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MG MGB Technical - Floor pan supplier

I am beginning restoration of a 67GT and need to replace the floor pans. Moss has at least two options, oem and aftermarket.

I looked through the archives and could not find a recent recommendation as to what supplier has the best quality replacement. Please advise.


Also looking through the archives I came across several debates on whether to weld or use structural adhesives to attach the pans.

Since the threads were several years old I thought that I would check on the current state of the art adhesives. So I contacted the 3M company.

Here is their reply to my question on whether to use adhesives on a unibody vehicle:

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Steven,

Thank you for contacting 3M.

Bond floor pans:

For unibody vehicles, do not bond floor pans. They need to be welded to the frame rails and/or another section of the floor pan.

In full frame vehicles you can bond the floor pans.

Regards,

Kristine P
3M Automotive Market Center
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Automotive/OEM/
800-328-1684 option 1

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Needless to say, I will be MIG welding the pans in place.
Steve Rechter

Steve, I went with the OEM Heritage type panels, plug welded with a mig. If the panels you purchase do not have the nuts attached for the seat frames, you will have to do this, I think the older style pans (63-67) are not drilled nor have nuts, (my pans for my 65B had nothing). Just try to take some measurements and try to match the positions of the holes. I welded a 1 1/2" stainless steel washer with SS nuts to the bottoms of my pans, to bolt the seats to, I also used aluminum rails? as opposed to the wooden ones, got them off the internet (GEM enterprizes - I just tried my bookmark for them - didn't work), he had the aluminum spacers complete package, I think it will work quite well. I will try to find my invoice if you are interested. Also, if I was buying parts from Moss, I would go through either, Chris Roop - Roop's MG or LBC - Jeff Zorn, either one can save you money as distributors of Moss stuff. Good Luck, Take your time, double and triple check yourself, if you've never done this before it can get frustrating but if you can MIG you can do this, space your welds out as to not warp the pans, my son and I have replaced both sides along with the outer 3 pieces of the sills, and I think it came out very well. You have a GT so I don't think that bracing is an issue, but maybe someone else will chime in here and have some thoughts. Geoff Lund
Geoff Lund

Hi Steve. Another item to look at before making a decision on suppliers is what shape your support sills are in. Some of the aftermarket units come with a wider inside edge This is so it can be spot welded up to the support sill frames better. Some folks cut these off.

Prep your sills using a weldable primer. (available at the paint shop).

For my 67 GT. I took out one floor pan (the least damaged) first by using a spot weld cutter. Most automotive paint supply shops will have them. This takes a bit more time, but gives you a good template for the seat bolts. It also helps in planning the holes on the new pan for placement to be spot welded.

Recommend doing one at a time. This allows you to look at the other to see how things go. This was my first time putting floors in and while it took some time, it is not a difficulty job.

Welding is absolutely the way to go and a mig makes fast work of filling in the 100+ holes.

I also recommend using a commercial seam sealer once you get it all welded in. This helps keep water out.


I used a heritage unit for my 67 GT.


Bruce-C

I replaced the floors on my roadster the passenger side being a Steelcraft panel and the drivers side a Heritage. Both had the nuts for the seat rails welded on a nd both had the drains. Quite frankly the heritage panel was rubbish, far too thin and was easily burnt during welding. The Steelcraft was produced in a much thicker gauge metal and was perfect in every way being easily welded as well. For mw there was no competition.
Iain MacKintosh

Iian- Great report. About 5 or 6 years ago on my 1971 mgb roadster, with rustpox all over both floor boards (FB). I checked Moss and found these very important FB shear panels were about 60% of the originals-measured side by side!
I don't remember how he did it, but Doug Jackson found me a set of FBs thicker than originals. He went back over, inside and outside, with 100% silicone, after of course the POR-15 coating. Been there about 5 or more years now with no new rusting. Oh, and I used GraceCoat 10 mil ice dam ( boxes of 75'x3' self stick rubber rolls, about $80 each. If interested, 3 boxes will do 2 MGB complete and the sound dampening is just superior!, Any water sneaking under the carpet has no chance of finding any naked FB as the ice dam --applied with a hair drywer and wallpaper roller and heat gun and roller--bonds forever. It is, 4 me, the best product I've tripped on for use in the MGB. Regards, and luck-VEM.
vem myers

Thanks for the info.

It looks like I'll be going for pans with the captive nuts for the seat rails already in place and the thicker Steelcraft unit.

I take it that Moss sells the Heritage replacements and not the Steelcraft?
Steve Rechter

I got my floorpans from The Roadster Factory(Hert.) and they were with seat nuts,and they measured to exact same as the orginials.They seemed to be the same thickness to me. I didnt "mic"them tho. What does the FB stand for in the above thread?(foreign Built)Thanks,Rich
rich osterhout

I read somewhere recently that Heritage had bought out Steelcraft. P.S. The FB stands for floor boards. RAY
RAY

I think that your right Ray
rich osterhout

Steve.
Your 1967 GT requires the wider, early style floor pans. Unfortunately Heritage does not manufacture these to OE spec. Only the aftermarket Steelcraft ones are available. They work ok, but make sure that you weld in the front seat mounting captive nuts before welding the pans down.
KJ Dodd

btw. Please feel free to contact me directly if you want any more info on the pans. I installed a pair of these in a 1965 MGB and can walk you through some of the tricky bits.
KJ Dodd

This thread was discussed between 16/05/2009 and 22/05/2009

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