I purchased the floor pans for my 69 Malibu Conv. and am going to install them after a couple more practise sessions with the welder
I have 2 jack stands under the rear axle and 2 more under the frame about 2' behind the front bend in the frame.
I saw in an earlier post, the pans should be welded in while the car sits on it's 4 wheels on a level floor. How critical is this?
I have also attached a 4' length of 3/8 Dia. threaded rod to the upper fender mount and to the door striker bolt location with a turnbuckle. This is to prevent the body from flexing when I lift it from the frame. Is this acceptabe practice?
Thanks for your input.
John

I have a simple rule I follow. If ANY panel is being removed and installed whether welded or bolted, the car is on it's wheels or at least supported by it's axles.

Those rods will do next to nothing, if it was attached at the top of the rear of the door jamb down to the bottom of the front, it would support the cowl area as it was lifted. But going in a horizontal plain straight across, doesn't do much.

Put the car on jack stands mounted under the axles, it will save you a lot of head ache.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

why do you have to take it off the frame to to change the floors?
when i did mine i used an air chisel to take off the pieces to the edges of the panels. removed welded areas with the chisel and a grinder left overlap in areas icouldn't get to so i could weld to it. placed the floors over the supports marked them drilled holes through the floor over the support then screwwed the floor to the support to get good approximation and welded it.
i wouldn't take the body off the frame to put the floors in if your going to do a frame off put the floors on first with the car on the ground then take the frame off for the resto and painting of the underside off the frame. another thing is rough up the floor before you put the panel on so you get good adhesion of what ever finish you use. if you do it all at once you'll end up with a crooked body trust me even if you weld bars and whatever you still have a good chance of ending up with a crooked body

I guess I wasn't clear in my first post. My intention is to put the wheels on,or install jack stands under the axles, cut holes in the existing floor pans to access the body mount bolts., Apply heat to break the rust bond, replace with new bolts, then cut out the floor pans (one side at a time). I will then remove the new body bolts to lift the body to install the pan brace.
The 3/8 rods I described are attached to the fender mounting hole at the windsheild piller. a 1' length of angle iron is attached to the door striker nut. This piece extends up to the level of the body and is secured at the top with another 6" piece of angle iron and 2, 1/4 -20 bolts.This will act as a clamp around the upper part of the door jamb. The rod is then adjusted using a turnbuckle.
Thanks for your replies.
John

I would agree with MARTINSR, that 3/8" rod is probably not enough. What's to keep the door frame from bending closed? Make a solid frame to brace the gap and be sure.

Just put jack stands under the A-arms in front and axle in back. I would assume your front end is down to a bare frame with no motor or front sheetmetal? If not, having the stands under the firewall for any length of time tends to be very stressful on a convertible frame and body.

There is a lot of strength in the rockers if they are solid. If they aren't solid, you can easily bend things..

Peter

Ditto on the stands under the rear axle housing and inder the A arm's.
As for the body mountgo. If the engine and trans are out and front end off. I like to jack up the front of the body with a floor jack and 4X4 the fits between the fram rails. I then insert another 4X4 across the front frame and reat the cowl on it.

The only body mount left B-4 the lift are the two rear at the tail pan/end of frame.

If it's a HT you will not have much body distoration. If its a Conv. and you door are off you'll need cowl braceing. and more then 3/8 rod. I have used 1in steel square tubeing .I have plates that are driled to fit the two front hinges. thes plates are 3" X6" and extend into the door opening.
I take anothr undrilled plate and tack weld in to the inside body at the top of the door frame. I now cut the tubing to fit one top to top and one bottom front to top and weld fast to the plates. This is done B-4 you lift the body. I also had extra tubing and for giggles welded a peice from the middle top of the windshild frame to the hump under the rear seat. again this was on a conv car.

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Wayne
ACES# 1556
TCG # 186

The rods are going to do something only if they are being "pulled". They will do nothing if they are being "pushed". I can't quite understand clearly how you are using them, but they "could" work. To support the cowl from going up when the body were set on saw horses for example (with one of the saw horses under the front of the cowl), if the rod were put from the lower rear corner UP to the upper front corner of the door jamb it would do "something". The rod would then be subjected to a "pulling" by the cowl wanting to go up from the force of the saw horse under it. If you moved the saw horse back to under the rear of the door area, this rod would do nothing. The cowl would be hanging down and the force would be "pushing" the rod. The 1" square tubing WOULD work either way.

Though I do recommend using a brace, simply because it CAN'T hurt. I have pulled both convtible and H/T bodies off for restoration and have never used braces in the doors. I made a dolly that supported the body as it was on the frame. I lifted the body off supporting it as it was on the frame (actually about eight friends and myself). I had no problems with body flex, these cars aren't a Honda without a roof. But I must say, these were pretty rust free, solid bodies, rusty rockers would be a WHOLE different story.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"