with that then!

garyh · #10 27th November 2011, 18:24

[QUOTE=lancelot link;24611]Chris , I see no reason why a pair of well made plywood drop sections couldn't work ....you could make them off the car , screw , glue and glass together and then fit them into the floor using angle iron top rails or similar....it doesn't need to be complicated.

Gary, do you glass them on both sides?

http://garyssammiospyderbuild.blogspot.com

cbjroms · #11 29th November 2011, 12:03

I had a chat with a local sheet metal working company which my business uses now and again.

Their estimator was really enthusisatic about the Sammio Spyder and interested in talking through the lowering of the floor. He suggested that 1.2mm steel would be stiff enough and that I simply need a 5 sided box with a flange on the top. We talked about approximate dimenisons (600mmx400mmx100mmdeep) and he reckons that a pair of metal pans would be £96 (folded & drilled but not welded) or £106 (folded, drilled and welded).

At these prices, it would be much more cost effective to make plywood versions myself. But the price for the metal ones would drop to £60/pair (folded & drilled & welded) or £39.60/pair (folded & drilled but not welded) for an order of 10 pairs. For 20 pairs the prices would be £50/pair or £32/pair.

So I am just wondering whether anyone else would be interested in a pair of nicely made, metal floor pans? Obviously the prices above would be subject to VAT but I would be happy to deliver them free of charge to Gary in Poole.

Give that davecymru has just fitted his seats, wonder if he could advise on suitable dimensions for the floor pans?

Just wanting to gauge interest and pick-up any comments/advice.

Chris

davecymru · #12 29th November 2011, 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbjroms

Give that davecymru has just fitted his seats, wonder if he could advise on suitable dimensions for the floor pans?

Chris

Typical! i've had those seat pans exposed for months and the day after i finally fit the seats someone wants me to bleedin measure them!

Don't worry though, I can do some measurements from under the car, but please remember that what size you go for may be affected by the seats you choose!
i.e. i could have made mine longer, but as i was going to angle my seats in order to keep the top of the backrest below the cockpit wall i made them to fit the size of my tilted seats. Along with sloped front edges.

Having gone through this, I would recommend that you get the seats you want to use and then mock something up in place quickly in wood. Then when you're happy with that, measure it all up and get it fabricated in steel.

Dave

p.s. the extra tenner to get them welded sounds a superb deal!