thicknes of sheet metal for floor pan

wondering the thicknes of sheet metal originaly used fore floor pans

are they thicker than 18 gauge or thinner i want to use 16 gauge but hten it is realy hard to make beads in them . i would have to make a monster bead roller fore that . maby i will . but still what thicknes are you guys using fore replacing floor pans and other boddy parts

 

I've been using 18 ga for the floors and structure areas. 22 ga on the body.

 

im using 16 ga. and yes its hard to bend...

 

I used 18 and 20 ga. depending on what I had laying around. Both are easy to work with.

 

we used 16 gauge on top of a typical ladder style floor structure build. From the bottom, we insulated in between the pieces of floor structure and plated it with 14 gauge

 

I used 16 ga. for my firewall, but 18 ga. for the floor patch panels and trans hump. If you form some beads and don't just go flat you can get by even thinner. If you have a sub structure 16 ga. is even overkill.

 

Strength in the floor pan doesn't come primarily from sheet metal thickness. Properly constructed sub framing and or bead rolling is the key.

 

agreed

As an example, Fords of the '30s and I believe '40s used 19ga (ol' Henry probably figured out he didn't give up much strength but saved a whole lot of $)

 

wwith 16 gauge you dont need beads, its plenty stiff on its own.

I use 20 gauge on floors and firewalls.

 

hrm2k nice floor!!!

i use 16 ga on floors unless it has a stiffener in it where weight goes...jc whitney has the stiffners that look like this ---i____i--- in the Jeep section and they are 16 ga

 

I used 16 ga.

 

will probably just use a 16 gage fore all parts it is cheap if i buy a whole plate 125mmx2500

 

Exactly ^^

I used 18 for the floors and interior of mine with an extensive subframe. 16 can be pretty hard to work with.

 

I know Dave at Direct Sheetmetal and Bitchen products use 18ga. and that is what Ive used for years now. plenty thick and not too hard to work with.

 

18 gauge is just the right thickness, and it's what I use


Sent from my iPhone 5 using TJJ

 

will look at that but the problem is just geting 18 gage sheet metal here in hillbily iceland

 

just wandering out loud? are there any rubber bushings under that any where or is it solid to the frame?. good work by the way

 

Ha ha, I screwed up and ordered 16 ga. when I should have ordered 18. I had to score it part way through with the cutoff wheel to bend it. It will turn out nice and solid without beadrolling it though.
I used 3/16" steel on the roadster, but I had planned it that way. I welded the body to it and bolted the floor directly to the frame with no substructure. It worked out nice, i even made the driveshaft tunnel from 3/16". Explosion proof so to say.

 

1-1.25 mm in most stock floor pans . With beads its stronger
than a flat thick heavy ugly flor

 

I did my 50 coupe the same way, except I notched the frame on top so my floor would be flat into the rockers. I also tied into the stock tunnel. I'm second guessing that now that I see yours.

 

For the floor supports I use 16 gauge. or the floor pans I use 18 gauge. Ford used 19 gauge on most exterior sheetmetal untill the mid 50's. Ford used 20 and 21 on non structural items.

Fritz

 

I use mostly 18gauge for the floor panels,sometimes 20gauge depending on situation.18guage for under floor gussets. Gotta put beads in floors,but gota make sure the beads are DEEP enough!! shallow beads won't give much guts to a panel.
16gauge is too heavy IMO for floors. you'll get fatigue cracking round the bases of the pillars due to lack of flex in the floors...yep they're meant to flex a bit but over a wider area.
my .02

 

Talk about overkill! Your cars must weigh a bunch. How do they hold up over years of use? I'd suspect there is stress cracking in a lot of places without any way for things to flex just a little bit.

I use 18 g or 20 g with beads rolled in. 20 g is easier to work into a multiple bend replacement part. Gene

 

You'd be surprised by how much 18 or even 20ga changes character just by forming. Thin material seems like it won't get the job done, but once it is formed it's a different animal. And 14-16ga is harder to form than you think, you need a real brake to form it. And it's heavy. 16ga is 2.5lbs per sf if I'm not mistaken.

 

I'm not sure what we added to the body weight wise.......several hundred would be my guess. We did get rid of several hundred going with the mid 80's clip and the new rear frame rails. We believe the entire car,ready to drive, should still be under 4,000 lbs.
There are still zero miles on it so I can't address stress cracks. The entire car is built overkill....just the way we wanted it. With the 10 inch engine setback, it should handle and ride sort of europeanish


Besides, we used the wrong tail lights so it is not HAMB friendly

 

If the floor is supported i'd use 18ga with some breadrolling and bending/flanges etc for stiffeners. If it has to be selfsupporting (like what is in the pics) then i use 16ga and beadrolling/bending for stiffeners. In the pic the floor isn't complete yet it is strong enough to support the cowl and if the doors where on they would operate.

 

I use 18g satin for floor with bead in unsupported place and 16g for firewall. any thickness without good support or bead will pop.I saw 20g floor with bead and strong subfloor that work great.
Pat

 

Use 16 gage if you can.

 

well lot of ideas and a lot of questions , gott a littel worried reading about if 16gage is going to crack , just as it is now i do not have a bead roller , but intend to build one very soon so if i get the bead roller first i will use thinner than 16 if not i will use 16 maby i can hammer a beat in to 18gage sheet hmm ,thinking and thinking some more . . the body is supported by the chassis of the car , but mostly just flat with allmost no strenght beams under .

 

Nothing but 18ga. All bead rolled and flanged.