If anyone here is running an aluminum floored a body car, could they tell me how good the weight savings are???? Also what is the thickness of the aluminum??

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Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...

I believe Ron Parker is in his "junk" 69 Dart.

He can chime in and tell you all the gorey detials.


Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

I cut the floor out of my first 62 Valiant race car that I built in the late sixties. You can figure on saving about 1/2 the weight you take out. The steel front, rear, and trunk floors weight about 70-80#. The trouble is the floor is an important structural part of a unit body car so you would have to add significant reimforcements to insure that your car stays straight. You also have to have extra reinforement under the aluminum where you will put weight on if. Unless you present floor is so badly rusted that it doesn't provide any strength I wouldn't do it. I left the floor alone in the 62 Valiant I have now and it is about the same weight as the old one.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

I agree. Aluminum is for tube chassis cars, not factory suspensions. You'd really twist it up to the point of door opening/closing problems

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Chris'
Autobody
Restoration
Service

My car has aluminun froor pans and trunk pan. But we had to do several things to make it safe. Tied the frame rails together, weled, supports across the frame members. Put in a 8 point roll cage. When all was done my car weighed about the same but is a lot safer. Thanks Ron Parker









Bee Good Or Bee Gone

The floor in the '66 barracuda was very beat up and rusted in parts. The former owners did a hack job at best when they did it the first time.

They had a strange homebrew rear suspension setup that I'd describe as unsafe. So now I have to devise a new rear suspension setup. We welded in some fairly heavy gauge steel to tie the subframe in and so far the car is very rigid. An 8 point cage is probably gonna be a must when doing a car of this type.

Thanks for all your input.

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Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...