S series floor

[Johnnycp]

Hi, just recently brought my first tvr, a 1998 s series that needs a bit of work!. Took the seat out and noticed that the floor has been repaired badly in the past and doesn't seem very solid. Any suggestions on how the repair/strengthen? Thanks for your help

Edited by Johnnycp on Thursday 27th December 19:19

[phillpot]

Guess this is where the seats are bolted down? photo would be good.

Repairing from inside would be a lot easier but for strength should be done from underneath. How about some metal plates that run from each front bolt to its matching rear bolt and then fibreglass them to the floor?
Original fibreglass will need to be thoroughly cleaned and applying matting and resin upside down could be fun!

These are some alluminium strips under my seat mountings, nothing wrong with fibreglass, just there for a little extra security.

Edited by phillpot on Thursday 27th December 19:41

[v8s4me]

How about using steel plates and welding nuts to the plates? That would make fitting the seats a lot easier as you’d only have to screw the bolts in from the top (would only work with allen bolts though as there’s no room to turn normal bolts in the seat slider channels).

[greymrj]

Hi John, welcome to the S 'fellowship'! There are lots of S owners on the forum and they are a friendly and helpful group and you can get all sorts of information by asking the forum. At the moment I dont think we know where you live do we? If we did we might be able to put a 'local' in touch with you. I am forever indebted to one member (jimed),local to me, for his advice and encouragement and we only came into contact via the forum.

[Gerald-TVR]

phillpot said:

Original fibreglass will need to be thoroughly cleaned and applying matting and resin upside down could be fun!

Don't know the 'ins and outs' but I believe acetone is needed to prepare the old fibreglass before adding new!!!!!

[phillpot]

Gerald-TVR said:

Don't know the 'ins and outs' but I believe acetone is needed to prepare the old fibreglass before adding new!!!!!

Indeed it is, can also be used to clean brushes etc. rather than leaving them to go hard this is a very useful read.

And this is a good place to buy it and everything else you'll need.

[Keithyboy]

I have always been worried about the seats in various TVR models merely being bolted to a fibre glass floor. Their security in the event of a serious shunt or roll has to be dubious I think welding steel cross braces between the chassis rails to which the seats can be bolted is a far better solution. Its certainly a requirement if you race them for exactly this reason.

[phillpot]

Keithyboy said:

I have always been worried about the seats in various TVR models merely being bolted to a fibre glass floor.

Not ideal maybe but in a "head on" for example it's your body weight that is shooting forwards, retained by the seat belt, it's not as if the belt is attached to the seat and trying to rip it out of the floor?
I guess as your weight rebounds and comes back into the seat it could lever the seat backwards pulling the front bolts through the floor

[zombeh]

it's not as if the seatbelt is attached to anything solid either

[Johnnycp]

Thanks for all your useful comments and help, will let you know how I get on with this job over the next few weeks or so!

[phillpot]

zombeh said:

it's not as if the seatbelt is attached to anything solid either

Depends what state your chassis and outriggers are in!


The top fixing may look flimsy but the threaded bit sticking up is welded to a long curved plate bonded into half of the wheel arch, reckon it would take a fair bit of force to pull it out

[Alan Whitaker]

Hi All.
Phillpot is right, the top seat belt mount is going no where, the only one that may give is the lower one on the real unit but the glass is strong there so even if there is corrosion of the mount, there is a big washer on the outside which would stop it pulling through.
The floor is easy to repair, first you have to glass it from both sides, the floor is made up of a foam core, glass is laid down in the mould foam sheet is added and glass is laid over, makes it stronger and costs less to do, Remove the carpets PUT ON YOUR MASK grind out the areas and use a vacuum at the same time so as not to make a mess, if you only do the top it will still be weak as the first layer in the mould is thin allowing the bolts to sink in from the underside.
Steel strips underneath is the best way to go, welded to the rear and centre outriggers so as to fully support the seats and floor. Pictures to show the repair needed would help, what area are you in.

Alan

[Johnnycp]

Uploaded an image of my floor problem, the area has been repaired by a previous owner but the repair fell off when i touched it!.

[phillpot]

Alan Whitaker said:

the floor is made up of a foam core

Not mine

[zombeh]

phillpot said:

The top fixing may look flimsy but the threaded bit sticking up is welded to a long curved plate bonded into half of the wheel arch, reckon it would take a fair bit of force to pull it out

That'll explain all the rust that fell out of the wheel arch then if it's attached to that though then it goes down a long way and even with probably 1/3 of that plate missing it's still way more solidly mounted than I thought it was

[murchman]

Today I have just started a full body off on my S1.

On the seatbelt topic it is also worth checking all parts as the bottom left of my passenger
Side set up, ie not the coil or top section had rusted right through and when I peeled the
Carpet back and gave it a moderate tug it snapped clean through leaving me with the belt
In my hand will not tell the wife about that one as she is already unsure of the safety of
The car when I spun it two weeks ago.