I need to replace the floor pan on my vert. The pan itself is really not that bad but the pinch weld on the rockers are expanded by rust. I can't really see anyway around it. A lot of braces etc. intersect at these pinch welds. It does not look feasible to try and just fix the pinch weld.

What I'm looking for help on is identifying all the pieces necessary to complete this patch. I don't have any "big" issues with the trunk so I'm going to keep the scope to just the floor pan.

Here is what I have come up with as a list of parts necessary to fix the floor pan. Missing anything? I will post some pics.

1967-1969 Convertible Floor "L" Brace Left Hand Side
1967-1969 Convertible Floor "L" Brace Right Hand Side
1967-1969 Convertible Floor Pan Brace Long Rear
1967-1969 Convertible Floor to Firewall Brace Left Hand Side
1967-1969 Convertible Floor to Firewall Brace Right Hand Side
1967-1969 Full Floor Pan One Piece
1967-1969 Seat Frame Floor Support LH
1967-1969 Seat Frame Floor Support RH

Thanks

Here is a link to the pics...

screw drivers mark the spots where there is a hole thru the floor at the pinch welds.

and more rust...

front brace

At least you have a twirler, I did mine off the floor and a buddy did his vert off the floor, hated the welding slag falling all over me. Really it's not to bad a job to change, did mine by myself in a couple days.

Classic Industries shows all the braces. Yes there are quite a few braces, they even sell the rockers for vert's too, even the body pan that bolts on is needed too. I did my pans a few years back and it took me about 2 months of working on it an hour every night during the winter. I took my time welding all the pans in and braces too the pans. Lot of work and it's well worth it. I also did it on the floor too, wish I had on a rotisserie.

Gus, just went thru this on my 69. I will tell you there is a lot of welding to be done for the verts. My floor did not come with the braces for the rear seat to floor area so I bought and welded in. Also I was not happy with the floor to firewall braces. They are not as thick as the originals.

Not too bad of a job but it took for ever and there is ton's of welding as you may know. Lots of messaging panels also.

Lastly there is a floor dip in the firewall seam on drivers side. My new floor pan did not match the contour so i had to cut this piece and dolly it down to fit the contour of the firewall seam area where it mated - then reweld it. What a pain that was.
Mark

Also forgot to mention that the brace that runs across the tunnel has an extra bump for the floor bumps in the floor pan. Trouble is, on my 69 the original brace did not have this bump because the floor tapered to flat and didn't need the bump in the brace. Just an example of the manufacturer not matching the original. I had to cut the bump in the brace and dolly down and reweld/grind. Another PITA.

I can forward pics if you wish?

Thanks for the info. I'm going to get a blaster this week and blast the body to confirm other panels/braces condition before I put in the final order.

howdy gus where exactly are you located thanks ron

I'm close to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and just south of the north pole. Too dam much snow this year so I have delayed the removal/installation of the floor pan until I can sand blast it outside in the spring.

Mark,
Sorry missed your message. Any pics you may have would be great to see!

Brian

Back to my floor pan issue...what if I got a donor car and use the entire floor from the donor car and cut and stitch into my car body?

Providing I can get a good original floor pan does it seem feasible? Labor will be less, cost of part higher though.

Do you know of anyone with 1st gen Firebird or Camaro that has done it?

I'd stay with a new one myself, I did my coupe and a buddy did his vert, not that bad of a job.

Just looking at other possible options. Are 67 vert floors identical to 68?

The inner rear wheel wells are different, but I believe the floor pans are the same. Just the holes for the single (or double) '67 rear traction bars.

Gus how are the braces under the car?
My floor was bad but my braces were good, just needed a floor pan and the brace on top of the floor for the front frame rail and the seat brackets.

You won't get the floor out on a vert without removing the brace welds where they meet the rockers. You would have so many holes in a used floor pan along the rockers and the rear frame rails. That would be way too much work. Go with a new pan. Like everyone is saying, it would be the better way to go IMO.

OK, you guys convinced me. I will get a sand blaster to expose the trouble areas of the body, prime it and then go after the floor removal. Gotta wait till spring run off. :((

I agree there were a lot of holes in the old and new pan.
lot of welding, pita.

The new floor pan comes in from the bottom correct?

I'm going to weld in some steel braces to hold the structure together before I cut the floor out.
Do you guys any pics of your braces? I'm hoping to be able to flip the car upside down for welding .... so I have to make sure the body stays together.

Floor pans generally go in from the top and overlay the rear frames and rockers. I don't know how you could do it from the bottom without a lot of extra cutting. Cross bracing the door jambs (both directions) is a good start. Are you keeping the trunk pan in, or doing a full floor-trunk pan in one piece? If everything I would think a LOT more bracing would be in store, especially if you plan to rotate. you won't have a flat plane (garage floor) to measure from.

X2. You have a rotisserie you bought not to long ago if I remember right. Nasty things can happen if it is rotated w/ o bracing.

Yes, I intend to brace. Trunk pan looks fine and rockers 96% ok (need some patchiing}.
How do you drop from top if you have it braced?

Very carefully. Generally take trunk pan and tail panel out and slide in from the rear. I read a post here about a year ago that someone said they got it in through the windshield frame, but I don't know how they pulled that one off. When we did the floor of my coupe, we braced and jacked level off the floor and installed from the top. Did the full trunk pan first, then did a large, partial floor. Never raised or flipped her though. It sounds nice, but tough to support and brace.

Bit of an odd ball. Rear Qtr's, trunk floor and tail pan excellent but rear inner and outer wheel wells have to be replaced.

It's a vert so no need to go thru windshield. Twisting and alignment is where I have to watch. Rockers and front firewall are strong. I will design the braces so I can remove and reattach after floor goes in I guess.

