> I'll start a new post with some additional info on that.
I installed the pans from Marino Perna. As I understand it these were designed
by Kirk Evans and he makes them in a couple of diffrent drops. Mine were the
larger drop (about 3 inches at the rear and maybe half that at the front).
You can see the angle of pans here:
http://www.bacomatic.org/gallery/album03/pantera_at_bodyshop_005
These are the big pans that cut into both the fore-and-aft and side-to-side
floor pan reinforcements. This allows for larger seats and permits the seats
to slide fore-and-aft, unlike the drop pans that stay within the boundaries of
the original pan reinforcements. The pans are flanged on two sides. After
removing the carpet, we made a tape line around the perimeter to use as a
guide. A cut-off wheel was used to get started then we switched to a Sawzall.
After cutting out the floor with the Sawzall, we had to trim it in a couple of
spots then the pans dropped right in place. I cleaned all the areas to be
welded with a die grinder and rotary wire brush wheel to ensure a clean weld.
After a bit of hammering, we welded along the entire perimeter of the pan.
You'll need a helper to hold the pan edge flush with the surrounding floor.
The front edge of the pan is shaped so it can be welded to cap off the (now
open) forward section of the longitudinal brace. We capped that off, peened
the leading edge over to form a better welding surface and made filler pieces
(patterned off of cardboard templates) to close off the various gaps (there's
a sizable one around the emergency brake handle and several smaller ones both
inside the passenger compartment and underneath)). On the bottom side, we
made pieces that tie the pan directly to the fore-and-aft and side-to-side
frame rails. Oddly, the aft portion of pan wasn't formed by a metal brake.
Instead, it was a separate piece of metal tack welded to the main pan. Under
load, that portion off the pan deflected so we welded along the entire length
and it became very rigid. Marino provides a pair (per side) of very stiff
U-channels that are welded to the floor of the pans, stiffening the pan
bottoms and providing a place to bolt the seats to. Without these stiffeners,
the pans would "oil can" under a heavy load but with them in every thing is
quite stiff. The pans themselves are of a heavier guage metal than the
original floor. With every seam welded and the pans tied into the original
frame stiffeners, it doesn't look like I've lost much, if anything, in the
way of rigidity. Jacking the car on one corner will lift it off the ground
on 3 corners with no sag so it seems stiff.
One other thing to note. If you have your headliner in (mine is out), the
welder would likely leave smoke stains unless you cover it. We covered the
doors and dash and disconnected a few wires to the gauge console to swing
it out of the way while welding. Also, on the bottom side of the welds,
you'll need to fill in some gaps with seam sealer.
The engine and transaxle are still out of the car so I'm not sure what the
final ground clearance hit will be but I'm 6'5" and 255 lbs and needed all
the drop I could get. I think the ground clearance on the road will be
acceptable but putting the car on a trailer could be tricky. I sat in the
car to steer and brake when we rolled the car off the trailer and was told
there wasn't much clearance. With the engine and transaxle back in, it will
likely be low enough to scrape. The ramps on that particular trailer are
fairly short and I think my buddy Eric's trailer has longer ramps plus he
keeps a set of boards to make the approach angle even shallower so hopefully
I'll be okay there.
Part of the reason I went to the drop pans was to fit more comfortable
seats since I take the Pantera on long trips so I ordered a set of Gary
Herrig's seats. I wasn't sure I would fit well in the Corvette seats so
I found a local Corvette to sit in and found I fit fairly well. Whether
or not you fit in a particular seat is as dependunt upon your shape as the
shape of the seat. I've got a muscular build with a wide back and big legs
and find a lot of sport seats are too narrow. I end up sitting on the seats
as opposed to settling into them. The 'vette seats aren't prefect but the
edges of the seats are soft enough that I felt fairly comfortable in them,
at least in the 'vette. I ran into a problem with them in the Pantera,
however. The 'vette seats have a fixed headrest that's at an angle relative
to the seat. In the 'vette, the seats recline so the headrest is vertical.
In the Pantera, with the seats slid all the way aft, the headrest pokes me
in the upper back. I have to slide the seat forward several clicks to get
the back reclined enough that the headrest is vertical. The seats use up
most of the headroom gained by the dropped pans but removing the spring
support under the cushion coupled with a reclined position gets some of that
back. I'll have to wait until I drive the car awhile before I decide if the
position is comfortable enough. I did sit in a 2005 Ford GT and those seats
fit me very well but I bet those are very expensive.
BTW, I wasn't aware that Gary's seats use parts off the Pantera seats.
This caused me some grief when I went to install the new seats as my
old seats were in storage 400 miles away. I drove a 350 mile round trip
to borrow the parts from another Pantera owner only to learn that two
different length seat rails were used on early Panteras. Mine were the
long ones but the ones I borrowed were the short ones. The passenger side
seat looks like it would hit the emergency brake handle so I trimmed that
area. I think I'll also end up ordering Kirk Evans bulkhead reduction
kit to allow the passenger seat to slide back.
I also purchased a four piece chassis stiffening kit from the Byars brothers
and welded in the mounting plates. BTW, the front brace interferes with my
stock brake lines and limiter valve. I've removed the limiter but need to
finish the plumbing, along with stripping out the rest of the felt. The
only corrosion in the front was directly underneath the battery. I wire
brushed that away and will paint the entire area before recovering it.
While I was up front, I installed one of Marino's stainless steel battery
boxes. I thought that was going to be a simple task but it was tricky.
There isn't any wiggle room as the box is located on one side by a frame
rail, the other side by the brake and clutch lines, the front by the trunk
crossmember and the back by the front bulkhead. We had to cut far enough
forward that the trunk floor separated from the crossmember but a little Mig
welding took care of that. I cut a new hole for the hard lines and bent them
as far as they would go. A bit of hammer work and the battery box dropped in
but then hit the steering rack mount. My car is a '74 model which has the
factory bumpsteer correction which spaces the rack lower. I don't know if
the box will clear other years or not. Anyway, we notched a hole in the box
to clear the rack mount and also notched a corner to clear the clutch master,
then welded the box in on three sides. The aft side looked like it might
cook something in the interior if we welded there so I'll just screw it
down. The trunk floor isn't flat in the battery box area so I plan to
put in some sort of sound insulation and seam selaer to smooth out the area
before re-covering with new felt. With the intrusion of the steering rack,
I don't think some batteries would fit. However, I've got an Optima and a
little rotation as it is dropped in allows it to clear.
Dan Jones
Original Post
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