Sill to Floor Attachment

[RoddyMac]

I'm slowly progressing on the bodywork, but I have a question on the sill to floor (or main body) joint.  One of the previous owners drilled out what appears to be rivets holding the flange of the sill to the floor, but had left the very rusted and seized screws holding the seat belt reinforcing plate to the body and sill.  I've remade the seat belt plates, and will be re-attaching the sill to the body with rivets, but my question is, should I bond the sill to the floor/body, or will the rivets suffice?  Or, was it bonded from new and the previous owner broke the bond?   I could glue it together up to the seat belt plate area so that it (plate) could be gently pried from the body if it ever needs to be removed again.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  I've got some 2 part "glue" that was recommended by my local fiberglass shop, I had used it previously to attached aluminum to fiberglass, so I'm certain it should work with an FRP to FRP joint.

Cheers,
Rod

[4129R]

I have just removed mine. They had one 1/8" rivet at either end, and were glued all along the top under the chrome trim, using contact adhesive.

[EuropaTC]

Mine was riveted all the way along at intervals, and not very evenly if I'm honest.  The seat belt plates had been bolted instead of rivets, but the rest were just rivets.  There was no sign of any adhesive or sealant along the lower sill/floorpan joint and thinking about it I'm not sure it's a good idea to make it watertight in that location unless you can absolutely guarantee that you won't be getting any spray in from either wheelarch.  That's a tough call so mine still has the Lotus designed "drainage" in place   

When I replaced the anchor plates I used M5 stainless dome headed (allen key) bolts instead of rivets with penny washers underneath and carried that along the sills. A bit tricky getting the backing nuts in place at a couple of locations but do-able.

Brian

[TCS4605R]

I agree with EuropaTC - I used the same fasteners as he did and yes, you need to make the sill area drainable, not water tight.  I had to make new seat belt anchors as my originals had rusted out - you can see photos in the Photo Section in the Yahoo Lotuseuropa website under '4605R' of the new and old seat belt anchors.

[buzzer]

Seat belt anchors bolted in. I used stainless steel plates from SJ sport cars 4 captive nuts in the plate if can recall. the rest I rivited back together and used silicone sealant in the seams and where the seatbelt plate fits.


Dave