I think the windshield frame comment was due to the angle needed to get below the bracing or something. I don't recall pictures or any confimation that's how they ended up doing it.

Good luck. I don't envy the thought of going through that again.

Gus,

I put a brace in my vert in a square across door jam and across interior (across front of rear seat area and under the dashboard. I also anchored one side to the rocker with another brace as my quarter was off the car.

My car is on a rotisserie by the way.

I put my complete floor in from the bottom up. started underneath and slid forward to clear the rear frame rails and worked it in from there. A two man job for sure. Then all the jacking and bracing to get everything to lay flat before welding the frame rails and working my way forward.

I chose to put the braces in after the floor was in to get the proper fit and adjustments. There are many..

Haven't had time to post pics, but I will soon.

S E N D M E P I C T U R E S !!!!!

Because we need so many pieces (braces, floor, seat etc.), would it be better to use a spot welder like the factory?

Those little 240v spot welders you can get from Harbor Freight or eBay will only do 1/8" thick steel. That's two pieces of sheet metal. Need bigger baby! Maybe rent a 80amp?

Found a big spot welder, 90 amps. It will do 1/4". But it's stationary and big and expensive and ... forget about it.

I started with a 110v Mig welder and quickly learned I needed a better machine. This is my neighbor's who is helping me. We can mig weld with 250v or spot weld with a timer. Works well for my needs.



My bracing was in a square and tied into the rocker where I had removed the quarter panel. The welding is not so good but this was using my 110v welder before I learned how to use it.



this is how I tied the bracing into the rocker for the side that had no quarter panel.



this is the brace that needed modification. You can see the rib on the floor tapers to flat, but the Aftermarket brace has the notch for the rib. Maybe 68's are different, but my 69 original floor had a tapered rib and I had to cut the rib and flatten it out and reweld the brace flat.





this section I decided not to remove the brace as it was in perfect condition. I cut back and welded the seam along the rocker. Plug welded the brace back to the floor every 2 inches or so. Same as original. On the driver side I removed the brace to address some rot on the floor between the brace and the rocker, then re-welded the cut brace back on... good as new.



Here the floor is in along with all the floor bracing except the seat pans. I then sent the car out for media blasting and an epoxy primer 3M's DP90. That stuff is as tuff as nails. I added the seat pans afterwords since that was the easy part of the process. There will be some sanding and also a few spots of filler (Quantum 1) next along with seam sealer.



My wheel well inners had a small section of rot between the inner and the rear seat back weldment. Each of these are now being cut out and replaced with new material. There was originally some foam in between these parts that soaked up moisture and rotted the inner well. Again a small area but needed to be addressed.

Its taken me a long time as I only work on the car once per week for about 3 hours. It's more work than I signed up for, but thats what you will see the more to dive into the project.

Here is why I decided to replace the floor entirely. This was rust in between the rear seat brace (convertible only) and the floor sandwiched in between the brace and lower leaf spring mounting pad. By the time I would have removed the brace, and replaced the rear floor area, it would have looked like hell. I am going for no seams in any of my welding so it was better to start with new sheet metal. I also found swiss cheese underneath a plate someone previously added to the passenger side floor.

This is a shot of the rear wheel quarter area where they laid new metal over top of the old rotted metal. Oh Joy! All new metal will be used here.

I forgot to mention my hockey stick braces were a quarter inch too long. I had to cut the ends off and remove a small slice and then reweld the end back on to fit properly.

These are some of the things you may encounter along the way.

I just looked at the photos of the car on the rotisserie., if you have that much rust thru in the foot well area I would be willing to bet you have if not thru holes at the least thin metal on the fire wall area by the foot well. I did a few small patches and had to replicate the ribs in parallel on the pass side with new metal. I'll see if I have pics of that too. Hopefully your torque boxes are in good shape.

I also had some areas where the floor was rotted between the brace and rocker on the driver side.

The front fire wall connections and torque box look fine so far but I expect to find some holes in the inner rockers where the braces and floor are pinched welded.

Where did you get your floor pan? Dynacorn, Goodmark?

It was Dynacorn. I bought my floor and braces from The parts place inc. They are 45 mins from my house so I could go pick them up rather than pay for shipping.

They've treated me well over the years, others don't share my opinion though. I've always driven there to see what I'm buying first. I'll continue to use them for proximity. I've also bought from Tamraz and had good luck with them too for suspension parts for example. They are also local (1 hr. drive).

I will post more pics later I too had the rusted floor between the rocker and braces, but not to the extent you do.

Ready to weld the braces before I remove the floor pan. Got a couple of questions:

1. Read in a mag that the rockers on verts could be galvanized steel? My inner is rusted but not my outer.
Any truth to this?

2. I need to replace the inner and outer rear wheel wells but my quarters are fine. When should I replace
the wheel wells? Before floor removal, after floor removed but before reinstall or after reinstall of floor pan?

Thanks for your input...

1. Mine were galvanized. If you media blast you will lose that plating so sealing the car is a must.

2. I would tackle one at a time so that you don't over weaken the body. My 2 cents would be to do the floor first, then the inner & outer wheel wells. The rear trunk gutter and quarter adjoin on the bracing which is welded to the inner rocker, once you cut that out you will need to be sure you've braced that area to get the alignment right before putting the new ones in.

I also had to patch the inner wheel wells where the convertible back seat frame was welded but you are replacing those.

Dang , I was hoping to get away with doing the wheel wells first. I have to order the floor pan and braces first then. I have all the other parts.

I guess I will get the floor pan off and then I will know exactly what parts I will need..

Thanks