The sheet dimensions before we started were three foot by four foot. I started
by cutting the sheet in half after determining that the widest bit I needed
was 24". If I'd only placed it right, it would have been perfect, but that's
another story:-) So the floor pan fabricated on the right is three feet long,
with 2" bent up at the near end for attachment to the cross frame member
under the seat, and 12" bent up on the far end, for under the pedals and
the wheel well. The wheel well bit is the trickiest part to replace because
it's a shaped piece with a gentle curve. I took the time to primer the bottom
of the floor pan before installing it, but I didn't remove the sheet metal
burrs, which I paid for in blood. It also turned out to be a mistake to cut
the wheel well repair out of the same sheet. The problem is that steel sheets
bend easy enough, but are very tough to stretch. In my compromise, I took
the sheet metal into the wheel well a little farther than I should have,
and the tire only clears by around an inch, though it's OK when I bounce
the car. It may turn into a problem with snow and ice accumulation if I don't
bash it in with a sledge hammer.
The new floor pan is being fit to the left. I beat the heck out of the curved
areas installing it for it sit down decently, which it eventually did.
Unfortunately, I positioned the whole thing about an inch too far to the
right, forgetting how close the margin was in the wheel well. Even more
unfortunately, I made some final cuts based on that position and screwed
it into place. The picture below shows the replacement floor pan, screwed
into place to the point where it starts running uphill under the dash. What
the picture doesn't show is that the bit in the wheel well is barely touching
the front quarter panel, where there should have been a one inch strip for
screwing. Now I'm going to have to fool around with adding a piece, and it's
a crummy place to have to work. When I did the passenger side, I was careful
to start installing sheet metal screws at one side of the new floor pan and
to slowly work my way across a line at a time.
The rebuilt wheel well above shows another example of not thinking ahead.
I shouldn't have painted the new floor pan when I knew I'd have to Bondo
it after - Bondo works better on bare metal. You can also see where I made
up the missing inch with an angled section I bent. There's no real structural
worries for the small patches, a couple screws and the Bondo should hold
them. The first video just shows the DeWalt jigsaw cutting through the sheet
metal like butter. The second video shows a real poor man's brake. I mean,
using the sheet itself as the the stand is pretty cheesy. The final video
shows bolting or screwing the floor pan in place, using #14 sheet metal screws
with a 3/16" pilot hole to secure the pan to the new subframe (1/12" steel
tubing). I took two videos of this, decided to show the one where I didn't
break the drill bit:-)
