1976 Corvette replacement floor pans?
07-17-2007, 04:33 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
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1976 Corvette replacement floor pans?
Has anybody replaced your rusted out floor pans? How did the replacements fit?
07-17-2007, 11:32 PM
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I just replaced my floor pans this past week. Last week had a pro welder weld them in and he custom dropped the driver side so I could fit C5 Z06 seats in with stock C5 brackets. I got mine from Eckler's.
Welder said they fit really good, and if I wasnt so dang tall he would have had an easier job (got him to drop the rear of the floor pan on the driver side). Just got done POR-15ing the floor pan's top and bottom and whole birdcage.... I will post some pics tomorrow if you guys want.
Welder said they fit really good, and if I wasnt so dang tall he would have had an easier job (got him to drop the rear of the floor pan on the driver side). Just got done POR-15ing the floor pan's top and bottom and whole birdcage.... I will post some pics tomorrow if you guys want.
Last edited by vetteflsurfer; 07-21-2007 at 08:02 PM.
07-21-2007, 07:24 PM
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Here I will post them up in a few minutes... Sorry I forgot to post the pics. Have been busy working on the car... trying to make this thing daily driver for me in college...
07-21-2007, 07:56 PM
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The low down on replacing floorpans...
Alright, just for reference my car is a 1976 Stingray. When I got it the floorpans were rusted out severely from sitting from 9 years and the windows not seating against the weather stripping....
What you are going to need.
A MIG welding unit (or a reputable welder or sheet metal shop who is experienced in sheet metal work)
New Floorpans (I got some that fit great from Eckler's)
Some cutoff wheels or a plasma cutter
A dremel tool and some miniature cutoff wheels
Some seam caulking.
Step 1. Remove the metal door sills
Step 2. You are going to have to cut out the fiberglass door sills that go over the rocker channels. Use a dremel tool and mark your cuts. Here is a picture of where to cut. These are pictures I just took from the passenger side, close up so you could see where and how to cut.
Here is how mine looked, definitely in bad shape:
Here is a picture is of the rear of the fiberglass rocker channel and where to cut, its pretty much a straight cut. Leave yourself a little room to fiberglass it back in.
Here's a picture of the front of the fiberglass part and where to cut, you have to make a 90 degree cut to be able to weld in the floor pan.
Thats pretty much it to get it to where you can cut it out and weld the new ones back in.
Here are mine after welding and POR-15. Beautiful if you ask me.
Edit: note in the above pic on the driver side rear you can make out the two layers of welds to drop the rear of the floor pan. More on the reason I did this later....
After welding you are going to need to seam caulk the front of the floorpan and maybe install screws. Luckily the welder I had do mine was a super nice guy and did all this for me and also fit the C5 seats and welded in some nuts for them to mount to.
Note: Be careful welding and cutting, the fuel lines run along the inner side of the frame rail on the passenger side, and the brake lines to the rear brakes run along the inner side of the frame rail on the driver side. So either take them out and replace them, or be sure not to cut them when removing the old floor pans. When welding the new floor pans back in be sure to shield them if you don't remove them.
Also if you don't weld ask around for a reputable welder, I toyed around about teaching myself to weld and figured that what I will be sitting on is not the first big project I should tackle as a novice welder.
Also when welding, think about if you want to put in new seats, since I decided to put in C5 seats and retain the power seat feature, my head stuck about 6" past the T top center piece, so I had my welder drop down the driver side floor pan just in the rear to accommodate.
Feel free to pm me with any questions or comments. I hope this post is helpful and informative. I wish a thread like this existed when I went to do mine. I posted a few questions and would have never been able to do this without some great pm's and very informative responses from the wonderful people of the Corvette Forum.
What you are going to need.
A MIG welding unit (or a reputable welder or sheet metal shop who is experienced in sheet metal work)
New Floorpans (I got some that fit great from Eckler's)
Some cutoff wheels or a plasma cutter
A dremel tool and some miniature cutoff wheels
Some seam caulking.
Step 1. Remove the metal door sills
Step 2. You are going to have to cut out the fiberglass door sills that go over the rocker channels. Use a dremel tool and mark your cuts. Here is a picture of where to cut. These are pictures I just took from the passenger side, close up so you could see where and how to cut.
Here is how mine looked, definitely in bad shape:
Here is a picture is of the rear of the fiberglass rocker channel and where to cut, its pretty much a straight cut. Leave yourself a little room to fiberglass it back in.
Here's a picture of the front of the fiberglass part and where to cut, you have to make a 90 degree cut to be able to weld in the floor pan.
Thats pretty much it to get it to where you can cut it out and weld the new ones back in.
Here are mine after welding and POR-15. Beautiful if you ask me.
Edit: note in the above pic on the driver side rear you can make out the two layers of welds to drop the rear of the floor pan. More on the reason I did this later....
After welding you are going to need to seam caulk the front of the floorpan and maybe install screws. Luckily the welder I had do mine was a super nice guy and did all this for me and also fit the C5 seats and welded in some nuts for them to mount to.
Note: Be careful welding and cutting, the fuel lines run along the inner side of the frame rail on the passenger side, and the brake lines to the rear brakes run along the inner side of the frame rail on the driver side. So either take them out and replace them, or be sure not to cut them when removing the old floor pans. When welding the new floor pans back in be sure to shield them if you don't remove them.
Also if you don't weld ask around for a reputable welder, I toyed around about teaching myself to weld and figured that what I will be sitting on is not the first big project I should tackle as a novice welder.
Also when welding, think about if you want to put in new seats, since I decided to put in C5 seats and retain the power seat feature, my head stuck about 6" past the T top center piece, so I had my welder drop down the driver side floor pan just in the rear to accommodate.
Feel free to pm me with any questions or comments. I hope this post is helpful and informative. I wish a thread like this existed when I went to do mine. I posted a few questions and would have never been able to do this without some great pm's and very informative responses from the wonderful people of the Corvette Forum.
Last edited by vetteflsurfer; 07-21-2007 at 08:05 PM.
07-24-2007, 09:22 AM
#11
Le Mans Master
Good info above. I do a similar approach.
--------------
The old floor pans are cut out, then replacements will be trimmed and welded into place. The pans are spot welded and riveted in place. These will both have to be drilled out. Once trimmed and test fit, the new pans will be spot welded in and riveted to the fiberglass toeboards as were the originals.
Final trimming and fitting of the floor pans. A plasma cutter comes in very handy here but a Sawzall works just as well.
After spot welding seam sealer is used followed up by primer and undercoating. The front toe-board area is re-riveted and also sealed off.
Looks better than it ever did when it left the factory, as well as stronger.
--------------
The old floor pans are cut out, then replacements will be trimmed and welded into place. The pans are spot welded and riveted in place. These will both have to be drilled out. Once trimmed and test fit, the new pans will be spot welded in and riveted to the fiberglass toeboards as were the originals.
Final trimming and fitting of the floor pans. A plasma cutter comes in very handy here but a Sawzall works just as well.
After spot welding seam sealer is used followed up by primer and undercoating. The front toe-board area is re-riveted and also sealed off.
Looks better than it ever did when it left the factory, as well as stronger.
07-24-2007, 03:37 PM
#12
Le Mans Master
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78Vettesa,
Great story and photos.
Great story and photos.
