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Bugeye Floor Pans

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Rut

Rut

Obi Wan
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Good morning all,
I purchased a set of floor pans and a rear bulkhead for my Bugeye thru Moss and they ended up being the Ashley Hinton brand. I tried to fit them just to see how much adjustment was needed and the rear spring plate mounting holes are more than an inch off side to side and front to rear, both sides. Is this common for these pans and if so how do you adjust for this? I also purchased the reinforcement pieces and they are about 2 inches too long on the floor pieces which I can trim and about 1.5 inches too short for the bulkhead reinforcement piece which is a little tougher to trim. I know there are a lot of body work experts out there and I need your advice.
Thanks, Rut
 
I'm sure pictures could help here.

But this is new floors, rear bulkhead and reinforcements. the spring plate holes weren't drilled and still aren't. Spring bolts mount through the plate to a cross piece on top.

Don't know if this helps any, but here it is anyway. :smile:

P1020456.jpg


IMG_4269.jpg
 
Donn,
Thanks for the pictures. The problem I have is that all of the holes are predrilled and off a good bit. I can hammer out the pans and break them closer to the center or drill new holes. The seat mounting nuts are also about 1.5" closer to the transmission tunnel as well and this might interfere with the hand brake. I'm not body man, so there might be something simple I'm overlooking. I've also removed the 'cap' over the rear end of the transmission tunnel to make it easier to fit. Did you leave part of the center section in and lap it with the new pans?
Thanks, Rut
 
Hmmmmm...Mine weren't drilled. The floor supports do come long and should be trimmed on the front end. Post some pictures of what you've got going on with the floor pans. I know everything will look like it's off if you just try to hold the floor pans up to the original pans while they're still in place.
Mark
 
Mark,
Thanks, I took several pictures, but I can't get them to post. Nothing new about that, just crappy computer skills! After lining everything up as good as possible and clamping the pan in place I'm still off by about an inch. I added the spring plate to show where the holes should be, but alas, no pictures. I mounted the floor brace and bulkhead brace and all of the Ashley Hinton parts line up...with each other, not the car. From the measurements I took I'm still too close to the transmission tunnel by about 1". IIRC, the handbrake was in there pretty tight and I don't need it to be tighter. I'll ask my body man to take a look this weekend. Any other thoughts?
Thanks, Rut
 
If you have ALL of the old floor pan (including the turned up welding flange) removed from the inner rocker and you have the new floor pan clamped tightly in place to the inner rocker and firewall/inner fender and rear shut plate, then I would say the rocker panel possibly has migrated inboard. Maybe that area has become distorted due to lack of structural integrity over the years if the rust damage was in fact that severe. Or also if the car was in a wreck at some point. Try to take some cross measurements from the right rear spring mount to the left front "A" arm mount. Then repeat for the left rear spring mount to the right front "A" arm mount. Compare these two measurements and try to determine if the body is out of square. something back there might need to be pulled back into alignment. the factory workshop manual has all the body measurements in it you would need. I'm not sure if the factory workshop manual is online here at britishcarforum, but I think it is available over on spritespot.com.
There's all sorts of possibilities but try this before sending any parts back or drilling new holes.
Good luck
Mark
https://www.spritespot.com/gallery/1960-bugeye-refurb/floor_pan_2_002
 
Mark,
The car looks good and no signs of a wreck other than a little bump in the rear. I measured from the outside corner of the spring box plate to the outside corner of the front frame rails and got 85 9/16 inches on both sides. I feel good that I don't have an out of alignment issue. Shawn at Moss has inquired and asked if it would be better, in my case, if the floor pans came without holes. I think it would be better to have none vs. having them in the wrong place as far as the spring plate holes are concerned. BTW, I do have the inner sills ground down to the original metal and all remnants of the old floor removed. How many Dam* spot welds are there anyway?!
Thanks, Rut
 
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