I know when I'm beat. Nice job.

I had my local metal bashers knock out some new inner rocker panels. The replacements ones are uninspiring and this is the main "frame" of the car. I need as much stiffness as I can get and with 12 ga (galvanized) instead of 14 ga (stock) these should be around 40% stiffer. They are also going to be about 25% heavier. I'm not really worried about weight that is low in the car to be honest. They fit perfectly by the way. So when the floor panel that I need gets in and I get it installed, these will replace the originals and I'll get that part of the bodywork done.

They do indeed look great. Nice pieces!

Beauty!

Starting to wrap up the floor mount pedal installation. I needed to get the sheet metal done this week, and it did take most of the week. I didn't take pictures of the various hammer forms and things as you've all seen that before (the parts are scattered around in the background of the photos). So we'll start sort of mid project. I know where the pedals will go and wanted to make a sheet metal enclosure that looks reminiscent of the original pedal box with nice rounded corners and some shape to the form. It will attach to the trans tunnel and then overlap the other areas like the original. I'll use lots of plug welds, I just don't see any point in trying to merge the panels.

I decided that I wanted to have a little embossed area where the bulkhead fittings pass through the panel. It will add stiffness and a little interest visually (for a part you won't see...I know ). So I made a little die and chased the outline with one of my rounded chisels to form this embossed area. In the picture, I'm just folding the curve at the top, the embossed area can be seen.



I then folded up the other bends that I needed. They all needed to have radiuses that I couldn't find so I had to hammer them. Results were great.



Had to play with where these curves were situated - a little work on the T-Dollie gets them perfect.



Then another hour or so of filing and fitting the end plates. and we get this.



Kind of how it will be mounted.



Just another shot. I'll weld it up and finish the seams and build the corners properly tomorrow.

Wow! She's a beauty!

All welded up and done. I used the "move fast" method. Here's a shot of the inside. 100% penetration. Nice.



A little metal finishing later and we're getting close.



Just have to finish off the corners nicely.

Like this.



Fits the pedals like this.



Next - the rear passenger side floor pan. It arrived pretty dented up. Flawed from the factory. I've got no time to send it back and get a better one - so I fixed it. Start.







There, that's better.







Then for the same treatment as the other side.



I just have to prep the flanges and get these parts welded in this week. Whew - that was a lot of work.

WOW, just wow...

Major hurdle out of the way, now you can get those frame horns worked out and it's one step closer to being a roller.

Thanks Jim - the insanity continues as I get the undercoating cleaned off and try to get the pans masked and primed before installation. I cleaned up the rest of the underside tonight. Ran out of varsol and rags!



Working towards that sure does feel good. I think I should probably finish up the rear install first just to get it all finalized (like weld that frame and scrape the rest of the back of the car and get the sheet metal fixed in the trunk) then move to the frame horns and the front of the car. I still have to take a week off in August - so this can happen before September. that's still the goal for now.

Midweek update. Lots of work to get the bottom of the car cleaned up and these pans fitted. Just a little more work needed on the flanges and some weld through primer/epoxy primer in various areas then they can be welded in for good.

It's Friday...lets see what got done.

I thought it would be a good idea to actually fit up the pedal box instead of just leaving it on my bench while I played with the floors. No time to weld the floors as I race this weekend - so I just had to keep moving.



That'll fit right in with a little sheet metal massage.



A bit of fettling at the bottom and we should be good to go on this side. Should still have lots of room at the top of the trans tunnel to get that widened out to fit the bell housing.



Full bump with a 245 section race tire.





Clearance looks fine to me. Not the best shot, as the wheel rides outside of the box...in the picture it looks tighter than it looks.



Still have a little trimming and fitting to do inside.

I have to work tonight or holidays are not going to happen, so I thought I would just put a few thoughts down and see what people think. This week has seen the footwell extension properly fit into the car and I've worked out (I think) how the pedal reinforcement plate gets attached to the frame member. Then it was onto how to fit the frame. The cross member is square to the inner sills but there are some fitment issues with my massively over-built out riggers. I made a jig that holds both frame rails exactly 25" apart and square so they can just slide back to the crossmember and I don't have to worry about the side to side (it's only 1/8" - so a little reinforcement takes care of the slack). That will see them at least marked when in place so I can cut a million plug weld holes in the floor boards.

I think the next step is to get these in place and welded in the car. I have to epoxy prime the footwell extension and the rear floor pans and these rails. Now, to get these rails installed, I have to finish off the front of the car as the front frame horns connect to these rails (I'm assuming that I've already got the rear floor pans welded in place - they're really first).

Then I can TIG up that entire new front clip and get it all welded in place and have, essentially, a rolling chassis. That's pretty damn exciting. I am taking a week off away from the car, then a week on the car ("Staycation"). Should be able to get the work done this weekend to make that an actual possibility.

Then I will strip the rear out of the car and weld up the sub-frame and get some sheet metal in place.

Sound like a plan? I know I'm missing something (aside from engine and trans). What is it?

Do you need to worry about pinion angle for the driveshaft when you're setting up the outriggers, or is the vertical height difference going to be pretty minimal?

Not for the outriggers...they are attached to the frame that supports the floor/car in general. I will need to worry about pinion angle when I mount the trans and it's bracket and the torque boxes that attach to the other side of the frame rails. I've got to try to get the engine as low as possible and with as little angle as possible.