Rear floor pans

[Auburntsts]

I've just started the install of my rear floor pans and I'm having difficulty getting them in-place. The plans call for forcing the outboard and in-board seat ribs apart slightly to facilitate the install, but I can figure out a good way to do that.

Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[flion]

I just did this and it didn't take much - just enough to get the pans past the seat belt anchors. My pans are still in the blue plastic, so I let them do the spreading and it went pretty well without scratching anything. What I'm not sure of is how I'll get them back out to deburr and dimple. I think this part should have been done back in Section 26, especially as there is really no place to route wiring under there without going laterally to the tunnel or side to get over the spar or flap mechanism.

 

[Auburntsts]

Well, after much cussing and manipulation, I got both pans in-place, drilled, and removed. The problem I had gettIng them installed turned out to be the notches in the forward edge that are there to clear the front seat support brackets. My notches were too smalland were binding on the supports which kept the pan from seating. Once I figured that out and filed the notches out a little, the pans went in relatively easy. To remove them, I used a 1/8ish diameter metal rod with a 90 deg bend (actually a tent stake that just happened to be on my bench) that I used to hook the rear corners of the pans and just worked the rear edge up until the rear edge of the pan was over the rear spar strap which then allowed me to pull the pan up and out.

 

[civengpe]

Todd,
I am at that exact same spot and have been cussing up a storm trying to get these things in there. I swear that the area is too small for the pans! I finally got the left one completed and am working on getting the right one back in after dimpling. I swear it grew since I had it in the first time!

I am actually contemplating sticking it in the freezer over night to see if it shrinks enough to get it back in there.

 

[flion]

Thanks for the tip, Todd. I will try the bent rod trick.

 

[CharlieWaffles]

I'm contemplating skipping the final drill step. The floor ribs are already dimpled, so the holes in the pan can be final drilled on its own and dimpled. The flange holes would be the only item really being final drilled and could realistically be drilled independantly. The match drilling for the front flange would be the only item that would need the pan in place for drilling. But if this is drilled while the pan is in for the one and only fitting, the bur is mostly going to be in the bulkhead on the opposite side and could still be deburred. Considering that even Van's published documentation says that disassembly to debur faying surfaces is not required, this might be just the place to follow that concept.

I've already cracked the flange of my right floorboard trying to get it to squeeze past the seatbelt anchor and the rivets on the rear bulkhead. Not sure in and out twice will make it.