Where to cut out a Floor Pan?

[kurtwwalters]

I have a rusty shell with a good Drivers' floor pan that I need to cut out. I will also be cutting off the roof. Where should I make my cuts on this floor pan? I will be using a saws-all. I want the future owner to have as many options as possible. Thank you in advance...

[justinr54321]

If I remember right, you want to cut them at the welds and seams so new floor pans can be put in later with little hassle because they, MSA and a couple of others, still sell floor pans and rockers for our z cars.

[beandip]

kurt, I bought my pans from Zedd Findings and you will find that they sell the best ones . My opinion. It is recommended to NOT cut the old metal out before the new one is in hand. Much depends on how bad the old pan is rotted. Are you trying to save the old Z or just the parts you are removing? I used a saws all on my floors as well , to remove the old floor. As to your roof question . Nissan has the seams at the top of the wind shield post on either side and near the top corners of the hatch. I would take the windshield posts with the top and farther down the body in the rear. This way the re-installer will have more latitude in doing the installation. If you are just going to junk the body after removing the floor . Cut the sheet metal up the firewall end about 6'' up from the floor and the same for the trans tunnel . In the rear , remove the metal up the back as much as you can. On the rocker just go as far up as you can. This will allow the person installing the floor more to work with. Be sure to save the seat supports. I have pictures of my Z if you would like to see them. send me a PM with your email address. Gary

[240dkw]

Kurt: as you are tring to cut a good floor board out of a bad car, I would cut it above the seams on both sides, as high up the front as possible(at least 4" above the bend) and all the way back past the back seat suppports. The more good metal you save the more usable it will be for someone else.

Dan

[JimmyZ]

A while back Mike did an article on his pan replacement. Try a search for it. Very nice pics.

I installed a set of the pre-fab pans once. The spot welds on the rockers need to be drilled or chisled. Air chisel works nicely if you're gentle with it. If you do it right you can drill the spot weld just enough to thin out the metal and not go through. This will leave the underlying metal undisturbed.

On the new pan you punch or drill new holes at about the spacing the old ones were for plug welds.

As far as cutting the tranny tunnel side of things I think the PF pans have enough metal to ride about 1-2" up the side of the tunnel. As others have said don't cut until you have the pans in hand.

First drill two holes into the new pan and rocker for locating dowels. This will allow you to repeatedly remove/replace the pans for trimming/bending. Make reference marks on the other side fo you can line things up consistently each time you replace/trial fit the pan.I got a sharpie marker and used it to get about 1/8-1/4" overlap. You can try to do a perfect butt weld on the tranny side but it's difficult to get every last edge to mate perfectly. It all depends on how much of a perfectionist you are. A properly burned lap MIG weld can leave you with )-1/8" of "lap/overhang" on such a lap joint. Make sure you seam seal this too.

Look into weldable primer for your spot weld interface and definitely use some good sealer for that seam. I'd epoxy prime and then use sealer then paint. (duh)

The pain in the arse are the reinforcements behind the seat mounts. These are usually toast on the Z's I've seen.. Excellent water traps. Whatever you put in there make sure that you can access the underside of the seat. Try a piece of ply or board to simulate the seat and reach your hand in. You know how cell phones, etc love to slide under the seat.

Don't forget to involve some Ospho after you get things down to bare metal. The 24hr wait is more than worth it down the road.

2c

Jim