Hot Rod magazine produced a DVD which they distributed to magazine subscribers last week. In it, they showed--in great detail--the first phases of restoration of a '70 Chevelle convertible. It's going to be a frame-off resto, but the floor was rusty and they knew they'd tweak the body if they pulled it off the frame as-is. So the first step was cutting out and replacing the floor pan. They show the process clearly--every step of the way. They used aftermarket floor pans. Once the work was done, they were confident they could proceed with a normal body removal. The DVD is really great. I think you can probably find it on HotRod.com.
my project 72 convert is in need of new floor and trunk too i see that a local place(tamraz) has complete floors front to rear with all the braces/brackets welded on what do you guys think and any tips on installing any guess what a shop would charge to install this?
Andy, In the early 90's I got two estimates from good body shops in my area. I explained exactly how I needed to replace the entire floor pan, and the fact that I had a perfect floor taken off another car for my donor piece. (Both these shops did resto's as well as other work.) Both shops came back with almost the same price, which was $5200 for the labor/materials. This was for the floor pan install only, plus having just the new floor primered and painted on the bottom. (This was also with the car already being stripped out, with the bare shell, plus doors, on a rolling frame.) Now, at the time, this was more then I paid for the entire car, so you can see why I decided to do it myself. As far as the floors go, if you can reuse the braces and only need floor pans, the car need not be braced like I did. That is a relatively easy job, but if your braces are rotted through also, then you need to hold the body together somehow. Buying the parts is easy, installing them is another story. Duane
I have a local shop that does this and they claim that the 1 piece saves 8 hours minimum on istall comparted to the pieces that were available . I would think that 2500 was a very nice deal for them as its about a 8 hour job once the car is stripped . The floor can be removed and reinstalled and welded in place with the body on , if your using the old braces . Lots of plug welding . I did one once and had a shop set the panel , weld it in place with 1 inch welds every foot around the pan . I then set it on a rotissery to finish welding ( a friend is a Steel worker/welder). The welding we did was complete not spot like the factory . I had about 1100 in the job without paint .
Duane....nice work. You need to move to the south....you have the great makings of a redneck roundy round race car fabricator! As for the floor pans.......I used the one piece with bucket seat brackets and it fit perfect. I also installed a rear seat pan. You can get this all from www.nationalpartsdepot.com in their Chevelle catalog. They will also carry the correct braces. The only problem with the one that goes in the middle is the nuts welded to the brace for the seat belt anchor bolts are incorrect. I think they are metric. I told NPD about this and hopefully they corrected it by now...........so.....don't throw away your old center floor brace until you test fit your seat belt bolts in the new anchors.
