I purchased my 1962 Chevy II Nova in 1988 from a good friend I was serving with in the Countrywide Guard. The car was instead seem. There were being definitely no issues and I was in a position to travel it residence, in actuality, I did no do the job to the car for a selection of yrs. I would push it to function a few of situations a week and once again choose it out weekends. I was truly delighted with the car or truck. A few years ago, I made the decision to repaint it. I know I could have taken it to a entire body store, but I required to do it myself. I needed this to be a venture my son and I could work on collectively. I began stripping the vehicle down and this is the beginning of my story.
I figure I will be learning a ton for the duration of the process of restoring my Nova back again to its authentic elegance, so I imagined I would document the processes I will go by and publish them on the web with plenty of shots with the intent of maybe assisting someone else with their undertaking. So lets’ get started out!
I have eliminated everything that I can take out from the system of the car or truck. I did mount an ignition change on the firewall so I could start the car or truck and transfer it about but when the true portray system commences I will be eradicating the motor and transmission. I began with the ground pans. There was a descent sum of rust in the entrance and just a minor in the rear. The transmission hump and driveshaft tunnel were wonderful.
I wished to buy the overall floor pan and swap it all but it was a lot more pricey than I desired and I wasn’t positive if I could cope with a position quite that large. I wasn’t confident if I had the ability to reduce out the whole ground and switch it devoid of possibly twisting or contorting the motor vehicle (it is a convertible). I resolved to buy the left and suitable floor pan. This protected from the entrance all the way to the back again. Immediately after receiving the ground pans, I spent a ton of time thinking and rethinking and strategizing about the ideal way to go about slicing out the outdated and welding in the new. Due to the fact the full flooring pan was not rusted out, I made a decision to lower out just the rusted part and reduce out what I desired from the new replacement floor pans and weld that into position. I am really delighted with this conclusion. By reducing out just the rusted pieces and changing with new metal, I was in a position to prevent any twisting or contorting of the motor vehicle and in all probability saved me a lot of time.
I was capable to slash out the rusted parts in a couple of several hours. I utilised pneumatic shears that worked pretty effectively. Right before getting the shears, I tried using many other methods this sort of as a pneumatic noticed, tin snips and aviation cutters. Have confidence in me when I say that a low-cost pair of pneumatic shears will be a lifesaver. I did use the aviation cutters for good chopping and making smaller adjustment cuts.
Future I separated the entrance and again of my new floor pans by cutting them in 50 %. I reduce out the front component of the ground pan about 2 inches bigger than what I necessary. I then positioned this into the entrance for a exam in good shape. When I had the replacement pan in put, I made it conform to the existing ground pan with a rubber mallet. I then made use of a can of white spray paint and sprayed all over the perimeter of the new pan. By painting all around the perimeter, I was ready to see where by the new pan suit after taking away it from the motor vehicle. I repeated this procedure for the other front side and then each rear locations. This took me about a day to total.
The future part necessary welding, be sure to be confident to notice all security methods when welding to stay clear of any existence altering injuries!
I was now ready to weld the replacement sheet metal into area. This is where my brother was a Major enable! He has a MIG welder. We inserted the new pans and while I held them in position, my brother place welded every single 1. Immediately after every single pan was tacked into position, we stepped again and researched their positions and designed absolutely sure anything was just the way I required. My brother then finished the welding method until finally all 4 replacement pieces was securely welded into spot. I never know a large amount about welding, but I consider my brother experienced to commit extra time and take more safety measures given that the sheet metallic is somewhat thin. Right after the substitute flooring pan pieces had been securely in location, I proceeded to include the seams with Bondo filler and then I painted the full floor pan with a rust preventive primer. My brother and I had been capable to complete the welding on Saturday early morning and I took the relaxation of the afternoon to end the Bondo. I set several coats of paint on the floor pan more than the up coming quite a few days.
From the photographs on my web page, you can tell that it may well not be a completely clean floor pan with no flaws, but I can assure you that it is a solid installation that will previous lots of a long time, even for a longer period if garaged, and will seem even greater as soon as it is included with a audio dampening content and new carpet. This labored effectively for my 1962 Chevy II Nova and I am confident it will perform for you and your exclusive challenge.
