1970 Chevelle SS restoration

[Mr70]

Mitch is very skilled and definitely has too many projects.

[Too Many Projects]

Thanks, it was intimidating for me too, as the front body mounts at the firewall kept moving forth and back. I WAS going to drop the pan on with it upside down, but that was worse than having the body upright. I see I didn't take any pics of that process, but I brought it up from underneath with the forklift. I got a really good deal on the floor from an abandoned project and had reservations about it already having the outer rockers attached and my reservations proved correct. I would never buy, or recommend, this particular piece again. The inner structure of the A pillar and the outer rockers is quite complicated and to get the part in place and now to weld it in is going to be a lot of close quarter work from inside the body. I, normally, buy the outers separate and can stand where the floor would be to fit and weld them in before bringing the pan/inner rocker assembly into play. This 1 complete piece, theoretically saves time by already having the pan welded to the outer rocker, but I have almost 40 hours in fitting this thing and imagineering how to weld the outer/cowl areas and then fit the braces and toe patches in. In the end, I had to place the body back on the frame to know where the front mount brackets aligned in relation to the frame and I'm glad I did. The left side fell right into place but the right side needed a good pull with a strap to bring it forward about an inch. All 4 of the new pan/body bolts aligned very well with the frame and new body mounts, which I was relieved to have happen. The 2 rearmost body mounts fell right back in where they originally were and bolts threaded in by hand, so I feel confidant the body is sitting square on the frame.

[Too Many Projects]

I didn't see any point of including pics with the previous novel, so here are a few. I've had the floor on pallet racking for 6 years and it was filthy, so I first vacuumed it and then gave it a sponge bath so I didn't have to look like pigpen when I worked on it...LOL I removed the original shifter seal hump and will be installing that on the new floor. Now I get to lay on the floor and weld it all together...Yay.

[Too Many Projects]

Since last post, I made a few, minor, adjustments to the pan and toe board patches and then proceeded to weld them in. The floor is where the floor stays now. It is not welded at the B pillar at all yet.

[Too Many Projects]

That was Friday/Saturday after Christmas. Monday I went after the trunk floor. I cut around what was left of the perimeter inside and drilled out the spot welds to the tail panel. I keep as much of the original parts intact to test fit the replacement against. It took a couple hours with my air chisel, stone grinding wheel and cut off disc to get it all cleaned up. I then slid the new floor in and it fits very nicely. There are, as expected, a few "adjustments' to get it where I want it, but it follows all the original weld locations quite well. The left front corner won't slide over the main pan, so it will need to be opened up a little.
See, there isn't anything special about this restoration stuff...a couple big pieces and a few support ones around them and BAM, we have a new floor... OK, it will be a few more days before it's actually a done deal and I move on to the next phase, but it looks damn good in there.