Fiberglass Floor Pans

[lovemy318]

im thinking of making my floor boards out of fiberglass resin. its light wieght, sound deadening, easy to do, and easily repaired.

flame on cuz i really need the all sorts of suggestions. if i do go for it i will keep you guys posted in the project forum.

details, not the whole floor will be fiber, just the areas where you rest your feet and the fire wall above.

i was also thinkin of cutting out my spare tire holder and fab'n up a fuel cell.

also... im not worried about depreciating value or shit like that, this car will be mines for a lifetime.

[JasonC]

Is the car that rusty? Or is there something else to this? And why put a fuel cell in it, is it going to be a race car?

[Majikal]

if you're going to bother cutting out the floor boards to go through this, you might as well do it with sheet metal and just throw some sound deadening on it. Fiberglass may seem strong at first, but without 10-12 GOOD layers on there, it's not THAT strong to replace a floorboard with it, and at that point, its damn near the sheet metals orig. weight. Plus, that much fiberglass is kind of pricey, it may even be cheaper to go sheet metal.

[Jordan]

We've gone over this dude. That car is a rusted out shit heap. Take the good parts off of it, and buy a clean shell to work with. There is NO REASON to mod a rusted out bucket.

[GaryE30]

It doesnt sound safe to make a floor pan out of fiberglass. Its strong, but logic... I don't think so. I'd go with plain sheet metal flooring.

[moatilliatta]

If its caged sounds alright. and if you have a solid point to bolt the seat down to.

[asubimmer]

seems like a ton of work w/ few pros and a lot of cons...

for one, think of the exhaust and then think of how well fiberglass burns

[BeirBrennerE30]

fiberglass no....

carbon fiber skins with a honeycomb core material will be pletnty strong and light. many cars have done this with varying levels of success based on preparation. The vette zr1 has carbon floors stock

[lovemy318]

okay, im not too worried about the price, also carbon seems like a better idea. the exhaust wont be running under the fiberglass boards.

i want the fuel cell simply cuz its safer and easier to manage. this will be my track runner. only parts that are rusted completely thru are about a good square foot worth of floor plan total and another square foot worth of trunk.

it would be alot cheaper to just get some metal. im trying somthing different.

if i do go carbon fiber/fiberglass then it would have a cross welded strip of metal supporting it. a good 18 layers of tha good stuff, then the whole bottom of the car bead blasted with a new coat of bedliner to finish it off.

i have a buddy with a 67 mustang with the complete underbody sprayed with bedliner and its smooth and light.

i dunno. this is just the car im gonna do crazy good shit to. nothing too crazy so it doesnt loose its right to be called a bimmer.

what do you guys think?

[Farbin Kaiber]

Ouch. I bet bedknobs to broomsticks that for your CF invoice I could finish my Car.

You plan to lay out 18 layers at aprox 1 sq. yrd of interior floorboard. 18 sq yrd of cf is not cheap. But I dobnt think it would pay off my project, on second thought it will buy you a rust free shell.

[Keith M]

Coming from someone who cant locate Redline MTL in a huge city like Houston, I see no problem with you doing a carbon fiber overlay.

If you don't have access or don't know how to weld, you can simply pop rivet and seam seal patches in to cover the holes. OR - find a better car to start with.

Keith

[Jordan]

Why are you so against scrapping out the rust bucket you have now? Its not a Texas car, and its easily one of the top 5 rustiest e30's I've ever seen.. and I've seen some downright NASTY rusted out e30's from Canada... yours is up there with them. It is not a shell worth putting money into.

[moatilliatta]

need pics plz

[Disaster Inc]

OMFG...this is ghetto R3V at its best...or worst...Fiberglass floors?

[Keith M]

Don't forget; 18 layers of carbon fiber, then sandblast the rust off.

K