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Thread: Replacing floor boards, firewall & welding exhaust

  1. #11
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    Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate the feedback

    Re the condition of the floor. I just know the floor is rusted through under where the rear seat cushion is located, on either side of the tunnel. If memory serves me, its about 2-3" wide or so. I would assume that whole area has an issue, but really never looked to deep into it...just knew that it would need to be addressed. SO to sum up, I just know I have a bad section of floor and not sure how much other rust I might have (floor wise).

    Re firewall condition - outside of the peeling paint, it doesn't have rust. Its in good shape, just looks ugly.

    Rustaddict brings up good point that I did not really think of. The rear post is just anchored to the floor.

    Thanks for the welding tips Laszlo & Rick_L. I wanted to weld the seam of my 2 piece frame, so that would give me some practice welding so I can move onto practicing welding thinner metal.

    After reading I'm feeling a bit encouraged to try to tackle this.

    Love to hear more opinions, ideas, thoughts
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4 dr hardtop Bel Air Sierra Gold/Adobe Beige - Purchased July 5th, 2013
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4dr sedan 210 Larkspur Blue/India Ivory Sedan - Purchased Aug 6th, 2012 (not running)
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4dr sedan Bel Air Canyon Coral/India Ivory Sedan - Purchased June 30th, 2013 (not running)
    - 2017 Chevrolet SS Sedan - LS3 - TR6060 - Nightfall Grey Metallic - Purchased April 2017

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by 55chevysedanX4 View Post
    I would sandblast the floors first to see the extent of the true damage. If it is anything like mine it might look good until blasted then you could have a Swiss cheese floor which would require more than a patch here and there. If you do the full floor brace the heck out of the body before removing the floor. Ask me how I know. Then raise the body up after bracing and cutting out floor and mount the new floor to the frame and move it back under the body and reassemble. I would probably do the floor before anything else. Good luck.
    Thanks for the tips. being a 4DHT, I'm sure its one of the most flexible bodies outside of the convertible...
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4 dr hardtop Bel Air Sierra Gold/Adobe Beige - Purchased July 5th, 2013
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4dr sedan 210 Larkspur Blue/India Ivory Sedan - Purchased Aug 6th, 2012 (not running)
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4dr sedan Bel Air Canyon Coral/India Ivory Sedan - Purchased June 30th, 2013 (not running)
    - 2017 Chevrolet SS Sedan - LS3 - TR6060 - Nightfall Grey Metallic - Purchased April 2017

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rustaddict View Post
    I'd think the most challenging part of putting a new one piece floor in a 4 door hard top would be getting the rear door mounting post back in the correct position.
    I would say that is the importance of leaving the doors on and supporting the heck out of the body with bracing to insure it is going to go back together the way that it came apart.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by hurddawg View Post

    Firewall wise, I'm really interested in one of these...
    http://realdealsteel.com/i-20900998-...-firewall.html
    http://realdealsteel.com/i-20145067-...-firewall.html


    What's everyone's thoughts/suggestions?

    For what its worth, I looked into Real Deal Steel sheetmetal before I purchased my Goldenstar floorpan. The guy I purchased my sheetmetal from told me that the Real Deal Steel stuff is just re-badged Goldenstar stuff (and Goldenstar is really just Muscle Car GT parts).

    The RDS floorpan was ~$300 more than what I could buy the Goldenstar floorpan for locally (749 out the door). I also noticed the RDS stuff is shown in bare metal on the site, but delivered in black EDP coating (leading me to believe it was shipped from overseas). In addition he cut me a deal on outer rockers and various other parts for buying them all from him.

    I can't 100% confirm this to be true, but I would look around before spending extra $$$ on the same product.

    Maybe someone here has gone further down this rabbit hole than myself and can chime in here?

  5. #15
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    I think you're correct on all of the above, though I'm not familiar with "Muscle Car GT". Regardless, it's all the same parts from the same tooling, and it's imported from Taiwan.

    The Golden Star floor has been the best choice for a while. And with EMI getting out of the body panel business, they're the only game in town unless someone starts building panels from the old EMI tooling. CARS Inc. was rumored to be doing that, but I haven't seen any confirmation that they are actually building and shipping.

  6. #16
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    Randy (RDS) has maintained that prior to paint (priming) he removes the coating.Most panels many would agree that is the best approach.Floor boards I guess would be subjective for the builder on coatings removal.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by 56Safari View Post
    For what its worth, I looked into Real Deal Steel sheetmetal before I purchased my Goldenstar floorpan. The guy I purchased my sheetmetal from told me that the Real Deal Steel stuff is just re-badged Goldenstar stuff (and Goldenstar is really just Muscle Car GT parts).

