Well Im starting my first big welding project on my 69 I am scared to death about doing it but its got to be done.I got the 7 peice floor kit from good mark that comes with the braces and the 3 floor sections.Has anyone else installed on of these.I would apreciate any and all help no matter how big or small,Like I say Ive never done aything like this.I has installed fenders and doors but when it comes to welding in panels it'll be my first.Ill be using a millermatic 135 mig welder if that helps any.I hope to get started tommorow night or thursday.Wish me luck.

Well, I'll raise my glass to you! graemlins/beers.gif
Keep us posted on your progress- take lots of pictures. Glad to hear you are starting in a rather inconspicuous place. (I'll be a couple of months behind you with quarters,wheel wells, floor pans, and trunk floor)
remember: measure twice, cut once!!!!

Nathen...measure twice and cut once :D I will stop buy your shop in the morning and take a look at what ya got... have you cut anything yet?
Troy

thanks for the encouragment.

Troy,speeking of you I was going try to get ahold of you tommorow.All Ive cut out so far is the center you know,the rust.:)I was going to wait till I get you over to give me some pointers.Im going to Northern in the morning and get something to cut it out with.I used the old air chissel trick to cut out most of the rust.What do I need to buy to cut it out the rset of the way with?I need something that will be pretty acrurate.Ill check this post first ting in the morning before I goto the shop.CYA

Nate,
Give me a call before you go to N.H.If you have a good die grinder a cutoff wheel will work best..if you dont have one you can borrow mine
TROY

Ill do it,I have a die grinder but for some reason mine has too many rpms for cut off wheels or scotch brite pads as soon as you hit the trigger it flys off.Ill hollor at you here shortly.

Originally posted by crowenate:
Ill do it,I have a die grinder but for some reason mine has too many rpms for cut off wheels or scotch brite pads as soon as you hit the trigger it flys off.Ill hollor at you here shortly. I think you so it just like the full inside of car floors. Raise the body 6 inches, drill out the old braces with a spot weld cutter bit... fit new braces, cut out old floor, fit new floor, fasten with sheet metal screws, then weld. Next you do inner and outter tubs if need be, followed by trunk drop offs and finally quarter panels. Measure 3 times, then measure once more, then cut.

This process is going on with my '69 right now. Word of warning, the trunk to quarter panel filler pieces will likely need some cutting and massaging to fit correctly.

I am going through the exact same thing only i have all my trunk already out. I need to finish my rear seat pan before i keep going. With mine i need to do the wheelwells too. So keep us posted lots of pictures! I need the help too (my first time doing welding)!

Ive had to put my trunk floor on hold while me and troy was looking at the trunk floor we found that the bottom of the rear windo to trunk lid filler panel was rusted plum out.So I have to get that done first.Thanks for all the help though and Ill keep you all posted.

Just curious, why you want to do the rear window filler panel first? Is there a structual reason or you just want to tackle that item first. Just curious as I also have to do the window filler panel, but I plan to do the truck floor first.

Yep. I'm in the same boat. A bit o' rust around the bottom of the rear window and a rotted out trunk. Damn vinyl tops!! I just got my OPG trunk floor and I got the bumper and fuel tank out. Now I just gotta get that trunk cut out and put back in!! Wish me luck!! graemlins/waving.gif

A little tip that I used on floor pans. I have fit these in place and used steel pop rivets to pull the panels together, then just weld right over the rivet. Hit it with a flap wheel and it comes out looking like a spot weld. Underneath, I hit these with a flap wheel to knock them down, then welded them over on the bottum also. You can edge weld the sheetmetal when done, but you do not want to just edge weld.

when you pry open that trunk expect to find alot of other problems... i sure did.. another thing self tapping screws help alot put everything together with screws first! these also help to pull it all together. Back out the screw then weld 1 at a time and opposite ends (heat distribution)

http://home.earthlink.net/~baygentst/images/before.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~baygentst/images/after.jpg

Email me we can trade some information!

If you are going to replace a lot of frame mounting pads, like most of us, check out these inexpensive parts from McMaster-Carr. It will save you lots of time.

P/N 97063A520 - washers, 1 1/2" ID x 3" OD 1/8"thick

i bought my washers from a local hard ware store and cut them to fit

I like to use a small air powered saw, uses small hack saw type blades and is good for cutting panels out. Cuts much better than a cuttoff wheel saw.

Well ill put in my .02 cents I started this project knowing absolutely nothing.

First buy a really good spot welding cutting bit. Not a crappy one they won’t last very long 2nd buy some cutting oil for the bit (this helps keep the bit sharper longer and work better).

3rd I found the electric cut off wheel / grinder to be a great help removing big pieces but bad in tight corners. It’s nice to be able to take out a rather large section of trunk metal but be careful of what you’re cutting underneath.

Some good metal cutting shears help to cut the metal too (especially newer stuff). I have used my sheers to cut a lot of different metal that I wouldn’t have been to get at other wise. They are also great on the new pan when you have to change it a little.

Finally one of the best tools you can buy is if you have an air compressor, an air hammer with a chisel bit. This helps to cut through metal you aren’t to worried about ruining. Works great and really fast. If you have a small compressor like I do though you have to do slow amounts at a time so the compressor can catch up.

A few things you may run into. (I don’t know the condition of your car) When I started taking out metal I noticed that my rear axle pan (the metal pan that has a little bump in it and goes over the rear axle) was in poor shape, oh yeah this isint being reproduced. I needed to remove it and fabricate the new edges (that attach to the inner wheel wells) and the lip that connects to the rear seat pan. In addition to that I had to fix a sub brace that attaches to the pan also:

http://home.earthlink.net/~baygentst/images/whole.JPG

-Still in work ;)


Just be careful and take your time! This job may seem like a lot of work :eek: but just try to manage time and keep to a plan so that you will get it done! There are a lot of spot welds so have fun! By the way lets see some pictures! graemlins/beers.gif

How's everybody doing with their floor and trunk pan replacements? I have removed all body bolts (surprised at how easy it was!)I did have to cut two holes in the trunk floor (which is being replaced anyway) to reach the captured nuts in the trunk braces- they were spinning when I turned the bolts.
The floor pans in my '70 look like I'll get by with just the rear floors,but unfortunetly, the brace is not in good shape. here's my plan:
I have a rear floor brace, which was cut into three pieces when i parted out and cut up the 72 skeleton I had. I have a left and a right rocker panel, with the brace attached to it. I drilled out all of the spot welds from the rotted out rear floors, but the braces looked much better than the ones on my '70. My thinking is, cut the brace on either side of the driveshaft center hump, and splice the better braces into place on the 70- basically, from the rockers to either one side or the other of the seat belt anchor bolt which is on the driveshaft hump. If I do this to both sides after removing the damaged floor pans, i can the install the new rear seat floor pans-
Does this all make sense? I guess i'll get some questions like :"why not just order complete side-to side braces, and forget the splices".......
My answer will be: "causei have the sections from the '72 I junked", I guess......