23 replies to this topic

[Danno74Z]

A very long term project and just finished my new fuel tank and now starting the floor replacement. After taking off the front fenders I found some rust and decided to repair that before starting the floors. Here are some pictures.










painted with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Black

Edited by Danno74Z, 17 March 2012 - 06:34 AM.

[RB26powered74zcar]

Good job!

[neotech84]

Want to do mine next???

Good job!

[Danno74Z]

Hi RB26powered74zcar,

It is amazing as I thought I had very little rust as this car has been in CO for over 25years with me! The undercoating hides a lot of the rust. I just found some more by the battery area and that will all have to be cut out too.



Here is the battery area and that is all surface rust and easily grinds off with a 3M pad. But I then dug deeper and found this.




In order to repair this, I will have to remove the battery tray and do some surgery. I have an new unwanted hole in the firewall (If you look close you can see the junt fiber stuff)
The steel around the rust is OK but this has to be fixed. I haven't even got to the floorpans and rails yet! I'm putting in an LS1 so I need subframe connectors which I'm making too. But first things first.

Danno74Z

Edited by Danno74Z, 17 March 2012 - 06:41 AM.

[Danno74Z]

Tackled the passenger side floor today. WOW! Removing the seat brackets without destroying them was a lot of work. here are some pictures of my progress.



Trashed frame rail. Looks like the car was used 4x4ing - NOT ME. Has been this way for 25 years



The rail is pancaked to about 1/2 its normal size in that area. Will be cut out and reformed with new steel.





Rotted out frame rail. A LS1 engine would destroy the chassis.



The red tape (inside) is the cut line



Floor is gone! Holy S*** batman I have a Fred Flintstone car.

[inZane 240]

Hahah those picture look familiar. Been there before. Nice work!

[redneck1545]

No kidding, I think that floors and rail replacement are pretty much standard procedure one these cars.

I did mine on a rotisserie about and year and a half ago and just yesterday put it back on the ground on its own suspension!

[Danno74Z]

Hi Guys,

Thanks....

I was contemplating just cutting the rust out of each floor but when I dug deeper the rails and floor had to go. That rust is like termites. Poke around with a awl and there is nothing solid but a thin coating. I have the pans already and will build my own frame rails. I have the steel for the rails and they will be totally boxed in pieces. I don't want to spend the money to buy the BD units.

As I complete the floor I will post some more pictures.

Danno74Z

[Tuyen]

Did you use a oem/factory replacement sheetmetal (can you even buy those anymore?) or did you get sheet metal and cut and shape to fit? if so what thickness? 1/16?

[MazerRackham]

Did you use a oem/factory replacement sheetmetal (can you even buy those anymore?) or did you get sheet metal and cut and shape to fit? if so what thickness? 1/16?

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SBC1B10

[redneck1545]

I just used a sheet of 4'x8' 16 gauge steel (0.060") I probably would have been better off buying some 18 gauge to save a little weight. But I definitely wouldn't used 1/16" as it is even thicker than 16 gauge.

I would buy some 18ga sheet steel and call it a day. MUCH cheaper to fab your own rather than buying the MSA stuff.

[MazerRackham]

I just used a sheet of 4'x8' 16 gauge steel (0.060") I probably would have been better off buying some 18 gauge to save a little weight. But I definitely wouldn't used 1/16" as it is even thicker than 16 gauge.

I would buy some 18ga sheet steel and call it a day. MUCH cheaper to fab your own rather than buying the MSA stuff.

Thanks for the heads up brother!! Tools involved?

[Danno74Z]

I had a little bit of a slowdown on the floor pans as I shifted my work schedule from nights back to days - rough on the sleep pattern! I decided to pull the old Datsun engine from the Z to remove all the weight off the front end. I don't know if I needed to do that but why take a chance when welding back in all new metal.

As mentioned above one could save about $200 on the floors by buying a sheet of sheet metal and fabing up your own floors. Since I bought these from a vendor up in Canada years ago I wanted to used them up. They do fit pretty good but not perfect and require shaping. I have to say I'm feeling a lot more comfortable cutting on the car and putting in new steel but I take my hat off on folks who do body work for a living. IT TAKES A LOT OF SKILL!



New pan cut to fit and the edges flanged.



frame rail cut out that was smashed beyond repair.



