E17 installing a convertible floor pan, 1968 Pontiac Firebird

hey thanks for stopping with all vinyl village  garage again working on budget build bird maybe   that's the name i haven't decided they're not  quite there yet but uh nonetheless 68 firebird   convertible trying to get back up to driver status  that blowing the budget or breaking the bank   a lot of bees here so far um anyway gotta do  the floor pans i finally got the rocker panels   patched up toe boards patched up uh rear trunk  area patched up it's ready to finally go with the   exception of i need to install the convertible  bracing to the floor pan first that they're   bracing onto here first so that makes a lot easier  to do it out here so i'm gonna get that put on to   that and then we can put it into this big hole  in the car now if you have been watching much of   this the entire rocker panel on that side the  intercom panel was dead gone junk driver side   back here your corner not much better i'll  get you a close-up of that get you a quick   recap of where we're at and then we're gonna  drop one piece four panning today that's the plan now what i'm talking about when it comes  to convertible bracing is this thing here   i actually salvaged that off the original panel  they're actually in really nice shape surprisingly   but it needs to go on this first before i can  actually install it and a couple of side notes i'm   going to cut the hole out for the shifter lever  drill a couple holes for the console while it's   out it's a whole lot easier while it's out of the  car and then before we get really really carried   away i didn't take the rear spring mounts out i  have new nuts here for the systems to actually   hold the spring mounts in as you can see from  the previous video somehow they've got a bolt   through that thing it's not a stud so they will  have the factory style fasteners back in so i   have these i got to snap those in first weld our  panel in cut a couple holes drill a couple holes   i'm thinking about using the torch again for that  openings that's what they did from the factory but   they haven't decided but nonetheless  that's where we're gonna get started at   oh quick and uh one more thing 1968 firebird for  sale right here what you see mostly original metal   but a little bit of surface stress but i think  she'll come around if you work on a little bit   let me get you a little before shot this  is the bracing kind of laid in place   roughly the question sometimes becomes where does  this go in relationship front to back now there   really isn't any measurements that i've ever found  but i do notice on the actual floor pan there's   actually an indention there's a little change  in height here there's actually a pocket for   this row under right in and typically depending on  how true this opening is somewhere between eight   take a drop tape measure from here to here  eight to eighth and eight and a quarter   to the vertical phase here gets you really close  but for the most part now it's gotta lay in a   little pocket and clamp it in um the biggest thing  you gotta be concerned with is too far forward   you may interfere with the subframe but i can tell  you this will clear us from other convertibles   are set out and seems to work pretty good and a  little fun fact fyi i traced out because i had the   original panel where they use the torch to cut the  opening for the automatic shifter so still on the   fence whether i use a torch or actually cut that  out clean but from the factory i actually still   have that panel over here i actually used a torch  i've been i read about that but typically by the   time i get a car this is long since rusted out  hacked out four speed conversion or whatever so   normally i don't see an original panel that often  but you can see the slag when they actually torch   that out from the factory so enough that garbage  i think the next step is start in the center   and do the same thing use the screws and screw  the panels together and work from my center out   so i can get this thing drawn up tight and it'll  pull the sides in closer also so next step is get   the drill and the screw gun and get going now of  course for this procedure you don't need a couple   screws and screw this together so i recommend  getting a small bag of them here i go for   about 30 or 40 cars i found this bag on a piece of  equipment left over so it's destined for the scrap   pile and i said man that's gold in a bag so i'm  gonna use these up here put this thing together and save a few bucks on some screws wow so so show you some progress here the idea of starting  in the middle is pull it tight here centered now   the radiuses of the factory brace and  re-pop panel is not exactly spot on but   you can see it's pulling it up real tight to the  floor pan but starting in the middle allows me   because this pan wasn't even touching it's almost  a quarter inch off but started here drew about an   eighth inch headed here drew up the other eighth  inch close the gap and keep working it across   it's actually now laying down nice and tight all  the way out to the edge now the back back there   you can still see a heck of a gap between the  brace and the floor pan so same idea work my   way here in the center kind of draw it that way  and then keep working it down and pulling it to   the outside and i'll do the same thing back there  just want to get you a little progress here but uh   11 billion more screws to go all screwed  together now not that you want to watch but   every single last one of those screws in there but  interesting observation i've never been able to   recycle an original brace before typically they  are rusted out garbage so note the self i think   even though this is a nice amd stamping there's  just enough difference the front piece here   matched up nice i didn't take apart the  spot welds maybe that's the difference   but these rear pieces just as you can see don't  quite line up it's really tight against here   so