rear tub floor

been thinking about doing something a little different and unusual with my rebuild, the rear tub floor is pucked and i have had to cut it out, but rather than replacing with a piece on normal alum what do people think of a perspex floor? is it legal, would it pass mot, would it be strong enough. the reason i have thought of this is because i am/will be painting the axles in hammerite copper (hammered finish) and maybe doing the chasis the same colour or in silver and thought what a way to be able to see my hard work and give the rear passengers something to look at other than nagging me been back seat drivers.
so guys fire away with comments, suggestions, advise etc.
its a series 3 88" swb 1974,

If you are determined to have see thru, use high impact acrylic, or polycarbonate, 12 mm polycarbonate is bullet proof.. supposedly.
Not sure if its legal though.. good luck..

not too sure on the legal side of things but the idea your proposing would be very different and interesting
good luck with it all

polycarbonate.
perspex will crack too easily.

you'll still have to put some ribs on it, probably best to bond them on.

not sure about legal, but can't think why you couldn't. Landy is chassis with bolt on body, and lots of cars now have plastic body panels. Structurally you'd be better off with laminated glass, but it might not last very long as a floor....

I've heard some daft ideas in my time, but this one ..........

Sean said:

I've heard some daft ideas in my time, but this one ..........

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come on sean give me more than that, its an idea, wanted something different, looking for comments & critisism etc.

b20wnx said:

come on sean give me more than that, its an idea, wanted something different, looking for comments & critisism etc.

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ok, some criticism, not intended to spoil your fun but perhaps to point out the daftness factor

1, see through material needs to be kept clean on both faces for it to remain see through - are you happy to be washing the crap off the bottom every week or so ?

2, are you happy to mask it all off whenever you spray/paint your chassis with whatever rust prevention product you prefer ?

3, having a load bed covered with a material that will eventually become translucent at best if it's used for it's intended purpose - eg carrying things

4, have you priced up how much a circa 1.5m square sheet of say 15mm thick poly will cost ?

just my thoughts ....

thanks for that sean, i have not priced up yet and some good valid points to bare in mind.
I am not totally put off with washing underneath to keep clean etc, the carrying of goods (having not thought about that) would require some rubber matting, i would only be using the vehicle on the road and some light greenlaning (maybe), and maybe to take camping and to shows with. my list of for and against grows by the min.

Not sure where this idea has come from..all for experimenting..but hmm..

My first point of concern is the wheel arches on the rear tub, where they join the floor. When I replaced my floor / rebuilt my rear tub the arches were corroded just a little (no more than a 1cm or 2) in places and this is common place, so when I replaced the floor, just got an oversized sheet of aluminium and turned up the side edges by about 2cm, works a treat. Pretty sure other do it as well.

Attaching your bracing ribs on the base wouldnt be easy either, metal to metal goes well..metal to plastic doesn't. If your doing it I would honestly advise to do it properly..maybe worry about 'extras' when the vehicle is actually finished...and not sat in pieces..just my opinion.

Best of luck anyway.

Matt