New pan set in place to be welded. The bottom side of the pan (facing the road) has been primed and painted with chassis black from Eastwood. Since I don't have a rotisserie I better do the painting now.



The old floor and most of the rusty pieces I removed from the old girl.

Danno74Z

Edited by Danno74Z, 07 April 2012 - 07:08 AM.

[Danno74Z]

For the past month I have moved from putting in the passenger floor pan (which is done and ready to go) but decided to pull the old engine and repair the the battery area. As Chris Farley said "Holy Schnike" that was a ton of work! I cut out the rusted areas and hand fabricated new panels both for the firewall and below the battery tray. I first had to determine how much steel to remove and remove the battery tray. I decided to invest in a Blair spot weld removal tool. This tool was a HUGH help and I highly recommend it. Once I removed the battery tray the fun began.


Rust area and to be cut out.

Firewall and lower battery area cut out. I never have done this before and was a little uneasy to say the least.

Steel (rust) removed as one piece. Looks better then it really is.

New firewall patch panel. This one was not too bad to duplicate but welding it in was difficult as one has to be a contortionist.


And here is the Holy Schnike piece welded in. This was very difficult to form but it is done from one piece of sheet metal. A lot of compound curves and all going in different directions! This needs a little more finish grinding and then a small amount of body filler to make it look perty. An English Wheel sure would have helped forming this piece but it can be done by hand and a lot of sweat!

The steel adjacent to the patch has some pitting but did not warrant removal. I am using Eastwood rust converter on it(used it before and is good stuff IMO). Then will prime the area with some etching primer and move on the the floors - AGAIN.

[robbs70z]

Looks good. I fabed up my own floor pans to save money. I bought a 36" metal break and a 4x10 sheet of cold rolled 18ga for half the price of the MSA ones and also built frame rails w/ 1x3 tube .080 wall. Worked out really well and stiffened up the chassis. Keep up the good work

[Danno74Z]

Hi Robbs70Z,

Thanks! Not many folks over in these parts. There is no doubt one can save money on making your own floors. I bought mine from the guy in Canada many years ago and got them for ~$200 with shipping. It use to be great buying things from Canada but with the devalue of the Dollar not anymore.

Danno74Z

[robbs70z]

So true!

[redneck1545]

Thanks for the heads up brother!! Tools involved?

Sorry for the late reply but I have access to a shop with a box or pan brake as well as a shear. You could do it by hand or take it to your local HVAC fabrication shop. Although I se you've already put the floors in so I doubt you'll be doing any of that haha.

Other than the brake and shear it was really just a matter of drilling out the holes for spot welds, a measuring tape along with an angle grinder and LOTS of cutting wheels to get the job done.

Pretty easy, and this is coming from a young guy with no previous metal fab experience.

[Danno74Z]

Just finished up welding in the new passenger floor pan. I have 92 spot welds in that pan. It is amazing how nice new steel helps these old girls.



The pan is flanged along the perimeter and sits into the hole I cut. Fits real tight! I used sheet metal screws in every other hole from the top and then I used a jack and a couple of blocks of wood from below and force the new steel with the existing steel tight between the screws. This removed all unevenness and gaps between the panels and then I started welding. (On top of the wood blocks I used some scrap copper as a backer as weld will not stick to copper.) From below all the screw holes are plug welded closed.

New floor is ready for primer and seam sealer.

Now onto fabricating the frame rails

Danno74Z

[Dershum]

1337561939[/url]' post='1000622']
Just finished up welding in the new passenger floor pan. I have 92 spot welds in that pan. It is amazing how nice new steel helps these old girls.



The pan is flanged along the perimeter and sits into the hole I cut. Fits real tight! I used sheet metal screws in every other hole from the top and then I used a jack and a couple of blocks of wood from below and force the new steel with the existing steel tight between the screws. This removed all unevenness and gaps between the panels and then I started welding. (On top of the wood blocks I used some scrap copper as a backer as weld will not stick to copper.) From below all the screw holes are plug welded closed.

New floor is ready for primer and seam sealer.

Now onto fabricating the frame rails

Danno74Z

Seeing these new pans brought up a question I keep meaning to ask. I was planning to weld plugs into all the little holes in the floor pans, trunk, etc. any reason I shoulnt do this?