DeTomaso Mailing List: February 98, Message #112
     



From: 	MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re:  Drop floor pan and removeable cross member

Date: 	Mon, 2 Feb 1998 21:31:07 +0000



Scott wrote:



>Has anyone installed the floor pan dropping kit and the removeable

cross member under the oil pan?  I'm thinking about both, and wonder

what the "kits" include.  



>>>I went a slightly different route, but I have worked with both of these.



>Does the cross member include any additional members, or is it simply

a bolt-in replacement for the existing member?  Couldn't you just use

the existing member with plates to bolt it in?



>>>You got it.  The aftermarket piece might be marginally stronger than the

original, but I doubt you could tell the difference.  On many cars, the

original piece was cut out and then THROWN AWAY by hack mechanics wanting

easy access to the oil pan.  The aftermarket piece is for them.  If your

chassis is still intact, I'd cut the crossmember out, grind the chassis

smooth, weld some end-plates on the crossmember, drill some holes, buy some

bolts and be done with it.  A bit less elegant, perhaps, but who's gonna see

it?



(Of course, I wouldn't go through all this work just for giggles; I'd only do

it if I HAD to pull my oilpan and didn't want to pull the engine.)



>Does the kit for the floor drop only the area under the seats?



>>>Basically, yes.



>What

about the cross member that runs along the front of the floor pan? 



>>>That is sacrificed, which is actually sort of scary.  When I bought my car

from Hall Pantera, I also got a pair of his dropped floorpans.  They were

pretty marginally designed; just a simple box, almost like a big cookie

sheet.  Pantera East and Pantera Parts Connection carry a much better design;

it has a slight slope to it, just like the factory floor, plus it has a large

lip all the way around the edge, so you can cut a hole in the the floor, lay

the pan in place, and then weld it in at your leisure.  The Hall pan had no

such lip, requiring you to butt-weld it in place, not a fun or easy job.



The guy restoring my car was very suspicious of the Hall pans because they

required you to remove the side-to-side crossmember, and thus sacrifice some

chassis strength.  This could be a factor in a T-bone accident.  At the time

the other pans weren't available.  I think the Pantera East/Pantera Parts

Connection pan is much stronger (due to the angles involved in its

construction); it's certainly much heavier-gauge steel.  It's possible that

it only requires cutting behind the aforementioned crossmember, too.  You'll

have to ask them.



>What about carpet?  



>>>Well, as you might imagine, your stock carpet will no longer fit.  All the

vendors sell carpet kits for dropped-floor-pan cars, or you could have one

custom-made by a local upholsterer.



>And do they help?  



>>>Oh, absolutely!  We've got a monster in PCNC, Roger Sharp.  He actually

made his own dropped pans, cutting just behind the crossmember.  With stock

seats reconditioned with less padding, when I sit in his car, I can barely

see over the dash!



>I'm almost 6'1", and I've never

even autocrossed the car because of the helmet.  I wouldn't mind a

little extra headroom w/o the helmet also.



>>>I'm just under 6 feet even, and find headroom not a problem in early cars,

but a problem in later cars (which had thicker seat cushions, and also the

seat tracks were on raised spacers.)



First thing I'd do if I was you was to remove your stock seats and make sure

the spacers are gone.  If not, make them so!  Then see how you like it with

the seats back in place.



If you still don't have enough room, then you can investigate the dropped

floorplan idea.



On my car, it was so RUSTY that there was nothing to weld dropped floor pans

TO!  So I had entirely new floors made.  The entire floor, from front to

back, was lowered two inches (actually, the stock floor has a step in it and

the front is actually lower than the back, so my new floor is about 2 inches

lower in back, and less than 1 inch lower in front.)  



I dropped my floors because I fitted Recaro seats in my car, which are

several inches taller than stock.  The net result is a seating position about

the same as stock.



The bottom of my floors is smooth, and all the chassis members which appear

on the bottom of a stock floor, have instead been fabricated on the INSIDE of

my floors.  The seats nestle down in between all the chassis reinforcements,

and the bottom is like a 'bellypan' on a land speed racer, much cleaner

aerodynamically.



Actually, in front the floor is a bit TOO low, with my heels on the floor my

toes barely reach the pedals.  That was all part of the plan; though; I'll

build up the area between the inside chassis supports with super-duper

soundproofing, which will raise the overall level, then cover it with carpet.



The guy doing my car had a complete set of floors made, with all the

reinforcement pieces, plus one of the sickle-shaped chassis rails that goes

from the leading edge of the inner rocker, around and underneath the fusebox

to the front of the floor-all that made from scratch for only $400.  This was

a custom metal shop in Vermont did the work.



Mike