rockersandfloors

DISCLAIMER: The procedures found in this section (bracing) were developed as
I went along. I am not a certified welder (heck I can barely turn the bloody
thing on ;-) ) and most of this work is being done by the seat of my pants. Use
this information at your own risk (now onto the fun part)

Step 2: The first incision. There is no turning back now.
Removing these braces required a dremel tool (to get in the
tight spots) a 3" cut-off wheel in a die grinder and a lot of
patience.The part that has been removed attaches to the
braces shown in the picuture and attach down at the floors. The
first pic is the passenger side, repeat for the drivers side

Step 3 (OPTIONAL): Finish removing the "B" pillar brace. I
debated long and hard about removing this piece. I've seen
people who have replaced the floors leaving the upper half of
the "B" pillar brace alone. However, they didn't have to replace
the inner rockers either. So, in the end, I've opted to remove
it so I have easier access to the rockers. There are lots of
spots and lots of patience required. The first pic are the spot
removed from the "B" pillar. Second pic is with the brace
removed. Repeat for drivers side

Step 4: As I've mentioned before, I'm flying by the seat of my
pants here. After looking at how the floor pans attach to the
rest of the shell, I originally did not want to mess with the pinch
weld betweent the floors and the toe boards. This steel was in
good (salvagable) shape with the exeption of the very corners by
the rockers. So, I've measured down 3" from the pinch weld
seam and am now ready to cut <shudders>

Step 5: I originally wanted to removed the floor pan as one
piece. This quickly fell to the wayside when I was unable to
get all the spot welds to break on the bracing. That right now
is my biggest problem, finding the center of the spot so they
drill out cleanly. WHAT A PAIN!! So, I cut along my tape line
and along the front brace and pulled the first section of the
floor out

Step 6: More of the same as step 5. I drilled out the spots
where the floor pan was welded to the rear seat pan, cut along
the front seat rear brace and pulled out the section

Step 7: As mentioned in step 4, I didn't want to mess around
with the pinch seam between the toe boards and the floor pan.
Well, after a discussion with the more than knowledgable folks on
Chevytalk.com, I was convinced that the correct way was to
remove the 3" of floor that I didn't cut out. This is the view
from the firewall looking towards the pinch weld. I found it was
easiest to use a 1/4" drill bit to punch thru the pinch weld, then
finish up the spot using a step drill bit. The step bit increased
diameters at 1/32" increments so I could control exactly how
much material was removed. Once all the spots were out, I went
from the inside of the shell, and used an air chisel (my new best
friend) to finish breaking up the seam. This 3" strip came out
cleanly with no damage to the toe board.

Step 7: Somewhere I also removed the rear seat pan, but appearently didnt' take
any picutures. Removing this pieces was a major pain in the butt. There are a
series of spots on a pinch weld inside the wheel house which are difficult to get to.
Again, I ended up cutting this piece out in sections

Step 8: With the floor pans and the rear seat pans removed,
the floor braces can come out. I took several measurements as
to their placement on the inner rocker. Again, the air chisel is
my best friend. I only removed the front brace and the two
intermediate braces in this step. Currently the rear tires are
off the car and jack stands under the rear axel. This is so I
can get at all the spots inside the wheel house. I want to get
the car back on its tires before removing any more structural
components.

Step 9: Removing the splash cover (don't know if that is the
correct name) from the rear area of the inner/outer rocker.
It is pretty straight forward, drill/grind out some spot welds
and out it comes. I need to repeat this for the drivers side.
Once that piece is out, I can put the car back on the tires
and finish removing the rear seat brace. In hind site (always
20/20) I probably should have pulled these pieces out first
and put the car back on its tires before removing the front
floor brace. Hopefully nothing has twisted <crosses fingers>

REFERENCE PIC: I have seen a lot of discussions revolving around
the "mystery piece" of sheet metal that resides between the
inner and out rockers. Many times, this piece is so rusted, there
isn't enough of it left to use as a template to fabricate a new
one. Well boys and girls, the mystery is about to be revealed!!
:-) It appears that with all the rust on my car, the one piece
that is still solid (go figure) is this inner piece. I'll post picutures
of the complete piece once I get it out. If I'm really ambitious
I'll do a 3d CAD drawing with dimensions.