Fiberglass structural panel?

[Christopher Crowe]

What is a good, stong material for fabricating floors outside the chassis main tubes?

The ideal would probably be around .375" +- -- in say 4'x8' pieces. Maybe fiberglass-nomex honeycomb-fiberglass, maybe some of the new Marine wood and foam glued materials. What have you folks found in this general area that would obviate having to cut and glue in our getting-smaller-every-day garage area?

Thanks (yet again) ---

Chris

[RobLav]

I tend to use on a car what I have laying around Chris. With my current car, I used 1/2" honeycomb foam for the first 6" or so of the sidepod floors. This allowed a good radius at the leading edge and the honeycomb foam is stronger than regular foam. Behind that, I used the normal 1/4" yellow foam - and all of it wrapped up in S-Glass and epoxy.

It held up well over the almost 2 years I ran the car. You can also slightly bend the 1/4" foam to get some radius (which I did but remained within the 1" rule).

[S Lathrop]

I use a composite of fiber glass and a core of both wood and foam . Advanced Vehicle Technology, http://www.avtcomposites.com' has supplied me with a foam core that has a paper honey comb. This makes it easy to do a wet layup and keep the weight under control. I do vacuum bag the composite.

I high ware areas, I have the wood on the outside of the class. Jabroc is great for imbedded skids.

I use 3 layers on the bottom and 2 on top of the core.

I make the bottom 1/2" thick but step down where I have components such as radiators. There I use 1/16 ply wood for core.

You can buy honeycomb panels used in the aircraft industry. You might be able to find this stuff surplus.

[Christopher Crowe]

Thanks so much, you two!

Chris