How about mating your body and pan this way?

[DORIGTT]

I am curious whether or not mounting the pan to the body without using the various bumpers and gaskets has been done in an effort to increase rigidity?

Porsche 911 bodys and the 356 (which in my humble opinion is very Beetle-like) have very good setup in the 'uni-body' arrangement. My goal is to create a much stiffer chassis by welding my pan and body together.

What do you gals and guys think?

I also intend to have a roll cage to protect myself from things like SUV drivers (not that all are bad, just the one's that never see or hear me and my bright yellow v-twin sport bike with an exhaust that makes so much noise that it feels like you're getting punched in the kidneys while idling), guard rails and off track excursions that try to get me to show my undersides.

Thanks in advance for any input/suggestion/thoughts.

Kevin J Hale

[Tony Z]

I think the stiffening you desire would prob be better accomplished by installing a full roll cage and bolting / welding it to the floorpan. The body is bolted to the floorpan useing more than one bolt. It would form a fairly rigid structure itself.

A seperate rolling chassis (like the bug or older cars) is not really found that much anymore, got something to do with the manufacturing plants and ease of assembly I think, cant remember, dont care.

[craazy Cooter]

use a roll cage from autopower that ties into the rear frame horns. I use a 4 point cage for suv protection, and it noticeably stiffened the diagonal twist of the chassis. youll regret welding your pan, because to get a 6 point cage in you need the body off.

[bugsoup]

I haven't met anyone who even seam welds replacement floor pans. I makes it waaaaay to hard to replace in the future.

[DORIGTT]

Oh, did I forget to mention that my car is a Ghia...meaning most things have to be 'custom' as opposed to the mass produced Beetle stuff.

Most places seem to even forget that the Ghia deserves some of the same love that the Beetle gets...even if the owners are a little more strange ;-)

[DORIGTT]

Hey crazycooter, luckily my body and pan are separate to allow me to replace the pan sections.

I've only heard of two places that have roll bars/cages for the Ghia and they are Ron Lummus Racing and Heigo. I've never seen pics of either to see if I like the fit and or design. I realize that being concerned about style is the wrong way to go for safety, but if I've gotta play monkey-boy to get in and out, my wife's gonna laugh at me again.