Hey all. I got the car and it has a couple of problems I didn't know about before. I found a bad spot behind the driver seat area. I crawled under and noticed that the brace might as well not be there on the driver side. Can a new brace be welded in without cutting the floor and using a patch panel or do I have to cut from the top and weld from the top? The bench will be coming out and the carpet soon to see if there is more damage I didn't notice before.

Oh, it's a 69.

Also, any pics of a brace replacement would be greatly appreciated so I can see how it goes in there.

i think you could just remove paint from floor and drill spot welds from brace, pry old one from the bottom, place new one in place and spot weld from top, this is how i did my trunk floor........ matt

I did all three braces along with the floor on my 65'. I couldn't imagine replacing the braces with the body on the frame. Your more than likely going to need to replace or patch your inner rockers as they rust under the braces. It's not that hard to pull the body off the frame a few inches and will make the job much easier. I pulled my body off in about 3-5 hrs and most of that was dealing with rusted or broken cage nuts. Do yourself a favor and do it right or you will be doing it twice. Good luck!

I would love to remove the body, but do not have a place/garage to do it in for extended times.

Is there a book or manual I can obtain that will show me pictures of the rockers you refer to so I can see what you're talking about? I assumed the pan and braces were what bolted/welded to the frame directly.

I do want to do it right, but for now, need a long term temp fix. I hope to convince my wife to move to Ohio from Florida so I might have access to a garage where I can pull the body off and really do the frame right.

Heres a picture of what some of this stuff looks like, I will be replacing the brace behind the front seat in the next week, and I will put it on my site, anyway maybe these pictures will help you. Picture number 8.

FLOOR PAN INSTALLATION (http://www.1969supersport.com/floorpn.html)

Rob

Check out Team Chevelle member`s links to their restorations. You`ll be sure to see some pics of your "areas of concern". I`ve learned so much by looking at them.
Looking at pictures of stripped down Chevelles is almost like looking at pictures of stripped down......Oooowwww, look at the time.....need to run !

I have gone over almost all of your pics on your site and all I can say is WOW, I wish I could do that.

For right now, I can't do a frame off. Maybe in a few years but time and garage space isn't available. I do want to drive it, use it and enjoy it until then, so that leads to my question..... If I cut out the bad section of floor panel, can I do any repairs to the rocker(if necessary) and replace a 1/2 section of brace. The other braces and pans appear to be in pretty good shape. Seeing as how you've done the full monty, you would have seen accessibility of the parts.

I have a friend who can help me with the welding (not sure about plug) but basic lap type.

Thanks again for posting your site. It's helping a lot already.

Get yourself some poster board, the sheets of white paper, about two feet by three feet and some scissors.

Lay that paper on the part your taking off or regular thinner paper, draw an outline, then transfer that to the poster board.

After you have duplicated that part on paper, take the next piece of metal off and duplicate that, then you can see how the metal is layered on.

Take the time and use the paper, it will simplify the whole deal. If you take the time you can make your replacement pieces, but once you have it in paper setting in front of you, that will enable you to compare it with other panels that are sold on the internet, and one piece might be close to what you have in front of you. Then get that part or just make it with some tin snips, it can be done.

You have been on my site, so you have seen the part about metal thicknesses, if you could get a cheap caliper or micrometer and learn how to read it, that will make your metal bending process a little easier, in a restoration you look at the little things and how its spot welded or plug welded.

Plug welding is pretty easy, all you do is drill some 5/16 or 3/8'' holes through it, lay the piece with holes on top of the other piece, then weld it up until you have a bunch of mounds of weld, then grind the humps off, you will never see it after its painted.

Anyway, hope I didn't bore you with all this. Good luck.

Rob

Thanks for the info. I do plan on buying repop or whatever it's called floor pans (1/4's or 1/2) which ever is needed. I'm fairly confident I can do a patch job on the floor, just the brace that concerns me. Once the pan is partly removed, I can then evaluate the rockers. Hopefully I'll be able to repair/patch the rockers as necessary with body on.

Thanks again and keep up with the updates...I'm jealous!

I don`t know how bad your braces are, but if it is just the ends where they attach to the rockers, Ground Up has patch panels for these braces. Looks like you can just replace the ends of the braces.
Cut the floor out where needed, chop off the cancerous brace ends, repair the inner rocker as needed, and replace the brace end and floor section that you cut out...As I think of it, the frame may be in your way, depending on how much you need to repair. I`m just going off of my foggy memory here. Just improvise !

Yeah, it is the end that attaches to the rocker. Worst case, I'll grind, cut and remove all the rusted parts and fab a plate that will support the floor. Just in the area where the brace is inaccessible by the frame.

Good, "Get`Er Done" mentaly.........Get it over with !