1971 Challenger R/TThe beginning...
The work begins!
The engine
Before dismantling
More before shots
Rotisserie
Parts cleanup
Floor replace
Replacing the floor
The first 13 pictures show the damage to the floorboards, trunk floor, rear crossmember, quarter panels, wheel well, and left rear frame rail.
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The next 4 pictures are the shots I got of the replacement floorpan from my 1970 parts car. A small amount of surface rust, but it's in a lot better shape than the floorboards in the R/T. I think next time I try to remove sheetmetal from a car I'm going to look into a better spot weld cutter. Mine took forever to cut, even with oil and slow speeds.
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I've had this car for 4 1/2 years now, and up until this point, I had only been removing parts bolted onto the car. It was with great trepidation that I picked up the angle grinder. I then proceeded to remove the 4 speed hump from the car being careful not to cause further damage to it (I'll be using it again with the replacement floor).
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I've also marked the floor with magic marker to indicate where I'm going to make the cuts.
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Just as simple as that, the drivers floor is gone!
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Here marks the beginning of working on the car in the garage at the new house! Here's what we've got so far. This set of pictures show the replacement of the drivers floor. Keep in mind that this is my first time using a welder, so the first few welds aren't what you'd call pretty. :)
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On to the passenger floor! Just a small amount that needs work here. You'll notice that I'm painting it when I'm done. This is so that I don't get rust in the newly ground metal. I'll be sandblasting the entire car when all the welding work is done, so the paint doesn't have to be nice right now.
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Cutting more bad metal out and welding good metal in.
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Here's where things got dicey. The drivers rear frame rail was severely corroded and needed to be replaced. I had to cut that out and leave the other frame connectors intact. Meanwhile I had to do the exact opposite on the parts car. The whole operation went very well, and to save time I just left the floor pan attached to it.
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With everything else anchored in place, the rear floor pans are welded in.
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Just finishing up some of the welds on the bottom of the car. This also gives you an idea of just how much floor was replaced.
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