Full floor pan install

[Nick Mailloux]

I just noticed that you are in Orting. I'm over on Vashon. If you want to see a set of USTC connectors in place you can come look at my cars.

I may take you up on that offer one of these days. I haven't taken the farry out that way in ages. I'll grab some pictures tomorrow after work. Is there any quick ways to check for body sag besides gaps? I'm assuming it would have the biggest effect on the door to quarter panel gap?

 

[str12-340]

I hope someone with more experience with this speaks up. I know that the more horsepower and the more enthusiastic the driver , the more likely that the body will twist from repeated launches, as opposed to sagging down. With the floor out, I would be wary of climbing inside with welding gear to do work. 2-300 lbs in an unstabilized unibody could really effect things and once it's all welded in place, getting it to change would be rough...

 

[Nick Mailloux]

I hope someone with more experience with this speaks up. I know that the more horsepower and the more enthusiastic the driver , the more likely that the body will twist from repeated launches, as opposed to sagging down. With the floor out, I would be wary of climbing inside with welding gear to do work. 2-300 lbs in an unstabilized unibody could really effect things and once it's all welded in place, getting it to change would be rough...

Got some pics of the door to quarter gaps. This is on its own weight and both door open and close nicely. I do know the top hinge on the drivers side has been replaced.

 

[DesertRat]

I did the full Floorpan replacement on my 65 Comet. I put the car on stands under the rockers and levelled it. Then I cut the old Floorpan out and prepped the subframes and torque boxes for the new Floorpan. Before doing any welding I re-levelled the car with my laser and welded the Floorpan to the subframes. Then I laser levelled the car again before welding the side flanges. After the Floorpan install was complete I installed my subframe connectors. Then the car was ready to go up on my rotisserie. I have full photo documentation of the process if anyone wants to see it.

 

[Nick Mailloux]

I did the full Floorpan replacement on my 65 Comet. I put the car on stands under the rockers and levelled it. Then I cut the old Floorpan out and prepped the subframes and torque boxes for the new Floorpan. Before doing any welding I re-levelled the car with my laser and welded the Floorpan to the subframes. Then I laser levelled the car again before welding the side flanges. After the Floorpan install was complete I installed my subframe connectors. Then the car was ready to go up on my rotisserie. I have full photo documentation of the process if anyone wants to see it.

I just did a test I put the car on 4 jack stands in the spots recommended. Can't open the doors with it like that. I'm assuming the weight of the engine is pulling the nose downward ever so slightly. I'll re try once I get the engine pulled.

 

[67Dart440GT]

The first 2 pix I was getting ready to primer the whole *** end after sandblasting. I wasnt too concerned about that at the moment as I was not sticking sheetmetal back in yet. Additionally the framerails , tiebar, and rear valance were still attached together when I took those pix. I removed enough for sandblasting and left about a 1" strip the width of the trunk from the trunk floor tying it together for a moment. I removed that when I started on the trunk pan. Not sure what your talking about with the datum plane in regards to an automobile. I deal with specific datum in regards to aircraft. However if you use a level across the radiator support upper flange and across the transition pan that gets your car level side to side. If having to shim between the stands and the frame to get it level shows that your floor is not dead level. Its concrete. It will be close eyeballing it, but wont be perfect. Once you got the front and rear level side to side, then you put levels on the rockers, and shim and level it front to back. So far everything seems to line up for me. If rather be a little over cautious and double and triple check and not have to drill something back apart. Again I am saying do it how you want to, I will do it my way.

A datum plane is a measuring point under a car. Manufacturers use it when building cars, and body shops use it when doing structural work and frame repairs. This is why in my opinion leveling a car has nothing to do with anything. You can set 4 levels on a car but it has nothing to do with rail movement up and down, sag, or any other movement. Simply saying the car is level with a 6 inch level proves nothing. You have frame rails that are cut from other panels, hanging down with no support, the car moving in and out of a shop and then "leveled" again? What did you measure your frame height with? You either measure from the floor up to the rail, or your datum plane. This is why you measure before, during and after the repair. Modern frame benches with either sonar or electronic measuring systems make your datum plane for you. But in the old days we had to create our own. This was even done on the floor. I have been working professionally in body shops for 24 years on every single type of frame machine possible. Older frame equipment had a ladder system that you would slide under the car and set as your datum plane. Then there were measuring rods and cups that went to certain control points on the car to show you length, width and height. Simply leveling a car doesn't tell you anything other than 4 six inch locations are level. You then need a perfectly level plane under the car to measure from.