it's not like i can move the panel this way  any further and not like i could position it   this way because the house had the same results  here in the back so i guess what i'm saying is   there must be enough discrepancy between a factory  floor pan amd factory braces etc all mixed again   it just doesn't quite line up so either next time  take it apart here or it's really not all that bad   i'm just kind of being critical but the line is  here you got a gap on this side so it still pulls   up tight to the floor pan but not exactly how i'd  like it to look but again i'm going to go ahead   and start doing all the plug welds on this i think  about standing it up on the wall kind of like   this because i'm kind of tired of being bent over  here put it up against the wall and start burning   together that way so i think i'll do my next  step get this stood up and start doing some plug   welding and i suppose you're gonna let the fun  begin but every single one of these holes every   single one of these screws and then some more you  need a plug we'll put in so this is probably gonna   take a lot of time but uh you'll see what it takes  to get things well together once this is done i'm   gonna find some help get that thing lowered  into the car so i can get the thing welded in um so okay here's what we got so far these are the  ones i've just completed 17 billion more to go   but the idea is to make it look like it's a  factory plug weld or spot weld i guess you could   say but these are the factory spot welds from  amd and you see it's kind of a little circular   indentation sending circular indents by time  you paint that and cover it all up with some   maybe even undercoating it actually looks  very correct or factory but unfortunately   i got a bunch more to go and i'm just going  to go ahead and get all those taken care of   and get some help onto the  next step all right all the   plug welding is all done all came out yeah  pretty good a few of them probably a little more okay plug welding is all finished and complete  quite a few account pretty decent now this isn't   a 100 point show car still want to look kind of  nice and put some uh good work back into the car   but i think the next step is put a little coat  of something something on there to keep it from   rusting or slow it down because it is bare  metal and then find a way to get it put down   inside there one last look of a flintstone power  68 firebird i did put some new body mount bushings   fit real nice in the frame unfortunately i just  haven't done any patchwork on that that was a   big added bonus on this one typically those are  rusted out in kind of bad shape but everything's   prepped in here ready to go one last look now i  gotta find a way to strong-arm that little thing   inside the car now the other thing  i've also done in prep for this are the   nuts here that actually hold the rear  uh spring leaf spring mounts there   so that will be updated and corrected now too so  next step get this thing in there now what i've   done i put a welding blanket on here to protect  that pristine finish of this uh really classic   car here the ideas may pick that thing up and kind  of slide it down into place so i guess here we go so so yeah it went gravity helped over the  last bit here next part good news is a   nice heavy welding blanket didn't do any  damage to beautiful paint on this car   that's kind of in here next step is go  ahead and get it to slid up into place   and tuck the resting on the firewall and  then i might just actually take a break so so so so so well it's laying in there sure looks a whole  lot better than that rusted madness that i have   a little bit of a gap there to make up but uh i  have to kind of make the assumption that old floor   pan rusting out this car didn't kind of go anyway  there's actually a measurement for that i have to   look it up and double check that but if not oh big  old ratchet strap you go around the whole car and   pull it together seems to work pretty good but i'm  gonna double check that measurement first but uh   looks really good but i think i'm gonna call it  quits for today got the fuller pan laying in there   now of course you've got several hours of horse  drilling and welding and getting in there but   as for first fitment i don't see reason to take it  back out and even though where the body mounts are   um if you can really see through there or not but  that metal bushing lines up dead center so i'm   gonna say that's a ready to go start putting this  thing in so i guess you'd like to see more videos   of this uh bird coming back together now i'm  actually sitting on the floor pan instead of the   concrete floor in my garage well please subscribe  check it out i've got quite a few more videos you   have to go to get this thing back to driver status  that's kind of the goal of this build without   breaking the bank but uh i think i'm going to call  it quits for today appreciate you following me on   this journey and then the next step is going  to be final fitment of this thing tweaking it   getting it put into place and some ratchet straps  come alongs whatever what not to get this thing go   back together but looking really good so i'm gonna  get out of here get cleaned up find something to   eat and i'm gonna take a break i think it's well  deserved because i made one heck of a heck of   chunk of progress on this thing and then i guess  i'll get back to it and we'll see you next time you

Channel: VVG Restoration Station

Views: 6,228

Keywords: 1965 mustang convertible floor pan replacement, 1967 firebird, 1968 firebird, 1968 pontiac firebird, 1969 firebird, Budget build, Budget restoration, Convertible floor pan, F body restoration, Floor pan replacement, Home built hot rod, camaro, chevy, firebird, floor pan, hot rod, pontiac, pontiac firebird, pontiac firebird trans am, pontiac gto, pontiac trans am, trans am

Id: CWzfB3g6YcY

Length: 17min 24sec (1044 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021