Floor repair question

[Flatbedmache]

Just wondering what people have done with the seat belt brackets that go under the floor pan. The bracket drops down a good half inch just passed the frame rail. I can’t remember what it was like before I took the floors out. Did you leave a gap or hammer and bend the floor or cut and weld the bracket. Thanks

[Pete M]

no one has an answer? 

[Dzimm]

I'm currently doing the floors in my XJ and I'm leaving a gap there.  In fact my entire floor pans sit about a half inch above everything that's under there just because of the POs previous attempt at repairs.  The gap will allow water and dirt to dry up so it doesn't cause rust.  If your pan was contacting that and not sealed correctly, it would rust in between there.  If you do hammer it down to meet it, make sure to seal and undercoat well. 

 

From the factory it is against the floor and covered with the factory undercoating stuff. 

[AZJeff]

If you are going to use the original seat brackets in their original location, that "u-shaped" bracket reinforces the floor to prevent the seat mounting hardware from separating from the sheet metal.

 

However, as others have noted, it's a great place for dirt/moisture (and the subsequent rust) to begin.   

 

If I was in this spot, I would make a spacer to fill the gap between the new sheet metal of the floorpan and the existing OEM reinforcement bracket.  I would then run my seat attaching bolts all the way through the new floorpan, then the spacer, and then the reinforcement bracket, and bolt all of it together.   You would get the strenght of the OEM joint, without the rust potential.