    The RDS floorpan was ~$300 more than what I could buy the Goldenstar floorpan for locally (749 out the door). I also noticed the RDS stuff is shown in bare metal on the site, but delivered in black EDP coating (leading me to believe it was shipped from overseas). In addition he cut me a deal on outer rockers and various other parts for buying them all from him.

    I can't 100% confirm this to be true, but I would look around before spending extra $$$ on the same product.

    Maybe someone here has gone further down this rabbit hole than myself and can chime in here?
    Thanks for the tip, I searched around and found a place called Classic 2 Current and picked up the goldenstar floor pan for about $1k shipped after a coupon. I was going to hold off, but too good to pass up. I was surprised to find that the 4 door hardtop seems to have the most expensive floorpan!

    Wondering if anyone thought I was crazy to try this with my current skill level? In the meantime I've read up / watched some videos on butt welding and how to weld sheet metal. Still need to try practicing though. As Rick suggested, I plan on testing out my hand by trying to repair one of my front fenders as it has started to rust & bubble on the lower part of it before I jump in on the floor. But even before that, I need to work on the frame. So just academic for the moment.

    As mentioned before, I'll have to get the body blasted. I'm pretty sure toe boards, rockers, etc are good, but never know until its checked out.
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4 dr hardtop Bel Air Sierra Gold/Adobe Beige - Purchased July 5th, 2013
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4dr sedan 210 Larkspur Blue/India Ivory Sedan - Purchased Aug 6th, 2012 (not running)
    - 1957 Chevrolet 4dr sedan Bel Air Canyon Coral/India Ivory Sedan - Purchased June 30th, 2013 (not running)
    - 2017 Chevrolet SS Sedan - LS3 - TR6060 - Nightfall Grey Metallic - Purchased April 2017

  8. #18
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hurddawg View Post
    Still need to try practicing though. As Rick suggested, I plan on testing out my hand by trying to repair one of my front fenders as it has started to rust & bubble on the lower part of it before I jump in on the floor.
    I wouldn't jump into the fender repair until you were good at making welds on scraps of sheetmetal, 19 or 20 gauge. Welding take practice so you should try doing a lot of it before tackling the car.

    As mentioned before, I'll have to get the body blasted.
    Be careful with blasting a body. IMO I wouldn't let sand touch anything but the window and door openings, and anything with a lot of structure. Sand, even fine sand, can easily warp flat panels. And it doesn't take much to do it.

    If you soda blast the body, you can cause paint adhesion problems. Everything has its downside, it seems.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


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  9. #19
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    In my 'younger' years I sandblasted several complete bodies without damage using my TIP 99'er pressure blaster. I always chose DRY days (not too humid which is difficult in Alabama) and did the work during warm/hot daylight hours. Once blasted the body needs to cleaned of the sand, metal prepped, dried, and protected (epoxy primer is currently the best for bare metal). I don't think my 'old' body could stand up to the 6, 7 or 8 it would take to do a complete body today. PS. When I did this, I would strip every removable part from the body hull. Do the stripped body hull one day, and the fenders, doors, hood, etc on a separate day to make sure you can get the freshly sandblasted parts cleaned and protected before nightfall and dampness/rust occurs.

    I think the KEYS to avoiding panel damage while sand blasting are:

    1) Do not exceed 85-100 psi or so on a pressure blaster and adjust so that you get effective but low sand flow thru the nozzle.

    2) Work the nozzle always at an angle (~ 45 deg) to the surface and not directly against the body (5-6 inches away seems to work for me and my system).

    3) Keep the nozzle MOVING .. if the rust is not removed the first pass, then come back to it, but do not dwell in one spot with the blaster.

    4) Understand that sandblasting at the pressure I'm speaking of quickly removes rust, but does NOT remove paint quickly! I suggest using a different method for removing any paint before the sandblasting operation. I have a large tank that I filled with a diluted sodium hydroxide which would accept full fenders and doors. that stripped the paint off quickly and cleanly!

    (I think to do the above, you do NOT want to use one of those huge high pressure compressors mounted on a trailer like are used in the commercial world )
    Last edited by BamaNomad; 03-28-2018 at 09:46 PM.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by hurddawg View Post

    Re the condition of the floor. I just know the floor is rusted through under where the rear seat cushion is located, on either side of the tunnel.

    Love to hear more opinions, ideas, thoughts
    You're not located in the rust belt, so it could be that the floor rust started on the inside of the car. Maybe a child wet his pants in the seat, or spilled a coke, both are acidic. I would suggest a thorogh inspection before tackling this.

    I agree with Laslo on not blasting any outer sheet metal.

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