Nah, it wouldn't have died. Its just metal! I get more satisfaction out of making something my own, over keeping something "true". Build stuff the way want it and let the purists worry later..
It's not so much the idea that a purist might not like it. I have plenty of mods on the car already from 13" brakes to 17" wheels. It's more the idea that I can reverse the stuff I have changed with not much work. While the floor would be reversible, it would be at the expensive of a ton of work.
It's kind of like jumping off a cliff. Once you step off, you have to go all the way down before you can climb back to the top. And if you figure out half way down you are going to land on a rock, too bad.
Cutting the floor was like the first step off the cliff. No going back now, but with this car I'm not as worried about it.
Yep, current condition. I thought I could leave some of the pinch weld for fixing later and the trans had other plans. And since I had to pull the bell to make some more cuts, I figured I might as well get some hex bolts to replace the allen bolts that came in my kit and are impossible to get a tool on with the firewall in the way. So I pushed pause and don't get to see the trans in place until I get the bolts.