Replacing 240Z floors Part1

[Z Kid]

Replacing floor pans in your 240Z

Materials:

-Slab of beer

-Angle grinder with cut off wheel

-Angle grinder with flap disc (coarse)

-A couple of pairs of pliers/vice grips

-Hammer & dolly

-Screwdriver

Hello, just posting a few pictures/steps for people who are considering replacing their floorpans in the Z car. In mine the under floor rails were a bit rusty so they are being done at the same time.

First of all start to cut out the bulk of the floor pan just leaving the flanges that are spotwelded to the body of the car.

More to come

[Z Kid]

Now you have the flanges to remove where they are spotwelded, split or cut the strip in one place and grab that end with the pliers, now just roll it up and tear it from the body of the car, insert a lever into the pliers if you need some extra twisting power. If the thin flanges at the front and back distort, its not a problem, they can be tapped back into place with a hammer and dolly.

This will leave you with just the spotwelds left attached to the car as seen in the photo.

[Z Kid]

Once you have torn the strips off you need to clean them up, for this a flap wheel in a 115mm grinder seems to work the best, as its not as agressive as a grinding wheel, more of a polishing effect. God bless the man who invented these, but I wish he would strike the 3M man dead who patented it and now you have to pay 20 bucks per disc, but they last a long time.

[Z Kid]

Repeat this step of removing the strips for everywhere that there is a line of spotwelds joining the floor to something else, and clean up the dags the same as above.

[Z Kid]

The main seat mount can stay in place, but the back mount is not independant of the floorpanel, so it can be cut out now (it also makes it heaps easier to fit the new floor), but save it for later. Once roughly cut out, you can remove all the old floor from it with the peel and grind method.

[Z Kid]

The main seat mount can stay in place, but the back mount is not independant of the floorpanel, so it can be cut out now (it also makes it heaps easier to fit the new floor), but save it for later. Once roughly cut out, you can remove all the old floor from it with the peel and grind method. Getting it all ready for reinstallation after the floor is tacked in place.

[Z Kid]

Once all the old floor is removed and roughly cut out to the right shape, you can now slide in the new floor. To do this the front and back openings you cut have to be the same width as the new floor, but the rest can be left oversize at this stage.

[Z Kid]

On my floor (which is a locally made item) the bump in the passengers side which stopped under the front seat mount in the original was continuous, so it needed a bit of cutting and shutting to get to fit flush with the seat mount.

It was at this point that I hit my finger with a hammer trying to beat the seatmount into shape, and my faithful assistant "Jumbo" took off with my bag of tec screws which are still yet to be found, so more to come soon.

(this is the second side I have done, so whilst I havent finished I know my method works well, I just didnt take any photos the first time round)

First time round I also used a spotweld cutter, which took twice as long, and I wasnt as happy with the result.

[Alfadog]

Wow Chris, lookin' good! You make it look easy...

Wondering why the whole car is in primer when there is still rust underneath??

[Z Kid]

The rust that you can see in the pictures between the seams of the body is there because there is no way to get at it till after you cut the floors out,a nd after they are welded in I dont think there is anything I can do about it stopping forming. The primer that is on it is more of a temporary thing at this stage. Before that was applied, all surface rust etc on panels was ground back and then acided with the rust acid eating stuff. The rust thats left is the perforating rust that has to be cut out so its really obvious at first glance (I think in one of the photos you can see a patch thats been put in the sill), and its just got the lightest dusting of waterproof primer over it to prevent any deterioration. So yeah the rust (you can call it rust but chemically its no longer rust, its just the holes and pitting left where there was rust) on the sills etc is there and covered because its blatantly obvious and the surrounding metal is sound and I didnt want it to get surface rust (again). Where there are areas that require more than a small patch its still just bare metal ie rear beaver panel, floors and seat mounts werent undercoated, doglegs werent. Its a work in progress and the rate at which I work means that if it wasnt undercoated with waterproof primer it would just be a big ball of surface rust now.

The areas of white primer and black primer are those areas which as far as I am concerned are truly finished rust wise . And as you can see there is still a long way to go.

[chickenwafer]

Very nice. I'm sure this will be a good reference article for others doing the same thing (I know I will be using it when I do my floorboards...........some day)

Dave

[Alfadog]

Chris I wasn't accusing you of being dodgy if you thought I was, just wondering. It's awesome to see some progress IS actually being made on your car. It's really getting there :classic: