Thread: Bebops Floor Fender + shocks

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Personally, I would have a "window" in your dome, perhaps an appropriately sized hole that you could pop a rubber, plastic or stainless cap/plug into it, that will allow you to push that top shock bolt through in the event you get a failed shock/spring.

Likewise for the battery, you should give serious consideration to mounting it so you can access it through the trunk rather than from underneath. Perhaps build a box with a flange as discussed earlier that will drop through the floor in the same location you're already thinking of (especially easy if you use the smaller sized driy cell battery). Put a nice lid on it, and cover it with carpet. If you use the car like many of us, you'll be putting a charger on it at least a couple times a year, likely more. Or when doing some maintenance or "improvements" you'll need to disconnect power occasionally. Find your opportunity for exercise elsewhere.

I have made many molds out of cardboard or plywood, covering the side to be glassed with scotch tape. The cured fiberglass will not stick to the tape so the mold pops out easily and you dont have to soak it to get the cardboard off.

Don---a funny but timely story. When i built my 27 glass roadster, it came with no floor. I glassed in a 3/4" plywood floor, and I had a cut-out similar to what you have. I didn't want the tranny cover to encroach on my floor space any more than it absolutely had to.------so-----first I waxed the tranny/bell housing with a good coat of Johnsons paste wax for floors and let it dry. Then I set the stop on my table saw for 3/8", and then I sawed up 2 or 3 broom handles into peices 3/8" long.
I took my trusty hot melt glue gun, and covered the entire top of the tranny with peices of sawed off broom handle. Then I got a small pail of pre-mixed plaster for repairing gypsum board walls, and trowelled the entire top of the tranny with this plaster, working it into all the spaces between the sections of broom handle.. (the lengths of broom handle ensured that it was a pretty uniform 3/8" thick coat everywhere).
After it had dried for a couple of days, I covered it all with a coat of paste wax.
I then layed down about 4 ot 5 coats of mat and resin, letting it overlap onto the floor about 3" all around the edge of the cut out hole.
3 days later I jacked up the car body, and knocked out the plaster and sections of broom handle with a small hammer (it practically fell out---didn't stick to the fiberglass nor the tranny because of the wax).
It made a freat floor, didn't intrude on my floorspace much, and gave adequate clearance between the floor and the tranny.

Thanks. the new comment by PJM is especially helpful because I want to make a close fitting bubble without bonding to the flooring. For Brian I note that the hump piece from the upper body part gets screwed to the floor and the Bobops folks suggested urethane glue as a sticky way to seal it and yet be able to remove it if there is ever any need for collision-induced repairs. Bob the main point is that with the tank in the trunk I have to put the battery underneath! Thanks for your suggestions.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

This an old thread on a small topic but this problem has taken me over two months of messing around and thinking, although cold weather has held me back too. Anyway I tried cutting down some loaf pans, I cut up a spare piece of floor pan sent to me by Bebops, I planned several options of 6" wide fiberglass cloth and resin but they all seemed clunky to me and then I happened on some plastic spoon trays 9.25"x3.75"x2" in a TARGET homeware department and amazingly they accidently just fit the holes I had cut in the floor. They have a 1/4" lip all around the edge so I cut some sheet steel to make hold down collars and cut out some inner tube rubber with the crown of the tube to fit over the top of the shock and bolted down. The key thing is that I need to be able to uncover the top shock bolt without taking out the gas tank later on so the caps have to be low to slide out under the tank. As shown here the tank is not mounted just sitting in position. The plastic is really thick red stuff but on a day when the temp got over 60 F I sprayed everything black. On the right you see one of the covers in place before I drilled holes for four 1/4" capscrews to hold it down and on the left you see the inner tube rubber, the black sheet metal hold down and the painted spoon tray upside down. The rubber will hopefully keep water out of the rumbel seat area??? So the rubber goes down first, then the inverted spoon tray and then the metal collar hold down. The inner tube was cut so some of the crown in the tube fits over the top of the coilover. This is still not pretty, but more in line with my limited talents and will be totally unseen once the rumble-seat-tank is upholstered with a thin mat and side panels in the seat area along the quarter panels. I was pleased to have the full length floor pan to keep water out but now I have to hope the inner tube rubber will keep the rug in the rumble seat floor dry.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Lookin good Don. Many of the real brain ticklers on a hotrod aren't even visible when the car is completely assembled. I knew that you would find a good solution, and it looks like you did. Keep up te good work----Brian