Hey guys, as I'm trying to chip away at the problems left on the Courier, I keep running into the fact that much of the floorpans are rusted out/need to be replaced where they join the rockers, I've cut much of the trans tunnel to fit the transmission, and I'm putting in seats (and probably belts) that were never intended for this car.
On both sides, the front cab mounting points to the frame have some pretty serious rust on them. I need to replace the floor around them. In my head it makes sense to butt some square tube up to the inner rockers, tie in to the frame mounting points, add tube to fit the seats into the main structure, and then "skin" it all with sheet metal. In my mind, this takes the load from the sheet metal floorpans and pushes it through a steel tube-frame into the actual frame, and would allow my admittedly lacking sheet metal skills to escape having to bear the full brunt of the weight of the cab/seats/etc, along with the reconfiguration of the above mentioned.
I'll post some pictures of it all later tonight - does this make sense? Has it been done and I'm googling the wrong combination of words?
Editing to add picture for reference: Something like this, but note that my truck is not tube framed..
Yes, been done. However, dont tie to the FRAME. Tie to the inner rockers.
The structure will get dramatic strength from the skinning, so if its fairly stiff as tube, itll be stupid stiff skinned.
Its done fairly often (or was) with body drops. Dunno what its called though.
As with a house, the first thing you need is a sturdy foundation. You will never get a sturdy foundation if you try to tie into a rusty sill, and trying to weld a small patch to a rusty sill will make your head explode.
Buy or borrow a small sheet metal break and make new structures similar to what is rusted out. Then practice your mig welding skills by spot welding everything together. Small tube is fine, but you still need something to weld it to.
Mount both the seat and the belts to the body, or to the frame. Don't tie one to one, and the other to the other. Hit something hard enough to move a frame rail in relation to a body structure, and that lap belt gets berkeleying tight in a hurry.
I think I didn't speak very well earlier. The "tie-in" to the frame, was tying into/replacing the frame mounting pickup points that are currently in the sheet metal.
I imagine welding/butting the tube to the inner rocker sills, which seem to be solid still. Gusseting between tubes for the bolt points to the existing frame mounts. See pics below of frame/mounts, and the rocker sills next to them.
Here's the Inside floor portion, and the bolt that goes through to the frame. Note all the holes..
StreetWiseGuy, i do have a small brake, so that's good advice. It will definitely take practice, and I think I'd even get gas to start really MIG welding.
And here's the car dog, Bean, enjoying a sniff around the truck tonight.
Hell, that's not rusty for where I'm from. Rusty here involves way more air than that.
In reply to classicJackets :
Of course I’m interested in your Courier but can you post more dog pictures? I think Bean is a dead ringer for my Zoey.
(feel free to ignore if it’s too off topic!)
That's less rusty that the Miata I'm working on. Get some metal, a cheap set of body hammers, your brake, and make the patch.
It's a lot easier than trying to "cage" that section in.
alfadriver said:
That's less rusty that the Miata I'm working on. Get some metal, a cheap set of body hammers, your brake, and make the patch.
It's a lot easier than trying to "cage" that section in.
Are than any tricks to replacing the "sunk" section where that body mount bolts in?
It was a Texas truck..
There are a couple of things you can do- the simple being, drill a shallow hole in a piece of wood for the base, drill a larger hole in a piece of wood- sandwich the metal centering the holes where you want the dimple. Hammer until you get the shape you want.
You can also do the same with a shallow hole on the lower wood, a lag bolt on the upper, and some kind of way to squeeze the wood together. Experiment with how much the lag bolt stands proud, and that should bend the metal enough to make that depression.
If you have a hydraulic press, you can make a jig to press that in a similar way.
I make depressions like the one you want similar to the way alfadriver mentioned except I just look around for things that already have the diameters I need then whack with a big hammer. Sheet metal gets rusty fast here in S FL so I sandblast to remove surface rust, weld/bond in place, epoxy primer.
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In reply to NOT A TA :
That's awesome. Looks like that would probably give me as much "precision" as I can doa nything good with, anyway. Time to get a new welding helmet (safety first) and get back to practicing..
