and then Floor pan removal options

[WE287GN]

Very Interesting!

If that is true and the edge of the panel is just tucked behind there, under the seam sealer, This could be a good thing??
Hoping to get back at it this weekend..I will try to bring the camera with me..
The reason I cut the floor up this way is becasuse I wasnt sure how i was going to do the floor..so I took off the inner quarters, and just cut across just in front of the wells, kinda in the middle of the rear seat pan..I cut across the firewall just above the factory seam(already had the roof chopped and quarters)

 

[Morbid]

The edge is definitely bent down there. Why and how I don't know. I've never seen a pic of a OEM replacement floor pan. I would guess it would be not different though then the way the Aftermarket ones are sold (a straight edge).

Otherwise to install it you would have to open that seam up. Making work that might otherwise be unnecessary.

Then again I could be wrong and it's bent up on the outer edge to match the rocker.

Since the side I'm working on was rotted I can only go by what was left.

 

[WE287GN]

OK, here is what I can see..Here come some more bad terms...lol

The area we have been talking about(where the seam sealer fills in the crack)..that lip goes down better than 1" i would say...The inner rocker is spot welded to this.. So that goes out the window..
I reverted back to pretty much you were talking about and started the cutting..
Basicly cut along the upper corner of the pan, removing the spot welds from the side of the middle body mount brace..Kinda rough when the rot hides some of the spot welds..
I made some bad use of MS paint and the camera, but maybe you can get the idea with the cross section pics of the rocker area..

In my case i am going to have to go a bit over into the middle of the layer that covers the front body mount brace.hard to see in the pic, but all the cancer tells you there is trouble..

 

[WE287GN]

And The Rocker Cross Section

pics are a little fuzzy close up

scribbled with green a little in the traingular black area, just to show what that seam sealer is filling in..


I know a lot of you out there may know this stuff already..But hopefully these pics shed some light to those who have never dabbled before...like me

 

[WE287GN]

Allighnment Tool??????

Looking at the pic of the middle body mount brace , I am pondering if the seat belt bolt couldnt be used somehow to help line up and fit the replacement pan..????
HMmmmmmm????

 

[Morbid]

Looking at the pic of the middle body mount brace , I am pondering if the seat belt bolt couldnt be used somehow to help line up and fit the replacement pan..????
HMmmmmmm????

Yup, I thought I mentioned that in one of those long post's to this thread. Since very few people I've seen around here replace that inner rocker part (as we've discussed) it stays constant.

I was out yesterday cleaning up the rest of the interior on my project (removing wiring and all from the Passenger Side). The floor pan on top of the rocker isn't as rotted as it was on the drivers side so I removed that seam sealer to see if I was right about the pan being bent down in there. Sure is, as you've found out.

Take your time and think backwards. That is before removing some metal think about how you would be able to replace it. Even if you had the part.

Remember the entire chassis of any car is assembled off the frame. So unless you have the means to do so, there are places you shouldn't go. This is one of the biggest problems with repairing rot in the floor and rocker area.

Greg

 

[WE287GN]

decision's decision's

I stopped cutting as you see in the pic, I may cut a bit straighter instead of zig-zagging..not sure yet..I will wait to see if i can remove the donor floor the way I would like.
The way the body mount interweaves with the floor and rocker area is tricky..
I'm trying to do it so I dont touch the mount..
I am going to drill out the spot welds from the mount(only the cut out side) and try to take the mount cover along with the floor pan..
May even try to replace the rusty triangular area of the mount that underlaps the factory pan..looks a little rough.
A little time consuming but I am hoping this way it will be almost as good as factory, without having comprimised sections or layers..

Also threw in a pic of the chopped up donor car, was kinda funny to see at first..

 

[Morbid]

The first part of my holiday weekend was spent driving to get floor pans (both sides and rear) cut from a donor and bring them home.

Mine were cut similar to how you have yours out, whole floors with rockers,mounts, pillars, etc.

Having taken part in the cutting out, and now having a day or two to go over them I can see why your a bit confused.

Firstly the factory floors are nothing like the aftermarket ones. In that the factory floors are really separate and distinct pieces in the rear and up front where the toe boards are.

For example, the area your showing in the new pics. It's comprised of the floor pan, the plate for the body mount (underneath part toward the corner), another sheet of metal forms the foot rest (the rectangle) and finally the hinge pillar reinforcement (the bottom is the lip you see resting over the sheet metal near the mount.

All of these were pressure/spot welded in a particular order. This is the reason I suspect that the aftermarket pans don't fit well in those areas when sectioning the metal in.

My Advice:

Use whatever good metal is still available on the body. Replacing the entire pans is a noble cause and a goal to strive for, but if the car isn't off the frame and on a rotisserie it might be impossible.

Think to yourself before you start cutting metal out "how will I get the new part back in?" and let that determine your directions.

Your cut lines look good. you'll need to clean up the rest in those areas (obviously).

I'd leave the body mounts alone unless your sure you can get the new stuff in. The plate for the body mount in that area is spot welded to the hinge pillar reinforcement.

The upside to all this is we now both working on the same project at the same time. So we can compare notes. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Right now I'm just in the process of separating the stuff I just got into the various components (rockers, pan, pillar, etc).

