well i got screwed when i bought this one. so far basically everything needs replacement. including the floor which looked good and felt solid. i was trying to pull up the portion under the back seat to get to the torque boxes and the original pan was there all rusted with the frost turquiose overspray on it. on these type cars, is the transmission tunnel a main factor in the unibody strength, like the newer foxbody cars? the tunnel is made up of 4 long pieces of sheet metal welded together. does anyone makea replacement panel for this area, or will i need to go with a full 1 piece floor pan?
thank you,
carl

 

these cars are a unibody design w/ subframes. bluntly, yes the tunnel provides major support for the body. each piece of the car individually may be flimsy and seem worthless, but when they are welded together, that's where the strength is found. you can find full left and right floor pans individually, or even a complete drop in w/ both floorpans and tunnel in one huge piece. i dont recall finding just the tunnel, but do some searching and maybe it's out there. i'd recommend replacing the entire floor in one shot. just google it and you'll find some no problem.

 

I have often wondered just how you would get a full floor pan (to include the tunnel) into the inside. Would it have to be put in from underneath?
Anyhow, I have never seen just the tunnel for sale either. Usually, the tunnel is not rusted.

 

I got a full floor for the 71 from the Paddock. They had what I needed and they are close so they got the buisness. I am planning on taking alot of photos while I go through this car, so you can see just how it goes together. The pan by itself is somewhat flimsy from side to side, but not front to rear. Once it is welded in it will be as strong as the factory floor was.

The tunnels dont usually rust, oil leaking from the engine and trans most often keep the rust out of that area. Also there isnt standing water on a sloped or vertical surface. When we did the floors in my brothers 68 Coupe, we did both sides, not a complete floorpan. The tunnel was in good shape so we simply cut out the bad parts and welded in the new ones. For the most part, the floor isnt like the quaters, you dont have to be absolutely perfect welding them in. You have a bit more tolerance because it is under the carpet and under the car. You still dont want a hack job, but its less demanding.

You can get partials, meaning each footwell, full sides that are all the metal between the tunnel and the rocker panels, and a full floor. It all depends on the damage you are trying to fix, and what you are capable of doing. A hole in the passenger side footwell doesnt need a whole pan, but if all 4 footwells are gone, you might as well spring for the entire pan, its less welding for sure.

 

i was looking at it again this morning and the majority of the floor is useable, im going to drill all the rivets and pull it all, sandblast and reinstall what is useable. the section under the rear bench needs replacement as well as the pass. toe board. the tunnel looks to be in decent shape on second thought, it just has large patches that are coverign some small holes that i can fill in with some sheet metal and a lot of welding. just have to keep pulling out metal around all torque boxes, check the cowl, and see how bad the firewall is.
carl

 

i was reading an article and they said to put it in the car through the windshield.