CF floor pans?

[hybrid_john]

yes very good points Oasis.
I wouldnt trust a c/f floor pan. But if you want one you could probably find some one to make you one...I would think about using some honey-combed aluminum or steel inbetween a few sheets of c/f and kevlar...might add strength to it and be safer in crashes! I dont know where to get some metal like that though!

[miller]

3M structural tape would be a good way to mount the CF. For what its worth these cars are already very light (why we like em right) so it would be much more productive to spend time and money on other areas where these cars are less capable (hp, suspension, electronics). But for the sake of bench engineering I would probably make a carbon/kevlar/aluminum structure. Sandwich the aluminum to give the floor more toughness while the cf and kelvar take care of the rigidity and looks.

[Uber Affe]

Have you ever smelled carbon fiber burning?
My guess is that you haven't...'cause you'd be dead.
The fumes will kill ya just about immediately.
Also, like fiberglass...tiny shards of C/F don't exactly just "pop" out of you...they'd likely burst into a million tiny particles that would embed themselves in your skin and not come out.
I love C/F it looks great and is strong and light, but I wouldn't use it for much more than accents on small parts here and there.
Sure...race cars are full of the stuff, but (and I don't know about you)
I don't use my daily driver everyday and envision myself in a protective suit just to goto the groccery store to pick up some milk...

UGH! I'm ranting again.
Anyway...It is an idea and that's what this forum is for.
I've thought up some weird stuff myself and C/F is a good idea in theory, but not in practice.

Uber

[oicdn]

Carbon fiber/epoxy can be one of the strongest combinations. I would run Carbon floorpans. There are import cars running full caron shells, well, every part cept the uni-body. Hood, bumpers, fenders, trunk....there are some CRXs out there running carbon floorpans...daily drivers. I wouldn't see why it wouldn't be a viable option...just have a disclaimer and have them send the document to you notarized showing they understand the risks....

[Bebobug]

C/F floor pans would look good on a show car but, lightening the bottom of the car will only make it top heavy. Might be good on a drag car where they need a high roll center for traction but, it would make the car worthless for turning.

[V.waffe 3]

One thing to remember when looking into alternate materials for your floor pans is to consider the fact that floor pans offer a great deal of a cars structural strength. Think of a slam dunk on a fiberglass backboard and you can pretty well see why it is unadvisable to use anything but metal for your floor pan. Aluminum is a possibilty, but you must consider that it is still going take less good ole steel does. As for attachment bonding would be the favorable way to go about attaching softer material to a harder one. If you use a fastener that is harder than the fastened then the pan will begin to tear from the friction between it and the bolt. Another thing to consider about the Japanese import seen is that a lot of cars featured a not really being used for the purpose that we are looking to use our cars for, that is, real performance driving. If you cut holes in a unibody car's floor it's like an opened can of beer. While closed and one whole unit the can is very tough and resistant to being crushed. Pop the top ( your floor board hole) and the can crushes or flexes without much force.

I think that if you are looking to shed weight for performance sake, look into carbon or fiber rear fenders and decklid,lexan rear windows and maybe light weight running boards. I hypothesise that this would aid in evening out the weight bias to a noticable amount. A final word of caution when looking for inspiration is to be careful when looking at what is being done in Import mags. A lot of those cars would perform as well as my brother's '86 Montie Carlo lowrider. Let us never forget the great technical tome that many of these new generation Japanese enthusiast reference ( The Fast and the Furious part 1&2). They don't seem to realize that form should follow function and not the other way around. Good luck on your search, Ryan