# 64 Impala full floor pan



## plank (Mar 10, 2006)

I'm going to replace a full floor pan on a 64 vert. My frame is off and my door area has a brace kit that braces the doors and crosses for strength. The car is going to go on a rotesseri this weekend. I am wondering what tips or "How too's" or tools needed to get this job done. I will be buying the full piece pan with already welded braces and under rear seat section.

On getting the pan out I keep hearing abour seam filler and spot welds. Do I scrape the seam filler at the firewall and rockers and does it expose the spot welds. I have no problem spending time drilling spot welds to drop the entire pan. I dont want to just plasma cut the hell out of everything and make it look chunky or not properly align. I know I need to cut the seat hooks and put them on the new pan. Obviously I have access to a welder and a plasma cutter but what else do I need to aquire?

For the guys that have done this job before let me know what I need to do or watch out for.


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## plank (Mar 10, 2006)

anybody :dunno:


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## 64_EC_STYLE (Feb 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by plank_@Feb 18 2010, 11:06 PM~16656399
> *anybody  :dunno:
> *



Just as a suggestion(it was easier for me) to buy the floor pan in pieces and weld it together like a puzzle.

I believe you might have to "stretch" or cut to the rockers out to get the one piece in from the bottom of the car. I might be wrong but thats what ive heard about the one piece floor pans. 

You may be able to cut out the section that ties the pans from the door jamb to the pan, position and tack it in the car, then reweld the piece you cut out(its like a 2" section that fills the gap from the actual floor pan to the inside of the door jambs)

I did in my rag, check out my topic in my link, and several other guys have done it on this site. Check out project rides

IMO if you haven't bought it already, to go ahead and buy the floor pans and braces in separate pieces


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## plank (Mar 10, 2006)

Thanks for the tip and I have been hearing a lot about the one piece not fitting easy. How did you get your old floor out. Im going to replace the whole floor including the braces and underseat pan? Im wondering about the drilling spot welds I hear about.


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## tko_818 (Nov 4, 2009)

Believe it or not, it's super easy to do homie. I was intimidated so i thought about doing it for months, but one day i said screw it and jumped right into it and it turned out fine. I did the whole thing job with an electric grinder, a scraper, a drill with drill bits, a crow bar and my welder. obviously you have to factor in how much of your floor pan to cut so the new one will drop in easier, and markit. Then i used the scraper to take off as much seam sealer as possible, which cleaned it up but still leaves a mess. I then took the gringer, and used it at a 25 dgree angle against the remaning seam sealer to remove it. obviously when you lightly grind metal away, the metal will turn a bright silver color but the spot weld will stay black and crappy, so with this technique you can find the spot welds easily. under all that seam sealer. after wards you drill out the spot weld, get that crow bar working if you need to to pry the pan apart from the body. 

What i did to make it easier was that i cut the rear of the floor pan to make it a 2 piece job. theres a very clear line where the floor pan and the back seat floor pan meet, and thats an awesome seam to cut the pan into twoi have heard that its unnessary, but it made it easier for me. then just test fit, trim as nesscessary and weld in! i put welds every inch or so. it maybe overkill, but that suckers never moving. then just hit it with the seam sealer. 

Heres a tip, some times you get the pan in and parts of it doesnt lay flat onto the metal that you ging to be welding. (repo shit never fits right :angry: ) so if you have a corner that wont stay down even though everything is fitted right, grap a 2 inch screw and pin that corner down, then weld and remove the screw. makes it super easy to get those stubborn ends down. 

Like i said, dont be intimidated home. hit that car with the scraper n grinder, its impossible to mess that up. then start drilling out you welds, which is also easy, just tedious. once you get that far, you will be confident in finishing! i hope you got something out of this novel :biggrin: lemme know if you have any questions :thumbsup:


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## Maximus1959 (Sep 4, 2007)

Just follow the spot welds. The easy way to break them is with a plasma cutter, but a drill with 1/4" bit will work fine. Drilling them out take 3 times longer. Rent a plasma cutter for a day and it will be worth the money.

Once you drill out all the original spot welds, you will need to use either a plasma cutter or grinder with a cutting wheel to cut the braces away from the car undernealth. Make sure you have completely removed everything before moving forward. If you try and short cut it, you will spend more time in the end screwing with it to try and get it to fit right.

Remove the old pan, and take a grinder with 40 grit sanding disc and clean all the areas where you have worked. Make sure you get all the rust and have fresh bare metal showing. If you don't then when you go to weld, it won't adhere to rust.

