Too Much Info...

haha just joking

looks great man. Wish my bird was that clean. When I finally start on the body, finding the sheet metal amongst the rust and bondo is gonna be like a needle in the haystack

Sealed everything off with a few good coats of epoxy primer. Not dealing with this rust AGAIN!! Considering that GM didn't bother to coat any of the underlying metal, should be MUCH better than the factory job!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T...Large%2529.JPG

Like I said before, outer wheel housing, rear inner valance and complete floor are coming out, as I get more metal put into place.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...Large%2529.JPG

Well... I didn't specify where all those nook and crannies were...:eek: Each night I would pick sand out of my eyes for hours. I went through about 10 screens for the sandblasting hood.

Danng!!! I like to see that level of commitment! Keep it coming!

Well, it is finally time to add some parts back on. Before I go ahead and cut the main floor out, I decided to put the trunk floor in place and weld it in. This way I put some rigidity back into the car before cutting out the main floor. Otherwise with both out I run the risk of things moving around (never a good thing!! :_paranoid )

Got my new AMD full trunk floor...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...Large%2529.JPG


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q...Large%2529.JPG

Between the Trunk Floor and the Main Floor... there isn't anything left to change out... just a LOT of work!! :yes:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8...Large%2529.JPG

Note to self... next time measure how far back the lip of the trunk floor is... BEFORE cutting out the old one. :yes:

So I lay the new trunk floor into place... and even though these are quality parts... I see that I will be having to clamp the @#($ out of the panel to make it lay tight against the frame rails.

Issue is you can move the trunk pan forwards and back a good inch. To far forward, trunk panel will sit inside of the quarter panels to far. To far back and I will be sticking out the back of the quarters.

I took a photo of the gap between the rear inner valance panel and the back edge of the trunk pan.. but didn't take any reference measurements.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...Large%2529.JPG

My solution:
to make sure everything squared up first... I clamped some square tubing to the back of the trunk floor, and used it as a measuring point to square the floor up with the car. (since the floor moves around a bit, you really can not just lay it in there and start welding it up).
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...Large%2529.JPG

I then used this bar to measure from center of remaining quarter panel front lip and a few other reference points to make sure things got squared up.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0...Large%2529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v...Large%2529.jpg

a few other measurements to make sure things were where they should be.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U...Large%2529.JPG

What I finally did was to hang the passenger side quarter panel and make sure the trunk was not to far forward or to far back.. (sorry didn't get a picture of this)

I also left the main floor in place to make sure I was going to have enought of an overlap to weld in the new floor.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N...Large%2529.JPG

NOTE: I thought I could get some measurements off of my father-in-laws 68 camaro to give me a idea of how far forward/back to place the trunk... NOT A CHANCE... these cars have WAY to much tolerance between them to take measurements off of one car and use it on another. So DO NOT USE MY MEASUREMENTS ON YOUR CAR!!! :)

Once I had the trunk where it needed to be... I marked it with a chalk pencil and pulled it out to be drilled for the plug welds.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6...Large%2529.JPG

All drilled and ready to go...
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9...Large%2529.JPG

Drilled out the front part of the frame rails where I will be welding the trunk floor from the bottom.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t...Large%2529.JPG

Recheck all the measurements... I was so concerned about getting this right I think I have about 6 hours in just placing the trunk in the right location.:yes:

I then (again forgot to take a picture) put a screw in almost every other plug hole and clamped the trunk down to the frame rail... this worked GREAT and really tightened everything up. Then I would just remove a screw and weld the plug hole as I went.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-W...Large%2529.JPG

Sorry forgot to take a picture after it was all welded in. PS. make sure you use enough heat to get good penetration to the frame rails (this is a major structural piece of the cars strength.) Not the most fun thing to weld in... like welding a pop can to a frame rail. I would weld in short bursts to fill the plug hole rather than one continuous weld, otherwise I would get burn through with the amount of heat I was using.

Coming along nicely!

Trunk Floor all welded in... Finally adding parts back ON!!! :willy:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q...Large%2529.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...Large%2529.JPG

I will dress (grind down) the welds when I am ready to prime all the work.

Now that I have some structure welded back to the frame rails... I can go ahead and start removing the main floor... Thanks to the previous owners CUSTOM work they did on the tunnel to add a 4 speed... and a leak probably due to a crack in the convertible drip rail allowing water inside the car. I decided to complete replace the main floor with a AMD complete floor.

OLD floor...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...Large%2529.JPG

Previous owner did some lovely work to add a 4-speed.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6...Large%2529.JPG

Drivers side rear seat pan... looks like some moisture was let in. The drip rail for the convertible was cracked and probably let water in this area often. Getting close to a Flintstone mobile... :D
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-u...Large%2529.JPG

PLUS... that means I don't have to clean up this... it is a nice mess of oil and undercoating.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...Large%2529.JPG

Needless to say... a FULL floor was PERFECT to get rid of all the past "fixes" that were done to the car. I ordered a Full AMD floor. It is a coupe floor, for it is missing the rear floor brace. But this can easily be added, to make it a convertible floor.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...707_204830.jpg