Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice Granny's Luxo-Muscle-Barge

[milner351]

flux core welder Scott or gas? Looks like gas but hard to tell. I agree - you'd be wise to add some welds between the spots.

I'm going to try to use a pipe and angle iron to put some corrugations in the sheet for the falcon floor fix.... could get interesting.

[Scott Liggett]

Miller Mig with gas. It doesn't flex at all. It's hard to see in the pics but the sheet isn't flat. I had to hammer down the edges and corners flush to weld it.

[SuperBuickGuy]

flux core welder Scott or gas? Looks like gas but hard to tell. I agree - you'd be wise to add some welds between the spots.

I'm going to try to use a pipe and angle iron to put some corrugations in the sheet for the falcon floor fix.... could get interesting.

John, you have a bearing press, why don't you use it for making seams? it's pretty simple to make a die with the items you listed

it's amazing how much the floorboard moves on a car with a full frame.

[Scott Liggett]

Here's a few pics I took with Yannick's camera. There was a support bracket under the floor I never noticed until I was getting ready to cut the floor. You can see a bit of it towards the seat. If you look at the trans crossmember's mounting bracket; you can see the TH350 bracket just in front of it. Not sure why GM would weld both brackets on a car with a TH400 trans.



We used the old floor bit we cut out as a templet for a new piece of metal. We cut the new piece 1/2 inch bigger on all sides.


I ground the remaining floor about an inch all the way around the hole I cut out to get good welds.

[squirrel]

This looks like the start of yet another good how-to!

H Not sure why GM would weld both brackets on a car with a TH400 trans.

It's easier than keeping track of which cars need which brackets. This was before computers were very useful, before just-in-time inventory, etc.

[Scott Liggett]

This looks like the start of yet another good how-to!




It's easier than keeping track of which cars need which brackets. This was before computers were very useful, before just-in-time inventory, etc.

It'll make the four speed conversion that much easier.

[Scott Liggett]

I got sick of the rear main leaking. Also, I'll be driving this one a lot more when I get to pulling apart the Impala. So, today I disconnected the motor mounts, exhaust pipes, drained the oil; then stuck a floor jack under the crank pulley and starting jacking.

Yeah, I was fooling myself that I could get that big block far enough off the motor mounts to get the oil pan out. I didn't. I need to get the motor about six inches off of them to get it out. Looks like I'll need an engine hoist and disconnect the trans.

[TheSilverBuick]

That's surprising. I've pulled the pan on the Centurion several times. Especially the first week I owned the car, when several bearings were spun and I thought I'd try and throw some new bearings in it.

[Scott Liggett]

Nope. The engine sits low on the cross member. The frame mounts are much shorter. So, the pan is barely 1 1/2" above the cross member.

[Bamfster]

I hate pulling the pan on anything still in the car ....