47-55.1 1951 3100 expanding rear section of floor pan

[hopalong]

I'm back on the resto mod of my 51 chevy 1/2 ton truck. Building back the cab floor and extending the rear floor edges "all" the way around and up to the inside of the the cap interior corners. The existing gas tank removed and new tank to be relocated under truck bed. My question is has anyone extended the cab floor at the rear corners up to the corners where there is large open area that allows outside air to come up through these openings and cover the cab floor there. I see no reason for the openings to be there except for the old gas tank needed air around it?

[dsraven]

are you talking about the recessed area in the cab corner, below floor area? that one that usually has a 50 year old pair of gloves stuffed in there with the old jack and the local paper, haha? most guys just cut a cardboard template, make that out of steel sheet with a small flange that can be screwed, glued or welded to the floor. it covers that whole area. it can be sealed against the outside body with some seam sealer but really spray it down inside with some good cavity wax or something so it doesn't start the rust process tomorrow.

[hopalong]

Originally Posted by dsraven

are you talking about the recessed area in the cab corner, below floor area? that one that usually has a 50 year old pair of gloves stuffed in there with the old jack and the local paper, haha? most guys just cut a cardboard template, make that out of steel sheet with a small flange that can be screwed, glued or welded to the floor. it covers that whole area. it can be sealed against the outside body with some seam sealer but really spray it down inside with some good cavity wax or something so it doesn't start the rust process tomorrow.

Yep thats what I am refering to. I'm in the process of fabricating a full floor out of 16 ga. "galvanize S/M" and sealing that corner as well as the lower exterior back panel with seam sealer. Tuff to make bead rolls on 16 ga. so I'll add small channels on under side. Thanks

[dsraven]

I have a bead roller and have done 16 ga before. I had to beef up the bead roller first though otherwise it flexes.
those corner pieces could be made from 16ga, cut larger than the pattern by the amount you want to turn up for an edge against the wall of the cab. then make a pattern from mdf or something and hammer form it into the rolled up edge part. you could also use a steel form like the edge of a workbench or vise etc. or simple cut to fit and weld a couple of tabs on here and there to hold it against the cab wall, then use a body adhesive on the tabs to the cab wall, seal seal it all after.
just a few thoughts. maybe you have a plan already.

[Tempest67]

I cut some metal pieces out, glued a sound deadener to the bottom side, and put them in, after I cleaned and applied grease to the cavity below.

[hopalong]

Thanks kinda what I had in mind for the corner piece although I am intending to make the entire floor fron to rear out of one piece but may have to make that corner an add on if I cant fit the entire sheet in. I may try my bead roller on a piece of 16 gage to see if it will do a good bead.

[Tempest67]

I made my rear floor from 2 pieces and added the corners.

it wont win any awards, but works for me.

[dsraven]

I made my bead roller powered with a chevy flexplate on the shaft and a shortened chevy strater meshed with that. the shortened starter has the armature shaft sticking out the end of the starter so a drill can be connected to drive the whole thing. i used a corded drill but the problem is the corded drill takes too long to stop after the trigger is released. today I fabbed up a modification to the foot pedal that cable operates a lnkage to make a cordless drill operate it instead because the corded drills stop right away and have a high and low range. here are a couple of pics of the whole deal. you can see the foot pedal in one of the pics. it's just bicycle cable parts and some scrap metal I had laying around

[hopalong]

The floor looks good and noticed you did away with the rear mount shackle and asssumed you went with a doughnut cushon mount. I like the chanel you have on the underside...adds alot of strength. Thanks for the reply

[dsraven]

if using the bead roller for the contours check how the dies fit together before doing a run. if you use a smaller bottom die with a larger top die, the top die will bottom on the top edges of the lower die and this sorta helps with distortion and also doesn't leave the track marks from the lower die on the sheet. a 1/2 round punch on the ends of the contour will also help with the distortion thing too. it is because the run doesn't go the full length of the sheet, and the rolled part actually takes some metal to make the contour, so if the contour rollers bottom on the top edge that stops the distortion at that edge and the metal below that gets stretched into the contour. the 1/2 round punch at the end of the run stops the distortion from travelling down the sheet.
japhands (make it custom) has a good video showing how he does this exact thing and what he uses for a home made 1/2 round punch-a cheap gasket hole punch that he ground off the one side. the video is called "bead roller dies explained". he also has one showing how he uses an english wheel to stretch the roll area before rolling the contour, so when the contour is rolled in the sheet goes back to being flat again. that one is aclled "how to prestretch a panel before bead rolling"

[hopalong]

thanks for heads up on the bead set up. I used a 12 volt direct drive gear motor that stops instantly when turned off. Yeah the bead wheels make a big difference in matching the correct sizes. Thanks for the pictures and suggestions.

[Tempest67]

Yes, I did use doughnut mounts on that cross bar, and it was used to secure the seat belt bolts.

Hope this gives you some ideas for your build.

[hopalong]

Using the channel beneath the floor pan is a good idea to place seat belts bolted to them

[dsraven]

installing a channel under the floor is a great idea to mout seats and belts to. what I have done on other projects is also insert a short length of tubing welded into the channel so the bolt goes through that and when done up it doesn't crush the channel. an extra thick body washer tacked on is also a good idea.

[6DoF]

i love the drill mod!

[dsraven]

working on a fence for my bead roller today. maybe post up pics if anybody is interested.