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Thing pan replacement idea/question?
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Thingdude
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Joined: February 23, 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Jefferson City, MO
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 7:50 pm    Post subject: Thing pan replacement idea/question? Reply with quote

I am preparing to replace both floorpan halves on my thing. They are rusted badly on the edge toward the front of the car and of course everywhere else. Thankfully the front lip where they attach to the rest of the frame looks to be all there on both sides. I've been studying it and it looks like with the thing there is no way to do it right with the body on because the rear seat crossmember is in the way and the corners where the welded sections and bolted sections meet would be hard if not impossible to do right. I would also like to be able to clean up and por15 the edges of the body where it bolts to the pan and replace the gaskets. I am working out of one side of a two car garage and don't really have a place I can keep the body seperately. I also don't see how you could put new pans in with the body off and make sure that the bolt holes will all line up. What I am thinking of doing is removing the body and making wooden blocks that will go between the body mount points under the gas tank and the mount points on the rear suspension. This way I figure once the new pans are set on the frame lips I can set the body back down, run a few of the bolts on either side, tack the pans in and then put the body back up on the blocks so I can get to all the edges of the pan to weld it all up and por15 the mating surface of the body. Is the body strong enough to sit on those points with the top, doors and fenders off? I would think that the body is heavy enough not to worry about it being knocked off the blocks? I would make them like 6 inches high or something and connect the front two together and connect the rear two also. What do you guys think?
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iltis74
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Joined: November 20, 2003
Posts: 826
Location: Anchorage, AK
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you're playing with fire and there is no need to. Get the body up out of the way on sawhorses or something solid enough that it's not ever going to come down on you and leave it there till you're done. Then chain it to them. With the body off you will clearly be able to see that there is a leg off the tunnel you will not cut off without screwing yourself that you can run a tape off of to space the bolt hole centers front to back, and just come off the tunnel in a few places to ensure you are straight with it and you are golden. Write down all your measurements, cut a pan off, weld the new one in lined up with the tunnel, measure and drill your holes, and move to the other side. You only want to do one side at a time so you are talking about dropping the body twice for no reason which is just asking for trouble and heartache in my opinion.
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