making floorpans?

[Tourniqet]

Hi guys,

I need new floor pans for my z and about 10 inches of frame rail where the rail stops on the end of the floor pan. I know the zed findings place has good stuff, but was wondering if anyone had just taken some sheetmetal and made them. I now have a lot of experience welding and all other types of metal work. I just wondered if anyone had done this. If so :

what thickness sheetmetal?

bend it/size it?

and how much money saved?

I know the kits at Zedfindings.com are like 250 or something + shipping:mad:. Also what would the structural benefits or losses be to this?

Thanks

[2ManyZs]

You'd want to use 20 guage steel at least, and that is not easy to make long bends in without a bending brake.

It would be a lot easier and less time consuming to buy them from Motorsport Auto, their Premium kit is supplied by ZeddFindings.

The floor pans would be a bit stronger as they are stamped and have the factory ribs in them. If you take a completely flat sheet of steel, it won't be as strong as one that has been bead rolled, or stamped.

Your total money saved by doing them yourself is probably going to be about half, but the time involved is what is going to be at least double what you would have to invest if you just bought them. A sheet of 20 gauge large enough to do the job is gonna cost you a little more than you think.

[EScanlon]

I'm an ex-bodyman and I have seen what the pans from Zedd Findings look like as well as helped install a set. I'm stating that because I have a lot of experience in not only duplicating hard or impossible to get pieces of sheet metal as well as just using skinss and fenders from both the dealer and / or aftermarket sources.

IMO, you would spend a lot of time and money in cobbling something together that won't look as well as what you're getting from Charlie. The end result of doing it with Charlie's pieces is that the replacement will look very close to original, but be stronger. He has taken the time to drill the drain holes as well as bend the reinforcement oval indentations in the floor pan. The sides have been bent up at the right angles as well as having the proper length to fully replace the whole pan from the front to the back.

Now, you can try to just patch, and if that's all you need, then yes you can just cut a couple sections of flat stock and weld / braze them in. But, if you're talking doing the WHOLE floor pan, by the time you get the metal, cut and bend it to shape, I think your savings will be very little.

Then again, if you're very skilled at cutting and bending metal you would do it in an afternoon. However, then you wouldn't have posted this question.

As far as the structural strength, metal that has been bent in a brake or press is far stronger than metal that has been hammered or bent in small sections.

Anyhow, that's my 2¢

Enrique Scanlon

[beandip]

I have installed the floor ,pans from Zed findings and my openion they are the best and recommend them. They are strong and fit with little fitting required. yes you can most likely find a cheeper way to go , but not better. If you want cheep cut the floor out of an old rust bucket for your rust bucket. If yu want to do it right then look into ZED FINDINGS . With the rust being the most deadly problem with these cars , curing the problem correctly should be a nobrainer. my 5c :classic:

[gramercyjam]

I made my own. The original floor pans in my 240 are about .034" in the thickest parts. The 22 ga steel I bought to fab the floor pans was miked and measured the same. A 4X8 sheet costs around $40 here I think. I do have a few years of sheet metal experience, in both modern production facilities and 17th century tin/black smith shops and I love working metal.

I actually used very little of the sheet, a lot less than I had originally thought. But I fabbed floors and frame rails that are quite a bit different than the stock ones. My frame rails are more like subframe connectors that are now inside the car and the floor now fills the spaces between them, and the tranny tunnel or the rockers. It didn't make sense for me to buy the replacement pans because I would have just cut them up anyway.

If I wanted a stock looking replacement, I would definitely buy the pans from ZF and save myself a lot of time and aggravation. You really can't fab a floor pan as good as ZF's without a lot of time and special tools.

[Tourniqet]

great

Thanks for all the info guys, I had done a search and found a post about someone easily making new pans. I just wondered if this was common and or easy. It seems I will probably be going with the zedd findings ones.

I saw some pans on ebay that were supposedly NOS and they looked rediculously plain and simple, only one bend... The seller said they were from MSA. This also sparked the question.

thanks

[Tourniqet]

It would be a lot easier and less time consuming to buy them from Motorsport Auto, their Premium kit is supplied by ZeddFindings.

I can't find them on the MSA parts page... I only see the zx floorpans, and it says they will be adding shortly... Did you find something I did not?

[MikeW]

Originally posted by Tourniqet

I can't find them on the MSA parts page... I only see the zx floorpans, and it says they will be adding shortly... Did you find something I did not?

Their web page is woefully inadequate. They list the red categories as having not yet been created and the blue categories as being works in progress. In your case I suppose the stock body replacement page should have a blue link since it now has a single item on it.

[2ManyZs]

The ones you saw on Ebay were possibly the earlier version of the floor pans. They only had one or two bends if I remember correctly and they didn't fit nearly as well as the kits that ZF supplies now.

They were basically just a flat sheet of steel and they required a lot of "fitting" for the one or two sets I've seen installed.

MSA still sells them, and the price is about half of the good set.

Part number of the Premium kit is 30-7317 for 70-8/74 cars and the price is listed in their old catalog as 309.95

The "basic" kit is 30-7313 for 70-8/74 and that price is 169.95, so as you can see, there's a big difference in price and for good reason too.

[St.stephen]

I had bought a set years back from TWEEKS. these were flat stock 18ga with the "fram rail" floor support tack welded underneath. They were cut in the correct shape, however only had two bends in them...one in the back and one on the inner rocker side where you tacked them in.

they were not easy to bend and shape without the proper metal working skills and tools. I agree with everyone else. if the whole floor has to go, ZED is the only way to go. If you're just patching then certainly 20 or 22ga metal will work and I have used that patch approach many times on Z's that were not going to be completely disassembled and done "frame up" per say.