Hi i am new to this forum and ive been poking arround for a week or so trying to find a detailed thread on floor pan removal +install but i cannot seem to find exactly what im looking for..

im pretty handy with body work and such and have all the necessary tools..
m acustomed to working on full frame cars for the exeption of my last project a 79 t\a that needed little floor repair and only two frame sections repaired\replaced .....

i reacently got a steal on an 86 z28 that has extensive floor damage but the frame is near mint condition (still unshure how that hapened lol) (ugh canadian cars suck for this)

my question is this on a unibody car in this case the 3rd gen camaros if i want to replace floor pans completly (i dont do ******* fixes) would one be better to weld braces on the frame rails prior to pulling the floor pans out or should it hold its self together if bracing in my opinion is always a good idea where would be good known spots to suport it ......

secondly if annyone remembers a good thread on this subject would you direct me to it please and thankyou....

I am already planning putting braces in the doors and such to prevent flexing because its a coupe z28 and im planing to cut the top off to install the T-top from an 84 berlinetta that i got with the z-28...

thank you for your input on this...

 

I'll be tackling the project this winter too.

I was planning on leveling the car on jackstands and just replacing one side at a time.

 

No bracing needed if you're doing one side at a time.

 

I would weld in brace bars between the doors, the floors are VERY structural, and when the pans are out the frame rails wil be allowed to flex if they want, ive seen soo many third gens in junk yards with the frame rails jammed up 3 to 4 inches

 

this is exactly what i was concerned about......ive personally never seen it but i thaught it was possible......i guess im gonna have to go in the garage and really think on how to brace the frame rails so they cant moove.....

 

I just complete both sides, full length, doing one at a time without any bracing and it turned out just fine. The tunnel and the rockers keep it square. Additional bracing is fine, but unnecessary.

 

Not to jack the thread.. but my newest project needs some floor attention too. It's not terrible, but I see opportunity in there. Seeing I need to yank the seats and carpet anyways, why not install some subframe connectors? I figure get a set of weld-ins that require 'cutting' on the floor, trim out the rest of the rust and then just patch gaps between the floor and the SFC.

 

What SFCs require cutting? But yeah, that's the very reason I haven't put in SFCs yet. No sense welding them to a rusty floorpan. I will be putting in UMI SFCs as soon as the seam sealer sets on the new floor pans.

 

I think it was a Comp Engineering one I was looking at Weld In Style. Said something about subframe modification as well IIRC.

 

Hap is correct, if you do one side and weld it all in then do the other there will be no flex. If you are worried and feel the need to brace things, tach some square stock under the car rail to rail on the front and back

 

thanks that probably is the best idea for me.....ive only inspected the floor from the underside i havent taken the interior out yet..i just finishing on stripping the donor berlinetta tonight.....i will get arround to taking the interior out this week end at some piont....im woried that shes rotten between the trans hump and the subframe but either way its gotta be done right ....