Floorpan question

[65Westy]

I am replacing the driver side floorpan on my 71 Super Beetle convertible. I got the Bug Me Video and I have the old one just about cut out. (I am not taking the body off to do this.)

Here is my question: general consensus is that Wolfsburg West has the best floorpans, but they are made in Brazil. Am I any better off using the 2 piece pan that OE VDub sells that is made in Denmark? It seems to me that the 2 smaller pieces might be easier to fit in then welding them together versus trying to get the one big floorpan section in.

Anybody had experience with the 2 piece pan sections?

Thanks,

Craig
63 Beetle
71 Super Beetle Convertible

[wcfvw69]

Call WW and ask how think the metal is. They are very honest and will steer you right. The two piece pans are not worth the trouble as you have more welding and alignment work than it's worth.
Someone recently commented that the pans from WW were very good.
Good luck

[bartman]

i just got a set of klokkerholm pans from oeveedub yesterday. i was going to post once i got them in but since you asked...

i ordered a complete set(sans seat tracks) for a 70 beetle. they were cheaper by about $12 bucks a piece than shown on the site. i got the set for 187 bucks, $36 of wich was shipping.

the site says "Fraction under 1/16 Th". depends on how you do fractions, mine miked at .033" wich is a fraction over 1/32", about 22 guage. the old pans are brazilian and really rusted out. i'll have to look for a decent section to measure.

they came without the jack supports but i don't need them.the pans are oversize a bit so i needed to do a little cutting and fitting. all in all, pretty straightforward. i pulled the passenger pan and ground the welds off the tunnel flange last night and trimmed and fit the new sections tonight. tomorrow i need to get some steel to replace a rusted out section of flange before i weld in the new pans. i want to weld them in like this guy did:http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=156257 it looks like he drilled a row of holes along the edge of the pans and plug welded each hole. very clean.

i'm doing mine body on, though. i just bolted the rear pan on with the inside edge under the tunnel and rear flanges. i then marked the edge of the flanges onto the top of the pan. i pulled the pan and marked another line about 3/4" outside of the first line. i trimmed the pan at this line so it would sit on the tunnel flange. i only had to do this on the rear pan. the front only needed a bit of grinding at the outside front corner.

i've never done a one piece pan but for a one-man operation the 2 piece pans are probably easier to work with. i also don't know if the danish pans are better or thicker than the brazilian pans but oeveedub really talks them up. tomorrow i'll try to get a decent piece of my old pan to measure

edited to add: wcfvw69 replied while i was composing this. i didn't have any alignment issues with the pan i'm doing. the front half has a light flange embossed into the rear and the rear pan nestles neatly into it. i would be interested in how thick the ww pans are. i was a little dissapointed in mine after reading the site's description

[thebucket]

Go with the one piece. I put the WW pans in my last 55 and they were the best quality I've seen aftermarket.
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OG 55 bullet 3 fold....
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150858&highlight=thebuckets++++fold

[Tvättbjörn]

I have used many of the half danish pans. They fit great and are close to the thickness like the VW ones. You still have to weld the seat rails back on, but same can happen with some cheaper ones too. can comment on WW pans, never used any.

[DaBraink]

I just finished plug welding in a set of WW pans.

There was almost no trimming neccesary. I planned on pulling to body because of other areas that needed work.

Before the body was removed, I cut out the old pan sections and unbolted the body from the chasis. Then I placed a floor jack with a 2 ft section of 2 x 4 under the heater channel to distribute the load.

On the passenger side I left one of the bolts near the shock pad. Then I raised the driver's side, placed a large deepwell socket where the body bolts to the chasis at the shock pad.

I lowered the body back down to rest on the socket, then removed the floor jack with the wood. This allows you to slide the floor pan section on to the tunnel and loosely bolt it to the heater channel even with the pedal cluster in.

This will allow a "dry" fit to check for bolt hole alignment and tunnel lip fit. If you like, you can lower the body down on the new pan and repeat on the other side. Once everything is measured, you can raise the whole body enough to replace the body gaskets over the tunnel humps.

Weld in the pans, lower the body the few inches that it was raised and bolt them up. No wires to disconnect, no speedometer cable to remove, etc.

Since the body is resting on the bolt it allows for easy removal of the pans to drill the plug weld holes. Also the chasis and body stay in alignment, so there are no adjustments needed. If I had not needed to do other work to the chasis, I would have completed the pans with the "Body -Loose" method.
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