Reinforcing the floor.

[Gmg31]

Throughout my restoration project I have been concerned about how thin the cabin floor is.  Then last week I watched the Overhaulin Europa episode and they too were clearly very concerned.  They laid down 2 layers of glass and then a tailored honeycomb panel before another 2 layers of glass.  So my questions are.

What are members views on the need to do this.
Have any members done this like this or differently.
Is this method a bit overkill.
Where can I get that honeycomb board.

[BDA]

In my opinion, the Overhaulin guys went way into over kill. If you're concerned about the strength of your floor, I would recommend a layer of mat or two that wraps up a few inches on the vertical sides of the backbone and window sides. If you really want to get serious, you could add a layer of cloth between layers of mat, but I think that's probably more than you'd need. Make sure you get rid of all the paint and dust before you lay down the mat and get all the bubbles out when you apply the resin.

I thought I read somewhere that 7upjohn (the owner of the Overhaulin car) said that the stuff they did on his floor ate up valuable vertical space.

[Grumblebuns]

Another option is to bolt a thin sheet of aluminum to the outside of the floor panel secured by the four bolts holding the seat down. The S2 seats have a thin sheet of steel for the seat bottom, the twinks have nothing except the rubber webbing holding the seat foam bottom. There were times while driving my TCS where I would have tightening of the sphincter when driving over debris on the road I couldn't avoid.

[Rosco5000]

I am sure some reinforcement would help.  The body man that did my dad's Elan+2 said that he had seen a Europa back in the day that had a stick or chunk of pole come up through a Europa floor board only to get stopped by the seat.  But I am guessing chunky would argue that you should have never hit or driven over the stuff in the first place with the superior handling of his cars.
Ross

[BDA]

Another option is to bolt a thin sheet of aluminum to the outside of the floor panel secured by the four bolts holding the seat down. The S2 seats have a thin sheet of steel for the seat bottom, the twinks have nothing except the rubber webbing holding the seat foam bottom. There were times while driving my TCS where I would have tightening of the sphincter when driving over debris on the road I couldn't avoid.

After I posted my reply, I thought about aluminum sheet. I believe the sheet in the tub of my Sports 2000 Lola T492 - you know, back in the dark ages - was about .040 thick. A piece of that would be plenty additional strength and armor for those times Grumblebuns mentioned.

[andy harwood]

I put a sheet of fiberglass mat on the floor boards in my TCS.  Also  got a couple of pieces of sheet metal (I forget the gauge) for under the seats. I bolted between the seat rails and floor, using the seat bolts.
Seemed the least I could do to, you know, protect my junk.

[rascott]

great.
before reading this, i was perfectly happy w/the floor.

[BDA]

I didn't touch my floor and I'm happy with it. I can only think that some cars are victims of Lotus quality control. If you were happy with it before, there's no reason not to be now.

[EuropaTC]

Personally I thought the Overhaulin' team's approach was a bit OTT on the floor, I just didn't get that part.  If you wanted to stiffen up the structure surely you'd look at the side sills which is what Lotus did with the S1 elise, which incidentally also has a very thin (1mm ? 2mm ?) aluminium floor albeit with stiffening ribs.

If you think about it you don't put a lot of weight on to the floor  and the seat spreads your weight over the attachment points which rarely (if ever ?) fail.  Whilst it looks a questionable design under modern eyes I think we need to put it into perspective;  they built nigh on 10,000 of the things and while I accept something could punch through the floor,  it's not a common occurrence, is it ?

The whole car is lightweight and if you look hard at the side sills or doors then you see 3mm GRP.  The front & rear wings, roof, windscreen pillars, in fact most of the car is thin GRP and side impact protection is a few years away with these cars.  Added lightness or skimping on the resin ? It's Lotus....   you decide   

Brian

 

[3929R]

Overall I feel my TCS is at least nearly as safe as a modern motorcycle.

[EuropaTC]

Overall I feel my TCS is at least nearly as safe as a modern motorcycle.

 

You made me smile there Mark, that's pretty much the way I look at them as well.  They're definitely not made for leaning on things !

[BDA]

And you don't get bugs in your teeth! 

[StrawberryCheesecake]

I used to like the sound of bugs bouncing off my crash helmet- as long as they don't get inside.

The floor on mine is about 2mm thin - not sure if that's a lightweight racing body, or standard. I was thinking of reinforcing it. Definitely no stiletto heels allowed - can't find them in my size anyway!

I was going to put an ally shield under the floor anyway, but might also put an extra layer or two in the floor

[Runningwild]

A little alum work while I wait to remove the body.

[buzzer]

Alternative to consider is laying some Kevlar and bonding it  on the floor. Kevlar has very good penetration resistance properties and would be lighter than an ally sheet.

Dave