So this took longer than I thought it would, didn’t come out as clean but the subframe bolts up and most of the not so pretty stuff will be covered.
So where to begin? Last post I started dissecting the inner sill, heelboard area. I had planned to save the rear bin but it seems I will need my new one after all (good thing I bought one already). As I was wire wheeling away seam sealer and other stuff on the underside I noticed some rust along the arch closing panel and where the bin is sandwiched in, turns out there was a bit of rust there. Unfortunately I got a little crazy with the grinder and had to patch the seat base, heres the first not so pretty panel…
Guess I am jumping around again, because the pictures above are missing the inner sill and most of the heelboard at this point. Its been a long few days so it is hard to keep up with what happened and when. This side of the car has a lot of patch work on it, it had signs of previously having an oversill so I can only image the rot/patches are because of this. Either way the rear part of the floor pan had a nasty patch that was basically just holding rot. The next pictures show the inner sill and floor pan cut out.
The next few steps I didn’t take many pictures, for several reasons, but I really just wanted to get this done, tired of working on this thing is an understatement but I’m in it now.
On the LH side I replaced the inner sill first, then patched the floor and finally added the heelboard repair. On this side I tackled it a bit differently, I got the inner sill trimmed, then started on the heelboard trimming, then did the floor patch on the rear. I would like to say this made it smoother but it honestly felt just as torturous as the other side. The rear floor repair needed to be done in two pieces because I lack the skill/patience to make a curve into a 90 degree bend. Once I felt things were lining up Ok I then welded the inner sill in and the patches and left the heelboard for last.
Finally after lots of tweaking and measuring and more tweaking I was able to start tacking in the heelboard and test fit the subframe. For some reason the profile on the inner sill was not as good as the other side, this could be for a number of reasons but I am going to assume it was bent slightly off seeing I had them made up.
The test fit of the subframe went well, the bolts went in without needed much prying/aligning. Once it was bolted up I did some more welding before removing the subframe to get the final welding done. One thing I noticed after the heelboard was all welded up was the inner sill had a slight wave to it, It seems I might have let it get too hot when welding the tab on it. I believe this will straighten out once the stiffener is welded it.
Final photo is the whole floor looking better than when I started, Next up is to get the crossmember welded in, Then I will move onto the door steps and A posts. The car will actually have both subframes back on while I do this for some added space/strength.
The Rust chronicles 