---------------- 4 -------------------------------------
Floor

This is the picture of the very first piece of floor cut out, later I had to cut out at least twice as much


After putting engine and drivetrain in place, making drive shafts, building exhaust it was time to start making a new floorà I have to say that cutting something out is much easier than building a new one (surprise, surprise), but building a new one is much more enjoyable. Every piece of sheet metal youÆre putting in is going to stay there and getting you closer to the final result and you see it!

There were a few things to keep in mind when making a new floor:
1. Possibility to remove exhaust afterwards <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />. Funny, but elementary that sometimes can be forgotten. The biggest obstacle was the frame cross beam where torsion bars were attached.
2. DriverÆs seat position had to stay original.
3. Possibility to tilt passenger seat forward. If tunnel was getting wider in front and were close to the seat, it could not be done.
4. Should be built strong enough to carry driver and passengers on hard offroad trail
5. Pedals position, especially gas pedal position, as left side exhaust was at its original position instead.
6. Had to have enough room between floor and exhaust for being able to fit heat shield in there.

Again, there was no ideal solution, but compromises. The biggest problem was pedals position. I had 2 ideas: shift all pedals to left or move gas pedal closer to driver and higher. In both cases I was concerned about driverÆs right leg position. I didnÆt know what was worse: driverÆs legs moved to left and him sitting sideways relative to driving direction or sitting straight and having knee touching steering wheelà
I remember in Europe, I was driving a few times with Opel Vectra (Opel belongs to GM), that in some unknown reason has pedals not straight, but shifted left. It was weird at the beginning, but after a while didnÆt even noticed it û so maybe not so bad idea.
On the other hand it was more difficult to shift all the pedals, so I decided to keep the clutch and brake pedal at their original position and see later how to fit throttle pedal. In case throttle pedal position would have been very uncomfortable, I had to move all the pedals.

I started the tunnel by fitting two 1ö square tubes as the tunnel top reference. It may look easy, but actually it was a bit time consuming, as I needed to put seats in and out several times to see how they fit, change position, remeasure, check level and be sure they were approximately symmetrical. Next was driverÆs seat position and attachments. Seat stand (or whatever it is called) was made lower and then seat attachment higher from its original position.



Then it was a few days only cutting and welding. 1.5 mm (1/16ö) sheet metal was used. Seb was mostly cutting and me welding.








The tunnel on top of the gearbox was made removable, to be able to access some bolts and wiring. Also when installing and removing the tranny it was possible to lift it from the top.
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711735/floorcutweld8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i82.imagethrust.com/t/711736/floorcutweld9.jpg[/img]

Almost ready? Not yet, drivetrain and exhaust had to be removed for being able to paint the floor underneath. I used some kind of 3M rubberized paint.
ThatÆs how it looked underneath before painting
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711745/floorunder.jpg[/img]

à And then the best part û painting the floor from the topà
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711746/floorpainted.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711747/floorpainted2.jpg[/img]

Later heat shield was put underneath between the floor and exhaust. Unfortunately donÆt have any pictures of that.

Conclusions
The removable tunnel piece has been extremely useful when installing or removing the transmission and attaching wires. Seats are at their original position. Gas pedal position is not really good, but OK. It doesnÆt matter in short distance drives, but is a bit annoying in long distance. Maybe if seat could be moved a bit more backwards and steering column made longer, it would be betterà, or cruise control would be handy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />.