The thin sheet metal floor can now be welded; however, a dart must be cut out of the rear corner before the outside edges of the pan will come together. Draw a line from the rear outside corners of the rear pan sections down along the inside radius of the corner to the bottom of the floor pan. Then extend the line straight and parallel to the outside edge forward to the cut between the halves. Use the sawsall to cut along this line so that the rear corner is loose but not cut all the way off. Now fold the loose corner in until the outside edges of the pan match. Use the silver pencil to draw a line on the overlapped portion of the rear section. Pull out the loose corner and cut off the excess material at the marked line with tin shears. Now fold the loose corner back in place; clamp it; and weld it.

To strengthen the tunnel weld, cut one 1-1/2 inch wide strip from the removed tunnel piece and weld it over the top of the tunnel weld. If the pan has slots next to the emergency hand brake for heater controls, these slots must be welded shut and strengthened. Cut the remaining piece of the tunnel lengthwise into 1-1/2 inch wide strips. Weld one strip on each side of the tunnel on the vertical surface just below the hand brake opening. The cut narrow strips and weld them over the heater slots and to the upper edge of the straps that were just welded into place.

The last detail is to shorten the clutch, accelerator, and fuel lines that are sticking out the rear of the chassis. Use the measurements for correct length that were made before the chassis was cut in half. Re-install the fuel line grommet to keep it from rattling and braze the clutch and accelerator cables tubes to the edge of the pan just under the rear access cover. Don't forget that the shift rod must also be shortened 14-1/4 inches. When you shorten the rod, scribe a horizontal line on the rod before you cut it to be sure that the two halves go back together without any twist. Install a new nylon shift rod bushing inside the tunnel just behind the shifter opening before putting the shift rod back in place.

I find that cleaning the pan before painting is best accomplished with a heavy duty wire cup brush on a welding grinder (sand blasting is optimum). After a good coat of rubberized undercoating on the bottom and rust inhibitor paint to the top you are now ready to Rock and Roll (roll over rocks) !

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