Howdy! I got all the plumbing and wiring done through the home made skeleton of my 54 dodge pickup. It’s time to install the floor! My plan is to fully weld all the seams from panel to panel but I also want to spot weld it (actually drill & rosette weld) to the floor frame. It’s bead rolled 16g over .120” wall square tube so it will be nice and strong no matter what. I’m wondering how far to space the welds? 8” or 10”? 3”? I don’t know if there is any stiffness to be gained here or if I should just tack any large spans in a couple places to prevent oil canning or noises later? It’s a simple thing but I never did a whole floor from scratch before! This pic is what it looks like so far. Still have some filler panels to cut out. The red squiggly lines on the raw steel show basically where the frame is underneath. Thanks for any comments or suggestions.
I would definitely go one every 3" at least. That would be about the same as most factory designs and eliminate any "oil canning" and stiffen it up so you will not have to worry about doing it later on when you aren't satisfied with the results.
Thanks fellas! It’s not a very deep question but it’s easier to ask what is normally done in case there is a reason why- there usually is!
Ditto. 3". Recall Carroll Shelby receiving the Mustang 'bare hulls', welds were not sufficient to resist popping loose with the larger engines...so upon receiving the new ones, he rosette welded between EVERY row of factory welds! I'd get them all in there from the beginning...and thank the late Carroll Shelby for the hint. (and the GREAT chili kit available at your friendly grocer!)
When I was building Brookville 32 roadster bodies I drilled holes every 2 inches to weld the main floor pan to the sub rails. I passed this on to the guy that later did them for me, he thought it might have been overkill?
I bought my Millermatic 200 many years ago and got the optional spot weld panel, it took a bit of trial/error to find the sweet spot in timer settings but it works pretty neat. I haven't used it all that much over the years but it has been handy to have when the application required it.
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