My 1st 68 panel

[richard2717]

Hoping to get quite a bit done this weekend


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[richard2717]

initial testing of the cowl seems to be pretty good. I had to wait until it got here to see what all was included since the web pictures were not real clear. Now that i have it here I can fix the few things that were wrong on the truck side of it, get everything painted up on the inside of it then get it installed for keeps.


The floor looks like it will go in without modification but will not be 100% correct for this application. It measures up exact to what the existing floor does but the rear of the Blazer floor turns up, whereas the panel rear lip turns down. I have no plans to alter the floor because once the carpet and buddy buckets are in it will never be seen. The other difference is actually a plus. The panel floor does not have the stamping all the way across for the front seat brackets whereas the blazer floor does. I have to take a whole lot of rear measurements to account for the lip turning the wrong way, then I will get my X bracing in so i can get the old floor out and the new one fitted up. I feel like I should be able to make some good progress before the end of the year. *fingers crossed*


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[Getter-Done]

Great Progress.

Santa Claus showed up early










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[LockDoc]

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A little midnight oil perhaps?....

LockDoc

[GMCPaul]

Originally Posted by richard2717

Hoping to get quite a bit done this weekend


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Sorry for the delay in getting these parts to you Richard and Very Happy to see them finally in your hands. Far better than the original shipments return as it took the 3 carriers involved until yesterday to get the original shipment back to the warehouse and they lost 2/3rds of the shipment in the process. So happy to see everything arrived safely. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and Holiday Season!!
Paul Jr.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by GMCPaul

Sorry for the delay in getting these parts to you Richard and Very Happy to see them finally in your hands. Far better than the original shipments return as it took the 3 carriers involved until yesterday to get the original shipment back to the warehouse and they lost 2/3rds of the shipment in the process. So happy to see everything arrived safely. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and Holiday Season!!
Paul Jr.

Thanks Paul. I am getting excited to be at this point and as I said in my email to you, I have been messing with this thing since 2011 so another week made no difference. Here is to hoping they find the other two pcs from the returned shipment.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Great Progress.

Santa Claus showed up early


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yea but Santa has switched me to pay as you go, guess it has something to do with age

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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A little midnight oil perhaps?....

LockDoc

Oil too expensive anymore. Would take away from my parts exchange

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by richard2717

yea but Santa has switched me to pay as you go, guess it has something to do with age





Oil too expensive anymore. Would take away from my parts exchange

There is always candles, but burning the midnight candles just doesn't sound right somehow...

LockDoc

[Ol Blue K20]

I want to see how good that cowl panel fits

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I want to see how good that cowl panel fits

Actually is pretty good fit. I still have to replace some metal underneath so cant put it on totally yet but this is just sitting in place with a few clamps. If everything else goes this nice I will be one happy camper. I am going to try and get started on the floor later this afternoon.


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[Getter-Done]

Cowl piece looks good.
What's your plan to balance that thing
Once the old floor-pan drops out?










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[richard2717]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Cowl piece looks good.
What's your plan to balance that thing
Once the old floor-pan drops out?

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This is the plan. Fingers crossed it keeps everything in place. I am only going to sheet metal screw the floor in place until I can get the empty doors bolted back on to make sure I am close on my gaps.
the panel is pretty well balanced out on the lift as it is. Earlier I rolled my big table under it and re-centered it so that none of the lift supports would be in the floor area. I have my safety jack under the rear sill panel just to make me feel better but I feel like it is all good now.

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[richard2717]

I used the hinge bolts up front to attach and everything else has 2 self tappers at each end. Put diagonal bracing in as well. Now comes the drilling

[Getter-Done]

Nice plan.








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[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by richard2717

I used the hinge bolts up front to attach and everything else has 2 self tappers at each end. Put diagonal bracing in as well. Now comes the drilling

That should work good. Looks solid. Temp fit is a good idea on a full pan replacement.

LockDoc

[CG]

Wow you are really getting after it. Such a great thread to watch … Nice Work!

[richard2717]

I am not sure if this thing was built on Friday or Monday. Started drilling spot welds and noticed a lot of metal movement. Got looking further and a great deal of the welds that are supposed to connect the floor to the firewall have never been attached from day one. They missed and only one half got the spot. same thing on the fore to aft floor supports, there is a gap between them of a 1/4" in some spots. All the rear ones look to be done right so will be full on drilling but I really hope to have this floor out today. I have to be super careful hammering and pushing because the shell of the body does not weigh enough to keep it nice and still on the lift now.


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[Getter-Done]

Richard
The same person must have welded mine.
The far right side toe panel ,
from under the blower motor to the floor was not welded.












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[richard2717]

Ok
for future reference...... you cannot put the lift pads(with blocks) directly on the cross sill if attempting to remove the entire floor. It is best to figure this out BEFORE you have the floor loose. You will not be able to slide the floor back enough to disengage the front fore to aft supports. Had to come up with a quick but safe remedy. Luckily I have several bottle jacks so I was able to place one on each side further up the arms so that I was able to drop and slide the floor back far enough to get it out. After I got it out I put the blocks back in so i did not have to worry about bottle jacks leaking down.

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[richard2717]

If you don't have a spot weld cutter you can do like I did here. I don't like drilling all the way thru most of the time but up front, I could not see the spot welds properly on the floor side so 1st I took marker and put an x on all the spots (makes it easier when you start drilling to be able to see and not miss one as you go) Then I drilled 1/8'' pilot hole all the way thru from the firewall side to allow me to see the back side better. then, using a 3/8'' drill bit I just barely drill in to it like I was going to countersink a screw head. After that is done, a thin chisel and hammer just barely smacking the chisel pops it all loose with no distortion to the metal you leave. From there I will take a flap disc and clean up everything in prep for the new floor. On the back floor section I was able to see the welds from the proper side so I did not have to drill thru everything.


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[richard2717]

Done for today. Cleaned up some edges, took some measurements, made a few marks and got the passenger side kick panel cut back in preparation for the new floor to go in. Still have to cut out the drivers side but it is going to take a lot more time to dissect so left that for another day. Also have one small spot in the passenger toe board to cut out and put new metal in.

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[LockDoc]

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Looking good!

LockDoc

[Ol Blue K20]

Wow you got a lot done. Thanks for the cowl pic it looks like a nice piece.

[richard2717]

While I had some help I put the floor up in place for a test fit. Will probably be one of many times that it goes in and out. The 1st issue is that the step up panel in the rear has two bump outs that the old floor sat on. They won't work now that the flange bends up instead of down. It causes it to hit, so I will have to get the bfh and metal dolly out to see if I can hammer it out smooth. Once that is down flat It looks like everything else lines up pretty nice. I even popped the outer rocker on for a minute and it looked close. I am hoping once I get the floor pulled back the 1/2'' it needs to go, the lower kick panel patches will line up. Right now they appear to be way off.


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[richard2717]

More progress today until the cutting wheel exploded and slapped me in the stomach.

So far the only thing I see that has to be modified for the blazer floor to work properly is the two humps on the rear step up panel have to be deleted and the lower corner mounting bolts have to be relocated. I have to fab up a little bit on the step up anyway so it is no big deal. I just removed the 2 bolts for now so I could clamp the floor in correct position. As far as the humps I just heated them up with torch and used dolly and hammer to flatten them out.


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I also cut out some patches for the a pillars where the po had cut out for speakers. Got them welded in and one of them ground down. Also got the lower a pillar patch cut and welded in on passenger side. next will be the driver side. Somehow I have ended up with 3 passenger outer rockers and no driver side ones.

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