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Replace floor halves, heater channels and adjoining panels.
Although on the surface of this car everything seems fine, a quick look underneath at the heater channels and floor-pans meant that the only way to go was to cut away the corroded metal and replace with new panels, as the body had been welded to the chassis.
First job, strip out the interior, second job remove the bumpers and wings etc, next, remove the body mounting bolts fastening the body and chassis together, most were already missing as the body had been welded to the chassis down both sides. Solution to this problem meant resorting to the air chisel and air saw.
Once the body and chassis were split we could assess the chassis corrosion properly, unfortunately we found that the frame-head was much worse than expected, resulting in us having to remove the front suspension and change the frame-head. Then the floor halves were welded in place. After sanding down, the chassis was etch primed and painted black. New brake pipes, gearbox mounts etc were fitted at this stage.
Rusty metal on the body was next, all the lower 8 inch of the body was found to be severely corroded, the heater channels were not a problem as we were changing these anyway, in addition to these we had to change the front and rear body cross members. The big task ahead was to change both rear quarter panels as both were corroded around the rear body and bumper mountings, replacement of these areas individually would not be economical so it was agreed that we replace the complete panel, which would also look better than patched up arches.
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