I'm working on this one right now.
It's a '64 Daytona Wagonaire, originally a U.S. car, lo these many years ago. I have had it for 15 years or more, and it moved me and my belongings from Calgary to my present home in Trochu. And I did move a fridge (and a welding outfit) standing upright with the roof slid open. It has been sitting unused for 8 years or more, now. I moved it a couple of weeks ago to facilitate work on the house, and decided it might be time to pay a little attention to it. The carpeting was all full of mouse droppings, so I dragged the carpets out, and burned them in the burning barrel. I washed the floor out Saturday with the pressure washer, and left it all day Sunday to dry. Two rain showers didn't help that very much. Late this afternoon, after doing a nasty little job on my Suburban, I got into the floor repair, picking up where I'd left off, some 10 years ago. On the passenger side, I had already renewed a 4" wide strip of metal all along the door sill area, from pillar to pillar, and had made a start on the bolt pocket at the base of the "A" pillar. There was a big, roughly triangular hole bounded on the front by the diagonal strut running from the batwing crossmember to the chassis bolt forward of the front seat, on the outer side by the aforementioned strip of new metal, and on the rear by the sub-floor reinforcement plate for the forward seat mounting bolt. The rear side of this hole had a number of doglegs in it.
I laid piece of fairly thick sheet steel over the hole, and from below, I traced the outline of the hole with a Sharpie marker. Then I flipped it over, and traced about a quarter-inch overlap allowance. I then cut along that line with air and hand shears to make my patch panel. Since it was a large hole, and since I was putting down basically flat steel, I decided a stiffening rib was in order, so I cut a piece of hat channel stock (I have a supply I had made at a sheet metal shop.) to run from near the inboard end of the diagonal floor strut to just beyond the rear outer corner of the hole. I welded this in place, with its flanges flush with the top of metal surrounding the hole. I then laid the patch in place, and traced the outline of the hat channel on its underside, and took it to the drill press, and drilled two rows of holes for plug welds to attach it to the hat channel.
Setting the patch panel in place, I first welded it to the middle of the hat channel, and then started welding around the perimeter. Where I had to hammer it down, to fit irregularities in the floor, I put a hydraulic bottle jack under the floor area undergoing work, to provide an anvil to hammer upon.
This patch panel is now fully welded in from the top. I can stand on it, and it doesn't give or oilcan; feels rock-solid. I'll put a few welds on the underside, but overhead welding is no fun, so there won't be many.
I plan to carry on in the same fashion, doing the remainder of the passenger side floor, and the front floor on the driver's side. That will be a little more work, as the base of the "A" pillar there is very bad. But it's not flopping loose, and the door still closes fine, so all I have to do is form replacement sections for the pillar and weld them in place.
The brakes are down on the car, so once the floor is dealt with, I'll do what I have to do to make them work; bleeding at the very least, I guess.
This Wagonaire has a 259 with WCFB carburetor, and a Flightomatic. Tranny works fine. The engine runs smoothly, but it's tired. Oil pressure is low, and it burns oil, using quite a lot a highway speeds. It seems to be pumping a lot of oil past the rocker arms, and filling the valve covers, then, burning it past the guides. I'm sure it could use a set of rings and rod bearings, if not a full rebuild. It's a full-flow engine, BTW, and it has Silvertone dual stainless exhausts, with a pair of glass-pack mufflers. Sounds real fine, too.
The front doors are pretty rotten in
It's a '64 Daytona Wagonaire, originally a U.S. car, lo these many years ago. I have had it for 15 years or more, and it moved me and my belongings from Calgary to my present home in Trochu. And I did move a fridge (and a welding outfit) standing upright with the roof slid open. It has been sitting unused for 8 years or more, now. I moved it a couple of weeks ago to facilitate work on the house, and decided it might be time to pay a little attention to it. The carpeting was all full of mouse droppings, so I dragged the carpets out, and burned them in the burning barrel. I washed the floor out Saturday with the pressure washer, and left it all day Sunday to dry. Two rain showers didn't help that very much. Late this afternoon, after doing a nasty little job on my Suburban, I got into the floor repair, picking up where I'd left off, some 10 years ago. On the passenger side, I had already renewed a 4" wide strip of metal all along the door sill area, from pillar to pillar, and had made a start on the bolt pocket at the base of the "A" pillar. There was a big, roughly triangular hole bounded on the front by the diagonal strut running from the batwing crossmember to the chassis bolt forward of the front seat, on the outer side by the aforementioned strip of new metal, and on the rear by the sub-floor reinforcement plate for the forward seat mounting bolt. The rear side of this hole had a number of doglegs in it.
I laid piece of fairly thick sheet steel over the hole, and from below, I traced the outline of the hole with a Sharpie marker. Then I flipped it over, and traced about a quarter-inch overlap allowance. I then cut along that line with air and hand shears to make my patch panel. Since it was a large hole, and since I was putting down basically flat steel, I decided a stiffening rib was in order, so I cut a piece of hat channel stock (I have a supply I had made at a sheet metal shop.) to run from near the inboard end of the diagonal floor strut to just beyond the rear outer corner of the hole. I welded this in place, with its flanges flush with the top of metal surrounding the hole. I then laid the patch in place, and traced the outline of the hat channel on its underside, and took it to the drill press, and drilled two rows of holes for plug welds to attach it to the hat channel.
Setting the patch panel in place, I first welded it to the middle of the hat channel, and then started welding around the perimeter. Where I had to hammer it down, to fit irregularities in the floor, I put a hydraulic bottle jack under the floor area undergoing work, to provide an anvil to hammer upon.
This patch panel is now fully welded in from the top. I can stand on it, and it doesn't give or oilcan; feels rock-solid. I'll put a few welds on the underside, but overhead welding is no fun, so there won't be many.
I plan to carry on in the same fashion, doing the remainder of the passenger side floor, and the front floor on the driver's side. That will be a little more work, as the base of the "A" pillar there is very bad. But it's not flopping loose, and the door still closes fine, so all I have to do is form replacement sections for the pillar and weld them in place.
The brakes are down on the car, so once the floor is dealt with, I'll do what I have to do to make them work; bleeding at the very least, I guess.
This Wagonaire has a 259 with WCFB carburetor, and a Flightomatic. Tranny works fine. The engine runs smoothly, but it's tired. Oil pressure is low, and it burns oil, using quite a lot a highway speeds. It seems to be pumping a lot of oil past the rocker arms, and filling the valve covers, then, burning it past the guides. I'm sure it could use a set of rings and rod bearings, if not a full rebuild. It's a full-flow engine, BTW, and it has Silvertone dual stainless exhausts, with a pair of glass-pack mufflers. Sounds real fine, too.
The front doors are pretty rotten in
We've got to quit saying, 
]
[8D]
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