Can of rusty worms

[Glenwood]

one step forward and two steps back seems to be the way it goes Crumley!
I painted up the dash which was not fun but turned out pretty good.
Decided the floor pan has to go which should be even more fun
Removed the axle and the gas tank only to find easy access into the trunk. Much worse than I thought, so it's got to go too. I can hardly wait, hope I can squeeze the new truck pan through the opening.... pics to come.

 

[Superfreak]

Sorry to hear that, but I for one am not surprised considering the nice handy work you found on the front end by some previous clown.

 

[Glenwood]

Managed to spray some epoxy on the dash and column.

Two-tone colour turned out pretty good.

These will need some paint to match the dash.

 

[Glenwood]

Sorry to hear that, but I for one am not surprised considering the nice handy work you found on the front end by some previous clown.

Gets more interesting as I dig deeper...

The pad that sits on top of the tank was basically painted with undercoating.

Nothing to weld to here lol. Have to order a new pan and extensions.

 

[Glenwood]

Cleaned up the wiper bracket...rust everywhere under the dash it seems.

Cleaned up and regreased.

 

[Glenwood]

Stripping the interior to get ready to re&re the floor pan.

Inside the doors look pretty good. Surface rust but I don't see any bondo or patches. Good news for a change.

 

[Glenwood]

Always wondered what the hydraulics looked like behind there.

 

[Glenwood]

The interior light connection are corroded and will need to be cleaned up.

 

[Glenwood]

The floor patchwork is terrible. The welding might even be worse than mine lol. It was blobbed on and not welded to anything. I'm amazed that the car hasn't folded up by now!

Frame looks to be in good shape so far.

 

[threewood]

Well, at least you know what it needs now rather than later. The trunk pan is not difficult but....involved. Those floors look bad but easy to do. Looks like the previous owner tried some welding with his oxy acetylene which can be done well. Not in this case and it looks like the same guy welded in my frame connectors lol.

Just some more time involved but you got this

And your dash looks great. Better than my rattle can black lol

 

[Glenwood]

Thanks Threewood. The dash had lot's of surface rust on the inside and the PO tried to touch up the top of the dash while still in place, which was very visible and needed to be repainted along with the lower section that was faded and scratched up. I painted the lower section first but made some terrible runs in it. I figured I would let it dry and wet sand them. 4 hours later, it wasn't tacky or so I thought, so I masked it up with paper to spray the top. Well the blasted paper stuck to the lower section in areas and the whole bloody lower section had to be wet sanded and resprayed. what a pita!

I kind of knew I'd have to deal with the floor as I could see early on that the patches were not welded to cross member frame, etc. Might be okay for a tired old 318 but I was worried about putting in the 400+hp 413 I'm building, adding a bunch more torque to the frame, especially being a convertible. The truck surprised me because the tank hid most of the problem areas and the topside was completed undercoated.

Oh well, better to deal with it now and hopefully enjoy it next summer.

 

[Glenwood]

I was thinking that I should remove the top to protect it. Anyone have any idea how heavy the framework is?

 

[Glenwood]

Tearing out the old floor was a real treat!

A bit rusty but is solid. I'll have to patch up the frame rail top plates with some 16ga.

 

[Glenwood]

Cleaned up the spot welds and surface rust, along with a bit of hammer and dolly work to flatten out the mating lip. The air chisel does a good job separating the old pan but can twist things up a bit.

Fitting the new pan so I can mark up the frame location below. The fit is pretty good but the front lip has a slight gap. I'm thinking I'll have to pull the lips together and tack weld them before pulling the pan down to the frame to weld with some clecos I bought from the local aviation supply shop.

Enough for one day, time for a pint of Guinness!

 

[ckessel]

For sure remove the top and anything else that may get a hole in it from welding splatter. One of the guys from my old work had to buy a top for a Stang because he didn't protect the area with a welding blanket like I told him to.

 

[miller]

pan down to the frame to weld with some clecos

Hope it works out for ya. On my floorpan, I wanted to spot weld in the original locations, mainly on the frame. But, just getting it spotted into place, had the issue of the weld 'building' between the sheets. Lol, could have just been me! On the floorpan, located the needed spots, and drilled 1/4" holes to fill in. First couple, had to cut 'em back loose, to re-do.
I wound up drilling more holes...and used sheet metal screws/washers, to lock the pan down. Simply spot welded the nearby holes, before pulling those screws, and weld those.
Probably my weird way of doing things!

 

[Glenwood]

Looking underneath, the pan does hug the frame pretty good but I can see that if the pan is not pulled tight before welding, I'll have lots of headaches. I'm hoping clecos will work on this but I've never used them before and I'm not sure if they have enough spring tension to hold the pan down. They aren't very expensive so I thought I'd give it a try. Otherwise I may have to resort to self tapping screws like you did Miller. I was thinking of drilling 3/8 holes because 1/4" might fill in to quick before melting into the thick frame. Maybe a test piece is in order?
I'll try to finish the surface rust eradication and apply some POR today. I still have to patch the frame top plates and the rear pan needs a patch along the overlap. The rest of the rear pan is solid so I don't see the point of replacing this section.

 

[Superfreak]

Do you remember what I said in my first post?
Looking good.

 

[Glenwood]

Do you remember what I said in my first post?
Looking good.

I think it's safe to say I'm just about in full slide down the slippery slope now!
I just couldn't bring myself to re-assemble the interior knowing the floor needs attention. All the additional torque from the fresh 413 might be too much for a convertible with a poorly patched floor like this. Besides I was bored and needed a new challenge lol
The trunk was a surprise though but shouldn't be given everything else I've found so far. It'll cost me another grand to address the trunk but I'm glad I decided to check it out. Better now than later.
Now I'm starting to think a rotisserie is in order to clean up the underside. May end up repainting the whole car after all. Time will tell...

 

[threewood]

I tried Cleco pins on the parimeter of my floor pans with good success. However they were not strong enough to bring the pan down to the rails. I used self tapping screws in the middle with 5/16" holes and cheated the screws to the side to grab the edge of the hole because the heads were smaller. Weld between screws then go back and weld the holes the screws were in. I also used a body hammer in some stubborn spots lol.

Oh, mine also did not fit at the firewall lip. bend was wrong. I drilled for rosette welds and clamped the flanges together, then screwed the floor down to the rails and then rockers. Went back and spot welded the flange after I was happy with the fit.