1st Gen 1-piece floor installation

[Y-TRY]

I'm about to cut out my rusty floor and replace it with a new 1-piece floor.

How much time should I expect to complete this process?

Any tips to what's involved? Nuggets of wisdom from someone who's been there? Condolences?

[cowboybob]

I did mine in my '69 Camaro earlier this year. Although its not what call a particularly "fun" project, it wasn't too hard. The best advice that I can give you is to start by hacking the entire floor out about an inch from the rockers, front floor pan and rear trunk panel flange (I used an air saw, but a gas axe works just as well and is probably quicker and definitely quieter). That way, you can work on the spot welds from inside the car and any "uh ohs" will be covered by the new floor pan.

Also, forget about cutting out the spot welds with a spot weld cutter. After the first 3,000 or so (at least that how many it felt like ) spot welds that I cut out with spot weld cutter, I went an easier/cleaner route. Use a hand-held grinder with an abrasive disc to grind down the spot welds to the underlying metal. Afterwards, use an air chisel with a flat blade to separate the two pieces of metal. This seems to have worked the best for me because it was too easy to cut into both pieces of metal with the spot weld cutter and then you are left with circular cut marks on the underlying metal. Also, by using the grinder/chisel method, you don't need to drill a pilot hole to keep the spot weld cutter in place.

The really "fun" part is putting the floor pan back in because you get to lay on your back and weld above your head. Be prepared for a severe case of "forearm pump" from holding your arms up for an entire afternoon. Not to mention the wonderful burns and scars from welding slag that I proudly exhibit to this day. Ask me someday about the huge piece of slag that went down my shirt sleeve...that must have been a hoot to see!

One other piece of advice...I didn't replace my rear frame rails because they were in great shape. However, if I ever do this project again I will install new frame rails since it so much easier than trying to save the old ones. This is primarily because I drilled out the spot weld from the bottom of the car. If you use the grinder/air chisel method from inside the car, you can probably do a lot neater job of it than I did.

All in all, I did the entire job in about two weekends and I didn't get into a hurry with the project. This was my first time doing a floor pan, so I thought that it was pretty good progress. Just be sure that have some nice, heavy gloves and safety glasses and make sure that you are up-to-date on your tetanus shot!

Brian

[Y-TRY]

Cool, perfect info.

What would you venture to say it would take in shop-hours? 12?

[Smittys67]

Take some measurments and make sure you have the car on a level surface. You want to get everything back in and square so some bracing is a good idea.

[cowboybob]

Originally Posted by Y-TRY

Cool, perfect info.

What would you venture to say it would take in shop-hours? 12?

That may be about right. I said that it took me two weekends, that accounted for time spent socializing with my buddy, eating Snickers, drinking Mt. Dew, chasing down tools, and screwing around with other parts of the car. I guess that if I added up actual working hours it would be closer to 20-25 hours that I actually spent doing the floor pan. I doubt that it would take an experienced shop more than 12 hours, but I suppose it would depend on the shop. Though others that have had a shop do the work would be in a better position to estimate.

Just change your screen name to "Y-not-TRY" and forge ahead! It's not too difficult of a project.

[Jay Hilliard]

1) measure before you cut
2) measure again
3) take pics for reference
4) Brace with 3/4" square tubing by creating a box inside the car. With the floorpan out it will be pretty flimsy and can get out of square.
5) Be patient and take your time.

[redfire69]

I am half way through this process, don't rush it.

Some good advice here, definitely take your time and brace the car. Cutting out the entire floor pan and carefully grind the spot welds on the inner rocker and frame rails is the way to go.