Eric typed of his Spit:
>First: The reproduction parts won't fit due to frame modifications.
> Next week I am going to price sheet stainless.
How are you going to attach it to the existing sheet metal in the
tub? I'm not sure if you can weld SS to carbon steel; you might
need a particular grade of stainless, and special wire and shield
gas for your MIG. I'd stick with plain sheet steel.
>How much of the floorboard can you get away with removing?
>What are the limits?
Remove as much as you want. Sounds like you're doing a custom
floorpan anyway, so you could probably take out the whole thing.
I'd at least leave the lateral bracing between the footwell and seat
area. You can drill the spotwelds out of that, and then pull the whole
floorpan out front to back, rockers to driveshaft hump. You could even
pull out the hump if you want, but the shape adds rigidity to the pan.
>How strong (thick) is the metal that is used on these new floorboards?
I never mic'ed it, but I'd guess 22ga. You can measure it easily enough.
The one thing to remember is that all those beads add a considerable
amount of rigidity to the floorpan. You can get a panel beading machine
through the Eastwood Company.
>Do you place these on top of the nonrusted portion of the old floorboards
or do you have to hack out everything?
On my Spits, I'm going to cut the pan to make a butt joint with the existing
floorpan after all rot is removed. I'll put some tack welds around to hold
it in
place, and then seam weld it in.
Good luck,
Dave Williamson (silikal@aol.com) Spits in bits
"rust is a cancer"
|