I have to get them cleaned up, paint stripped, rust removed were needed, then re-coated before I start putting things in. That could take awhile.

Greg

 

[WE287GN]

Ya its very time consuming...I am in the same boat..Still need to clean everything up...Oh well..take it as it comes..
Funny cause I am trying to share my efforts on two cars..Pulling the body off a frame I bought for my 70 Skylark..looks like things are easier on the older cars a little..havnt dove in quite like the G body stuff yet...
Here is a pic of the donor floor on its side(fron mount area)
tried to outline with paint the seperations in the floor...again just incase anyone ever is curious that hasnt seen this stuff before..

 

[Morbid]

It's just that the Sheet Metal is old and most of the time rusty, which as you pointed out makes it hard to actually see where the seams and spot welds are.

I'm working on the rear seat pan first. It's spot welded to the inner wheel well along the sides, then to the inner rocker at the bottom. Same as the floor pans the edge is bent at a 90 degree angle.

I need to get the project car up in the air so I can see what kind of access I'll have from underneath the car.

Otherwise I'll have to flange it in.

Greg

 

[WE287GN]

Did a little more work on the GN finally

Spent quite some time today pulling the rest of the BS from the factory donor passenger side pan..Getting it ready to fit in...What a PITA..
But "Ahhh" the feeling of satisifaction seeing some solid metal in there was great...Still need to trim it up some more , spent all of today getting it this far, removing the front body mount and seperating the entire rocker structure..what a friggin puzzle that factory floor sheet metal.., but hopefully the driver side will go faster now that we know where and how to cut both the car and the donor pan...new pans were sounding better and better today ...LOL
but still I paid $300 for the donor car wich gave me basicly all sheet metal, mainly quarters and floors,
probably still would have paid more than that for one floor half shipped...

Getting there slowly but surely...quarters and t roof section knockin on my back door now..lol

 

[Morbid]

I started with the Drivers Side since I had that cut out already on my car. I did go and get those parts off another Regal instead of using the replacement panel I brought.

Big mistake. Other than the same issue your talking about, separating the floor pan and rockers, there were rust issues to deal with .

Removing the factory undercoating was a bitch too. It's asphalt based and was covered in decades of engine oil and grease.

Welded up some holes today from where the spot weld drill got away from me. Have a couple more of those then need to remove the paint from both sides of the pan and re-coat.

Then I'll start trimming and hopefully have this side done in a couple more weeks.

Thanks for the update. It keeps me motivated :biggrin:

 

[G NASTY]

i have a donor car with solid floors with some surface rust and some minor pitting. i was just going to buy a repo floor to save all the truble of cutting the old one out and blasting it the rust off. what do you guys reccomend? is the oem one better should i just use that one? also its hard to see the pics. what do you guys do for the center support? drill out the spot welds and slide the pan under?

 

[Morbid]

OEM parts (new or from another car) will fit better as any repo part (doesn't matter from whom or which part it is) will usually need a bit of "persuasion" to make it fit.

I've done whole floors now with both a repo panel and one from a donor car. Removing the floors from these cars is a PITA if you want the whole thing.

The pictures of the Repo pans would lead you to believe that that OEM floors are all one piece but they are not.

One piece is attached to the rockers and runs from front to back. The other piece (the main floor) is flanged on the rocker side and spot welded to both that first piece and the inner rocker.

That's a lot of spot welds to drill out and some will require getting underneath the car.

Once you get the part from the donor car removed it needs to be cleaned up. The factory Undercoating GM used is another PITA to get off, you'll need to clean up any engine oil/grease and road dirt that will almost always be on the underside before you can get to that.

The brace mounted to the floors for the seats is spot welded in. I usually remove it since I'm replacing the entire floor. That and the Bucket Seat Brackets as well.

Basically if you were replacing the whole floor with one from another G-Body you'll be doing the same work twice.

The Repo ones you just need to remove the old one and start fitting in the new.

If you have a donor car already and don't mind the extra work I'd just use them. You can "section" the floor in as opposed to replacing the whole thing if you don't need it.

If I had a rotisserie and/or was doing a off-frame restoration I would've stayed with the aftermarket pan.

I have a brand new in box passenger side Floor Pan and a brand new Drivers Side I'm not going to install. My hometown is right over the Verrazano from you (family still lives there) so if you need them send me a PM.

 

[WE287GN]

Then I'll start trimming and hopefully have this side done in a couple more weeks.

Thanks for the update. It keeps me motivated :biggrin:

Happy it helped.. If I didnt have my bud lighting the fire under my but for me on Sat, I probably wouldnt have done anything yet..lol

i have a donor car with solid floors with some surface rust and some minor pitting. i was just going to buy a repo floor to save all the truble of cutting the old one out and blasting it the rust off. what do you guys reccomend? is the oem one better should i just use that one? also its hard to see the pics. what do you guys do for the center support? drill out the spot welds and slide the pan under?

This is my first experience period with sheetmetal resto...I chose the factory floors simply because of the money reasons..Lots a work..
Cant speak if repro or factory is better..
I would assume if you can sneak the pan under the brace that would be fine..Hard to say at this point weather everything else would flex enough ..
Maybe someone else can chime in that has tackled it from that angle..
My GN's brace was getting just as bad as the pans so I removed the entire thing anyway..

 

[SilverBulletGN]

Wow!