The floor was the next item to install. I slightly channeled the body ¾ of an inch which set it outside of the frame a small amount. This allowed me to shim and square the body to the frame and also have the body overlap a small amount . The frame will be custom built on my plywood table and that will be shown later how to set up and build. In the picture, the body is off the floor with 2 x 4 ‘s and then I took 1x 2’s to set the 5/8 ths inch plywood on. I should stop here and tell you that I set the body on the 5/8 th’s plywood and marked the outline of the inside of the body and cut it out so that it would be ready to mount and glass to the body. This was done prior to setting the body on the floor. Now that the body was set and the 1 x 2 ‘s were in place, I set the cutout floor inside the body and centered the floor to where the gaps were about equal all around. I glassed the floor with two layers of the 1 oz. mat in three or four places on each side to set the floor. I let the glass kick before adding any more around the inside. Be careful not to bump the body when doing the initial glass work as this will or can shift the body and the floor.
Let me tell you an easy way to work with glass mat: take a piece of plywood or ¼ inch masonite and wrap it with wax paper and tape it with 2 inch masking tape. Buy and use some cheap latex disposable gloves on your hands. Cut the mat into whatever size pieces you are working with. I never go more than about 6 x 8 inches. Any bigger and you will have trouble taking it from the board to the work. Mix up the resin and catalyst , use a 2 inch cheap brush and apply the resin to the mat and tap the brush up and down with the end to force the resin into the mat. When the mat looks somewhat translucent and there are no dry spots , pick up the mat with your hands and place in onto the work. Then take the brush and work all the air bubbles out and smoothe the resin out. Don’t leave a thick coating of resin on the mat. It will only crack and then it serves no purpose. Be sure you overlap layers if you are doing a long or large area.
The floor is in and also the rear divider. Notice how the glass is laid in against the body and the wood. After the body is glassed and rigid on the top – then I will turn it over and do the same on the bottom. This will sandwich the floor , firewall and rear divider together with the body and will become very strong and durable.
