Floor pan DIY or not?

[TheCoroner]

Did my body mounts on my 66 malibu by myself with a 2x4 and a jack. Plenty of pb blaster and elbow grease. Had a couple come loose from cage, the captured nut, but other than that not as bad as I thought it would be. Cars ride height looks better. Had a couple that were missing. Rotted away. Also did a little cleanup on frame tops with wire wheel and sandblaster. Kinda tough when laying under car. And a coat of por15 while up. One side at a time. I would assume it's kinda the same procedure on a g body. Going to try on my sons 80 malibu. Good links mentioned earlier also

Your quite welcome. I've been looking at doing this too. So, I am happy to help. I was a bit reluctant to think I could do this either, but the team here is always happy to help. Once its explained, it doesn't sound so hard. There was a thread somewhere where someone used an engine hoist and raised the body from the trunk loop, and only kept the first two front frame bolts connected. It's just like everything else. You have to want to do it, and you have to want to do it right. Doing it right includes doing it safely.

You guys have all done a great job convincing me to do this. I've notified my better half, and we'll be pulling the engine and trans next spring, and the body is coming off right after.
I'm already into the bodywork further than I've ever gone on a vehicle, which is a bit of a challenge, so it only makes sense to make it more challenging. That's usually how I do things anyway.

Monte, I don't want to do it, but it needs to be done. I can put the $ it'd cost to have someone else pull the body into the drive train.
Doing it right is why I'm stripping down to bare metal. I don't want to do this either, but I don't want to have to redo everything down the road.
Safety is always my #1 concern. I'll be doing extensive research on supporting the body safely.

Id like to say I'll take pics and document the job from a newbie point of view, but I'm horrible with stopping to take pictures. I might have the girlfriend handle those duties if she's up for it.

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

If ya end up finding issues in the rockers when ya dig in also a good idea to to put a 2*4 between the door pillars start taking to much metal off at one time could loose the integrity of the body and once it's all done realize nothing bolts up right or aligns anymore just my 2 cents!

 

[Monte Cristo]

Monte, I don't want to do it, but it needs to be done. I can put the $ it'd cost to have someone else pull the body into the drive train.
Doing it right is why I'm stripping down to bare metal. I don't want to do this either, but I don't want to have to redo everything down the road.
Safety is always my #1 concern. I'll be doing extensive research on supporting the body safely.

We're in the same boat. I never was a body man either, but there are the issues of cost, and trust, and it really needs to be done on an old car. I rarely trust shops to do everything right. They do things fast, and then years later, the shortcuts show up, and things need to be redone. I like to add layers of redundancy for safety. So, I am considering having the having the lumber underneath AND using an engine hoist supporting the trunk loop as well. I may put something else under the car as well like a few cinderblocks on end for good measure. Keep me posted if you do this.

 

[Monte Cristo]

If ya end up finding issues in the rockers when ya dig in also a good idea to to put a 2*4 between the door pillars start taking to much metal off at one time could loose the integrity of the body and once it's all done realize nothing bolts up right or aligns anymore just my 2 cents!

So if the rockers are rusty, fix them first before raising the body? I assume you are suggesting putting the 2x4 in so it stands vertically for added support.

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

So if the rockers are rusty, fix them first before raising the body? I assume you are suggesting putting the 2x4 in so it stands vertically for added support.

Yes i would to the rockets first but what your wanting to do is use a peice of wood to basically put between the two door pillars to brace it while the rockets are off I'll see if I can get ya a picture of what I'm talking about but if the rockets are bad do those first so it will give ya a better idea if the floor panels are lined up straight or not.

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

So if the rockers are rusty, fix them first before raising the body? I assume you are suggesting putting the 2x4 in so it stands vertically for added support.

Yes i would to the rockers first but what your wanting to do is use a peice of wood to basically put between the two door pillars to brace it while the rockers are off I'll see if I can get ya a picture of what I'm talking about but if the rockers are bad do those first so it will give ya a better idea if the floor panels are lined up straight or not.

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

Yes i would to the rockers first but what your wanting to do is use a peice of wood to basically put between the two door pillars to brace it while the rockers are off I'll see if I can get ya a picture of what I'm talking about but if the rockers are bad do those first so it will give ya a better idea if the floor panels are lined up straight or not.

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

Don't have to be steel I've done it with wood just cut the wood to where ya can slide it in and it fits tight but this will keep the body from tweeting when the support from the rocker and floor are out so everything lines up like the day it rolled off the line!

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

You can do the rockers with the body off the car I would just brace it like in the picture before I cut anything out to keep it straight maybe take a level and get the body sitting level too before doing any cutting.

 

[TheCoroner]

You can do the rockers with the body off the car I would just brace it like in the picture before I cut anything out to keep it straight maybe take a level and get the body sitting level too before doing any cutting.

Great info, thanks for all that. My outer rockers are solid, the weld between inner and outer looks good, with it looking a little sketchy at the front, but nothing I'm concerned with, even at my skill level- or in this case, lack thereof.
I just have to get underneath to take a look at the inners. I keep getting sidetracked with disassembly, stripping, sanding, etching, and the like.

Today I was goofing around with the welder. I've discovered with poor technique that an arc welder works as a plasma cutter.