DrRob Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Hi Is it possible to put the earlier Aluminium rear floor in place of the later mild steel one? Cheers Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 yep, it certainly is - here's how we did it on Orange's Truck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted September 28, 2008 Author Share Posted September 28, 2008 yep, it certainly is - here's how we did it on Orange's Truck Cheers. Nice work. Fancy doing another To be honest, the majority of the floor is OK, it's just a small section near the offside back. Could I get away with rivetting and silicone a small panel in....? Hole Piccy Ta Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveRK Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 If its only a local area thats rusted then don't even consider removing the whole floor as its a lot of work and invariably there will be the usual rusting together of parts and one job leading to another syndrome. I have replaced the floor on mine and made my own new floor as the lip edge that it sits in was rotten and rather than spend a lot of time making up new ledges and then spending out on a new floor (£350!) went to a local place and had a sheet made to size that overlaps along each side. All three cross members were replaced at the same time as it was in a sorry state and as with most jobs these no point cutting corners if you want it to last. Hours and hours of work and not particularly rewarding as you cant see it once its done. Hope that hasn't put you off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted September 28, 2008 Author Share Posted September 28, 2008 If its only a local area thats rusted then don't even consider removing the whole floor as its a lot of work and invariably there will be the usual rusting together of parts and one job leading to another syndrome.I have replaced the floor on mine and made my own new floor as the lip edge that it sits in was rotten and rather than spend a lot of time making up new ledges and then spending out on a new floor (£350!) went to a local place and had a sheet made to size that overlaps along each side. All three cross members were replaced at the same time as it was in a sorry state and as with most jobs these no point cutting corners if you want it to last. Hours and hours of work and not particularly rewarding as you cant see it once its done. Hope that hasn't put you off Thanks for your advice SteveRK. Will give it some serious thought over the next few days and get a few more opinions. Hopefully can just rivet and silicone a patch over it to keep the water out! It is >30cm from a body mount. Will replace the whole floor when the majority of the floor is foobarred. At least the RR has no alpine lights in roof to let water in like a Disco! They seem to suffer more.... Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Rob, From looking at your picture, it seems that you are going to have to do a lot more than just sticking a patch over it... The side support that the floor sits on is non existant. Bear in mind that the floor offers a lot of rigidity to the back end of the car... Depending on what you use it for, it's a bit shaky to leave it as it is. If it's used off road, all you need is a log to get caught up and the whole floor will tear out... In my case it was a waffle board, but the same principal. If you rivet an Ali floor in, it definitely becomes a non-structural element in MoT terms... At the same time as doing the floor, we had to replace the rear body crossmember, the floor supports and large sections of the inner wing on the drivers side. Not something I am keen to do again, but it's all do-able with some time, some sheet metal and a brother that can weld (fairly ) well... We also replaced the sills, drivers footwell floor and the bottom of most of the door pillars... It's amazing how far the rust mites spread. I'm not trying to put you off, but it might be better to deal with the whole problem now, rather than wait till it gets a lot worse... Out of interest, my RR was a 1992 K reg. We replaced the rusted floor and crossmember with items taken from an A reg RR... Not saying that Land Rover cheapened the construction, or anything... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 Rob,From looking at your picture, it seems that you are going to have to do a lot more than just sticking a patch over it... The side support that the floor sits on is non existant. Bear in mind that the floor offers a lot of rigidity to the back end of the car... Depending on what you use it for, it's a bit shaky to leave it as it is. If it's used off road, all you need is a log to get caught up and the whole floor will tear out... In my case it was a waffle board, but the same principal. If you rivet an Ali floor in, it definitely becomes a non-structural element in MoT terms... At the same time as doing the floor, we had to replace the rear body crossmember, the floor supports and large sections of the inner wing on the drivers side. Not something I am keen to do again, but it's all do-able with some time, some sheet metal and a brother that can weld (fairly ) well... We also replaced the sills, drivers footwell floor and the bottom of most of the door pillars... It's amazing how far the rust mites spread. I'm not trying to put you off, but it might be better to deal with the whole problem now, rather than wait till it gets a lot worse... Out of interest, my RR was a 1992 K reg. We replaced the rusted floor and crossmember with items taken from an A reg RR... Not saying that Land Rover