Riveting passenger footwell question

[Souleman]

As I finish up my passenger footwell, I'm trying to figure out if we are supposed to attempt to rivet the right outside panel into the support tube on the bottom outside or not. As it currently stands, it's a bit of a stretch to get the panel to the support tube to be riveted to it, nor does it appear to need it (the footwell seems solid just cleco'd in place). I've read through a bunch of other build posts, and searched for it, but have yet to really find a pic or discussion on this area.
190868

[wallace18]

It can be done either way. Your choice.

[Jeff_J.]

You're right the direction in the manual is a little vague on this and a few other things, it's more like a guide than directions in some instances. I'm one of those who riveted the outside panel and the floor at the same time to the round tube It worked for me but like Wallace18 says it has been done both ways. In my case the floor was a little tight to the tube and made it a little tougher to get the carpet under there.
Jeff_J.

[egchewy79]

I snapped off a few drill bits trying to drill into the round tube and just decided to rivet the panels together. If you come in at a slight tangent to the tube, it'll break your bits.

[cc2Arider]

I considered this dilemma, too, and simply decided to challenge myself by riveting to the tube thru a custom cut panel that I used as a shim. Probably overkill and I might have thermal insulation and carpet installation issues later, but I'll manage that when that time comes :)

Craig C

P.S: the Driver's side footbox outside edge gap to the tube (for my chassis) is wider, so I'm thinking of a way to "shim" and use the shim material as a Dead Pedal structure, too :cool:

[Souleman]

I know I don't post a ton, but I do love this forum! Thank you very much for the insight. I'm right in that middle ground, where there's not quite enough clearance for the tail not to rub on the tube, but it's not quite close enough to the tube to for a clean rivet either. Adding a shim is probably the right way to go for a clean rivet to the tube. After all my reading, one suggestion might be for FFR to include a nice scrap sheet of aluminum in the kit for various shims and brackets we all seem to create. :rolleyes:

[Souleman]

Now it's time for a driver's side question. I've got the inner side panel basically centered in height, which lives a small gap at top and bottom. The gap at the bottom, while centered, is larger than silicon can fix and will require some type of molding to seal up. The question is, is it better to leave a larger gap at the top and have the bottom seal up a little better? Figured I'd get a few thoughts before I drilled all the holes. The next question, are people using silicone on the bottom of the inner wall panels on both footwells where they run across the 4"?
191259

[Jeff_J.]

Front Driver side footwell, I can old speak for myself, I made it fit as well as possible at the top and made a reinforcement piece for the gap at the bottom it formed to the 4" tube and side wall so I could silicone and rivet it in place - then ran aluminium tape over the joint. I ran Aluminium tape on all my inside joints in addition to the silicone. The DS floor is part of this assembly you might want to lay it place to see how the conjunction comes together before going too far here.
The passenger side footwell: I made a filler piece on the outside to close the gap, then silicone - rivet and tape the inside the best I could. 191274

[cc2Arider]

Souleman,

My Driver's side inside panel fit differently than yours appears to. My bottom edge to the 4" diameter main tube fit very well and I chose to favor that joint anyway to avoid the need for any additional "patch" panels there. There is a small gap at the top along the bottom edge of the square tube, though. It's a little difficult to tell from this picture, which has tape impeding the view somewhat
191275

Craig C

[Souleman]

That's sort of how I was leaning. I can still adjust the panel and favor closing the gap on the 4". It figured it will be easier to fill in the small gap at the top then having to work both gaps or purely the large long gap on the 4". Thank's for the insight guys.