Floor?
 

We are at that stage of adding the floor. I had got some expanded metal from Lowes that I thought would work if I welded it to the top of the floor framing. Then I was going to cover it with the 1/8" HDPE sheet that I have left over and then add anti skid tape to that.
Diamond plate is out due to cost and so is any type of sheet metal.

Any other ideas?

The floor pan is very important for structure-It would depend on how much framing is there-Personally I wouldn't use expanded metal on a floor unless it was some really heavy gauge. The HDPE would need to be secured well/often to the expanded metal to remove the flex factor and I don't know how you'd accomplish that with expanded metal. If you've ever had the oportunity to see in an expensive buggy you'll see that it has a stamped floor pan (like a car) because they make the floor structural, also eliminates those annoying rattles.

My floor is x braced in 8 directions. As a drag race chassis builder I understand the shear plate theory, but I am trying to do this on the cheap.

Just curious why sheet metal is out? Around here i can get a 4x10 sheet of 18 gauge for around $75. Another $20 for having it sheared to size. Add an inexpensive bead roller to your shop if you don't have one and you can turn out a something that will add to the structural integrity. I'm with metal on expanded, i don't see much of a use for it because strength to weight wise it's kind of a few steps backwards.

I originally got the expanded to simply keep feet from falling through the bars and also keep large rocks and sticks from flying up into the pass compartment. since our original design has morphed into more of a "Urban Assault Vehicle" I guess the metal is necessary. Would really love the diamond plate but prices are nuts!

With the floor "X" braced then you are go to go!!! Sorry didn't realize you'd framed it properly. You're correct about the diamond plate aluminum, what little I've used came from a used tool box!!! I remember you saying you're going to use the expanded on the sides and I think that's pretty cool for a body panel. I did use expanded on a couple of my Baja bugs/dune buggies back when, it made it where I could see the ground really well with protection from bigger stuff- I remember it being really dusty!!!

Update on the floor. After researching prices for sheetmetal I came across a place that sells the plastic snaplock garage floor tiles by the piece. I ordered some in silver diamond plate and they work great! Easy to cut and can be attached to the frame tubes with either screws or panel bond.

So how much longer are you going to make us wait to see this beast you're building Lyonsperf?

For my floor i covered it with bed liner