cheapened the construction, or anything... Cheers for the info. Looked at your pics but couldn't see how you attached the ali floor - rivets or bolts? How did you attach at the rear on top of rear x-member? Rivets again? Ta Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Yep. The whole thing was riveted in. When it came to line up the floor, all of the holes along the top of the rear crossmember lined up, so I used that as my starting point and made the rest fit... I would recommend the use of an air riveter!!! If you look closely, you will see the rubber strips along the front and rear edges of the floor. These are shaped/moulded and with a bit of silicon sealant, they sealed the floor prefectly. Along the sides I just used silicon sealant again, but this time just between the two metal surfaces. Still no problems with sealing, though, but maybe I used a bit much!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 In case it isn't clear, the rubber strips at the front and rear of the floor had to be saved from the donor car - they were in very good condition really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 Cheers chaps! My engineering workmate is going to look at it for me and we'll go from there. steve_d from down the road is giving me an ali floor out of an '87 4 door so I'll hav that as an option. I'll keep you posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Update: Currently doing a replacement of the rotten steel floor for an Ali one in my '93 200Tdi Classic. Some tips and stuff I've come across doing it. BLANK OFF THE FRONT SEATS AND DASHBOARD OF THE RANGIE TO KEEP IT DUST FREE AND ANGLE GRINDER DUST FREE - use a tarp, blankets etc. Watch out for any ECUs under seats. Cover all windows with cardboard. Angle g dust and electrics DO NOT MIX!!! My tips from hunderds of hours ( ) of research before getting tools out and from now doing the job are: 1) Take wings off as you may find rot behind them around arch area and might as well get it done 1a) The steel floor is spot welded in to the "support channels". I had to use a wire cup brush on the angle grinder to remove paint etc to actually be able to see them. They are almost invisible. Get a couple of 8mm spot weld drill bits to remove them. Drill pilot holes first with a good drill bit. In the end I cut the channels off completely as they were rotten and put the replacement Z sections over...your's may be salvagable so drill, remove and inspect if unsure 2) Check for any rot around the rear wheelarch set belt mounting points - one was shot on mine. "Easy on panels" (and others) do a replacement piece. Also check rear body crossmember...... 3) YRM, AL Services and "Easy on Panels" (ebay for latter 2) are a good source of quality replacement panels etc. Paddocks have some too. Ebay is also your friend. 4) YRM do all 3 floor cross members. Their stuff is 100% tip top! 5) AL Services do replacement floor cross members too of a different pattern to original. I am using these under the alloy floor and their replacement Z channels that floor will sit on. 6) I am replacing the steel floor with an earlier RRC alloy one (my mate has a few spare in Hampshire). RImmer Bros sell then new still I think. You need a 4 door version not a 2 door (if doing replacing a 4 door steel!) 7) Whilst floor is out, check brake and fuel pipes and clean, paint and wax the chassis etc. 8 Buy a welder to save ££ and learn a new skill - I did. Use 1mm cutting discs. Buy 2 angle grinders to save hassle. Buy the sanding discs for them - excellent for weld prep. I also bought a B&Decker "Power File" - very very useful bit of kit for awkward areas. Buy one. £50 in B&Q. 9) Replacement Disco floors are not long enough and so you will need to weld an extra length on it - go alloy route OR some chap on LR4x4 essentially had a big piece of sheet steel cut to fit around the arches and the full depth of the boot floor area - http://forums.lr4x4....=1. He can provide you with a scale drawing too. I like the way he did it but already had alloy floor "in stock" 11) Seal alloy floor in with BUTYL sealant and not PU sealant. That way you can remove easily in future. PU will stick it for ever!!!! You may need to get under there for fuel tank access etc. Note the ali floor will be close to the feed/return fuel pipes but with the AL Services kit it raises the floor up a tad and so helps with clearance. I reckon there's alomst an inch clearance on my "build". Not much but enough. Will report any issues in future. 12) Alloy floor will need the seat belt anchor mounts from a vehicle that had a ali floor orignally. Different pattern to steel floor in-car mounts. Steel floor has a "flat" area that belt anchor loops (1 double) sit on. Ali ones have a spacer and 2 single loops. 12a) I sourced original 1980s ali floor rubber seals front and back. Makes a proper job and butyl seal them in. Had to trim the rear one in depth to fit between floor and tailgate seal. Obvious when you dry fit etc. 12b) I used roofing tek screws to fasten the ali floor tothe new channels and rear x-member. Used rivets on the front edge to the original support lip. 13) New under floor belt anchors are available as are the chassis eye bolts (all on ebay new or from LR Series etc) 14) Don't rush it. It will take time and be worth it. Take lots of piccies. 15) Gloat in the fact that you've saved lots of beer money doing it yourself 16) Will upload so pics when not so busy finishing the job.... Hope that helps others......... Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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