Vince J. Pujalte wrote:
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> I will be re-flooring my '76 B before too long.
> Could you kind of "run me through it" in e-mail form?
>
> <<snip>>
Sure Vince. After you have removed the seats, carpet and mats, you need
to chisel out the "tar" sound proofing around the outer edges of the
floor pan and along the cross member about where your forward seat bolts
are. Then using a wire brush attached to your electric drill take the
paint and debris off these areas. This will expose the spot welds. The
show up as 'pock marks" or indentations, and are usually about an inch
apart depending how zealous the bloke with the welder was that day. You
may also see a stitch weld along the rear and near the tranny tunnel,
this was because there is no flange located there.
Now, Eastwood offers a drill bit that allows you to control the depth of
your drill and drill out the welds. This is harder than it sounds. You
need to punch an indentation into each weld so your drill doesn't
travel, and you have to use a drill that turns at less than 900 rpms.
You'll also find that it gets real hairy when you have to do this in the
footwell under your clutch, brake, and gas pedals. Ugh!
Once you have drilled out "all" of the spots[and you'll discover you
haven't] you may have to chisel some of the areas to give them help.
The Eastwood bit allows you to only drill through the upper layer of
steel and not through the floor, so you are left with a little button
on the flange, which has to be taken off with your angle grinder.
The new pan will lay nicely in place and can be spot or stitch welded in
place OR you can pop rivet it and fill the gaps with seam sealer (not
recommended). Be sure you treat all the areas where the new pan will
sit to prevent the rust worm from continuing his damage. Some good work
with a steel brush and rust proof paint will go along way to prevent
doing this again.
I know of no book or guide that can prepare or show you how to do this.
the DIY book doesn't even mention it, even though it covers sill
replacement very well.
Good luck. You'll need it
Cheers.
Michael Ohleger
'67 MGB
'70 MGB
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