Floorpan plugs - Yes or No ?

[oldhemi]

I have decided to get new floorpans from Zedfindings. Charlie has replied that he could make the pans w/o the holes for a premium. I will not know how much the extra cost would be since he is on vacation until April 1st. BTW, he sells the 8 plugs plus the 2 in the hatch area for $2.52 each.

My question to everyone is:

Do I really need these holes in my new pans?

Seems to me that they would be an area for rusting again. No way that this car would ever be a concourse type - it was not when new! I do plan on driving the car in the rain and if I do get water in the car for some reason, I will attend to it quickly - not like the daily driver it was in the snow and salt in Connecticut. It looks like that my request is not something that Cahrlie has dealt with much because he does not have a firm price for deleting the holes.

[Zs-ondabrain]

Nope, not really. I omitted a few and covered the rest with The Fat Mat in the 260Z.

The plugs were installed for draining purposes only. They come in handy if your heater core blows and dumps a ton of coolant on the floor. But that's about it.

Dave

[akzbob]

I went to Lowes and found some plugs that fit fine. I installed them with some silicon and so far they have been holding up well.

bob

1978 280Z

Alaska

[sblake01]

I went to Lowes and found some plugs that fit fine. I installed them with some silicon and so far they have been holding up well.

bob

1978 280Z

Alaska

He's talking about whether or not he needs the holes in the floorpan not the plugs that go in them.

[leftover z]

If the holes are all crusty, and you are putting in a new floor panel, then no you don't need them.

[oldhemi]

I have to agree with everyone. Charlie's email response surprised me, sorta like no one ever requested the floors w/o plug holes. I'll find out what the difference in price is after April 1st or so.

Thanks for the responses!

[beandip]

I installed Zedd findings floor pan in my Z about 8 years back with the holes and bought the plugs from Charley. I wasn't offered the pan another way.

Personally I can see no reason to have the holes . I can always pull the carpet and towel out the water if something brakes . The carpet would need to be pulled to get to the plugs. There is zero problem having the rubber plugs either. I coated my floors with POR both inside and under the car.

Gary

[Bonzi Lon]

I imagine the holes are part of the manufacturing prosess. It would take extra time to either change the prosess of leaving the holes out or weld in patches. Just a thought. Keep us informed.

Bonzi Lon

[madkaw]

The floor plugs will cost an extra 20$ or so, I guess you'll need to decide if it's worth the extra time and cost to go without. The Nissan plugs are good quality and should hold up for many years. The holes will come in handy for when I etch the metal for por-15, I can reuse the metal prep by catching the remander from the holes.

[Nigel1943]

I have to agree with everyone. Charlie's email response surprised me, sorta like no one ever requested the floors w/o plug holes. I'll find out what the difference in price is after April 1st or so.

Thanks for the responses!

Don't mean to be picky but I'd have thought pans w/o holes would be cheaper, one less operation, or have I missed something?

[oldhemi]

Nigel, my guess would be that there would be removal effort of some sort on taking the dies for the holes out of the stamping process. Special requests to a manufacturing process always cost more even if its a simple and quick process. I imagine that Charlie orders x amount of floors at a time?

If the quote is not too much or even within the $20 or so for the plugs, I'll go with no holes, if its $40 or more, I'll have the holes and maybe weld up a few of them!

Edited March 7, 2010 by oldhemi

[jaltman]

The two holes that are under the seats, does anyone know what size they are for the plugs that belong in them?

TIA