Full floor or 2 halves?

[java gt]

I am about to order a shed load of panels for my very rotten 1960 and I was wondering what are peoples thoughts on floor replacement.The only thing holding the front to the back are the tunnel and passenger doorstep,the drivers side is air.Would it be better to replace the whole floor with a M-Machine floor or go with 2 floor pans and retain the tunnel to help keep the front to rear measurements.I have never changed a full floor so am a little apprehensive about it but I have never tackled a Mini as rotten as this before.

[STG95F]

Hi , If you can get away with it i always go for 2 halfs to keep it all in line . M-Machine do the correct half floors for a 59/60 ( flat sills etc) and also a nice full floor .( but not 100% correct floor panels )

Hope this helps

Ian

[evonaut]

hello java gt

my very rotten 1969 has just had 2 new halves. we kept the tunnel because it was original for 1, and as you say, reduces the need for even more bracing! we used all heritage panels where possible bought from somerfords.

take a look at my project thread below:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10527&start=0

there are some photos of the early body works showing the tunnel remaining and the floors gone and replaced.

this level of restoration was totally new to me and i was surprised to see that before cutting out parts of the monocoque that would leave bits flopping around, floors and sills etc, they cross braced all the openings - doors etc, by welding big Xs to the remaining parts. very cool!

good luck with the project. i look forward to seeing some photos

evonaut

[java gt]

I don't think the 60/61 floor pans are available anywhere.I like the idea of a full floor but I would be afraid the shell may become distorted.

[Tupers]

Half floors are much easier to do if you're working alone but will take more welding. A full floor is a lot of work for one person to do but is actually less time consuming overall.

I did a boot floor, heel board, two half floors and two inner wings (in that order) on a '63 last year. I ended up adding virtually the same amount of bracing as I would for a complete floor pan but if I was only doing one half floor at a time I would only add one cross brace.

[gs.davies]

I had a full floor put in mine. I did think my floor was that rotten but looks can be deceiving. I have a very experienced guy doing mine and even he said that you got to have some bottle to chop the bottom out of a car! It was a commercial decision eventually - cheaper to to the whole lot and easier to get s better finish.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6462&start=20