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New floor support rails


datsunmike

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Sorry if this has been covered already I did search, probably not well enough.

 

I'm installing some new floor rails under my 280Z. The original floors are great, but the passenger side rail had some rust holes in the middle of it that were patched by a lobotomized zombie.

 

The stock floor (at least I think) on the passenger side is not flat. It has some little bumps in it, the orinal rail follows this. The new rail however is completely straight and flat! I do I go about welding the rail to the uneven floor? Do I weld some little pieces of metal to flatten everything? Or I could tack it in place and  use a hammer and dolly to flatten the floor sheet meal before finishing welding?

 

Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I will post some picture to explain better. I beleive I have the right rails. The stock floors have some dips in them, perhaps to add strength and make pockets to drain possible water. I have not found many pictures of this since people usually change the floors at the same time, and aftermarket floors are much flatter.

 

From the few pictures I've seen where people only replace the rails, it seems people simply hammer the new rail to conform to those valleys,

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I will post some picture to explain better. I beleive I have the right rails. The stock floors have some dips in them, perhaps to add strength and make pockets to drain possible water. I have not found many pictures of this since people usually change the floors at the same time, and aftermarket floors are much flatter.

 

From the few pictures I've seen where people only replace the rails, it seems people simply hammer the new rail to conform to those valleys,

 

I know there are the impressions lengthwise down the car, but didn't notice any across the car on my 260z. If it was me, i'd use some sheet metal screws or something to suck them together before I tacked. I did notice on my car that the stock rails had some good whacks/dents/irregularities from being improperly jacked up.

 

Pictures would help though. 

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  • 1 month later...

Took me a while (ordered new floors) but I finally took some pictures.

 

You can see in the first picture circled an area where the folded edge of the rail connects to one of those uneven dips in the floor on the side where I didn't remove the rail yet. 

 

The second pic shows the passenger floor how it looks after I removed the rail. You can see the areas where there are dips. There are a few along. 

 

Third pic, new rail and flor completely straight and flat

 

Fourth pic, only rusted area in the entire floor pan at the rear tip of the old passenger rail.

 

 

So here is my dilemma. My first idea was to simply order new floors that would be completely flat, cut everything up and have a nice time welding flat rails on a flat floor. But after inspection, only one area of about 4x4 inch is rusted and needs replacement. The rest of the floors are in great shape, still on primer. Drivers side rails are also perfect. 

 

I do know that it's better to do it while i'm at it, that's why I ordered floors, but really the original floors are in good shape except one small area which I could probably patch easily. 

 

So I guess I'm looking for opinions, should I bite the bullet and redo everything, or is there a way to weld those rails nicely to the original floors.

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240 and early 260 OEM floors are flat as are good replacement replica floors (Zedfindings) while the 280 floors have a number of contours.

 

You can put 240 floors in a 280, use 240 rails and seat brackets (no one that I am aware of makes replacement 280 seat brackets).

 

The 280 rails we sell are modeled after the floor pan of very clean and unmolested '75 so they have the correct contours.

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How I wish I knew that!!

 

I bought the Zeddfindings since they are from a fellow canadian, less complicated to obtain with customs and all...

 

Do I understand well that in my situation, if I choose to use the 240 style floor and rail I cannot reuse the 280 seat brackets?

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