Test fit you new pan. You are supposed to be able to just drop the pan into place and weld it in. The reality is, that you will mostlikely have to trim away some of the pan on the outer areas to get it too fit properly. You may also have to take a grinder with a cutting wheel and cut a slit here and there to remove stress within the pan. If you do have to, don't worry. Once you get the pan finished, you can go back and weld those areas closed and grind down the welds.

The biggest mistake people make is trying to weld from the outside in. Work from the inside out, and trim any excess towards the end. If you don't, you will mostlikely end up with a binded up floor with a hump in the middle. Then you will have even more trouble trying to get your seats installed and carpet to lay correctly.

Go online and buy a set of KLECKOS w/PINS (50 pin minimum). You drill a hole and insert a Klecko pin in the hole. The pin holds the metal in place. Work from the inside out and place the pins every 5-7 inches. Once you get the entire pan pinned down, then remove one pin at a time and insert weld in its place. Eventually you will want to go back and drill a hole in between pins and weld down the pan. That should be the last thing you do.

I have done alot of these pans and made my share of mistakes. The last pan I did with a Hotrod fabricator, who showed me the CORRECT way to do them without hacking them into place. Take your time or you will spend more time in the end.

Seam seal it and your done.


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## 64_EC_STYLE (Feb 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by plank_@Feb 19 2010, 01:36 AM~16658367
> *Thanks for the tip and I have been hearing a lot about the one piece not fitting easy.  How did you get your old floor out.  Im going to replace the whole floor including the braces and underseat pan?  Im wondering about the drilling spot welds I hear about.
> *


I replaced all of my braces and everything too. I braced the body, then i took a sawzall to it, then used an air chisel to remove the perimeter of the left over floor board to cut out the spot welds, then used the grinder to clean all of the edges up.

Either way you'll spend the same amount of time. With the full piece you'll spend the time fitting it all in, as with the separate pieces you spend the time welding it all together, then cleaning up the welds, and seam seal

So it depends on which way you want to go


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## sand1 (Jul 14, 2008)

i cut mine in 3 pieces and replaced the whole pan and rocer panels from a donor hopefully u have some metal working skills because when that door gap closes or opens thats when the fun begins jus a lil tip have a porta power close by :biggrin:


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## plank (Mar 10, 2006)

Anybody know how to get this 1 piece in. I got the floor and it's damn heavy and big. Most say from the bottom but no one tells the secret to get it in. Do I tip it sideways, or remove a wheel house brace ??? Its a rag so I got the conv rack braces in my way from the top and the dash so I know I cant drop it in from the top. Also when I drill my spot welds on the rocker pannel on the lower part by the frame do I go outside in or inside out. Looks like drill bit will be at angle if i go inside out.

Thanks


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## Maximus1959 (Sep 4, 2007)

read my old post above. since you have a vert you should brace the doors.


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## plank (Mar 10, 2006)

Yep- my doors are braced. I have a brace kit that two bars on the doors (one bar goeas strait and the other angles down in the door opening) and the two cross bars that cross over the floor pan to each side from above so that sucker isn't moving. It's one of those kits from the guys that make rotesseries and body carts on here. I read your post and it sounds like you drop it in from the top. Is that right??? What about the metal brackets for the convertible top. They look like they would get in the way.

I'm going to do my grinding this weekend to get to bare metal. Would posting pics help??


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## maddogg20/20 (Feb 11, 2007)

What I would do is get the door gaps close to perfect, tack the doors shut, brace the shit out of the body, cut the entire floor out, lift off the body, remove whats left of the old floor, bolt the new floor down onto the frame, drop the body back down ontop of it, weld it back together as much as you can from the top/inside, take the body off again, and then put it on a rotisserie for the final work.


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## plank (Mar 10, 2006)

On the spot welds, do I drill out the spot welds on the rocker below the door. like the metal facing out from the car (the back side of the braces or do I leave that alone). The one piece I have has the braces already welded on and look like I need to drill it. It looks like it would leave a lot of holes when looken at the car from the underneath side. Are most of the spot welds on the inside of the car or underneath because I see a shit load underneath like at the firewall tranny tunnel.


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## DrPhilMadeMeDoIt (Mar 31, 2005)

I just did this shit the other day homie...I tried step bits, 1/4 drill bits, and spot weld cutter. I said fuck it and went to lowes bought the $20 air chisel and went to fuckin town on them, then cut the braces at the rockers and called it a day. I'll post the pics tomorrow in my topic.


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