Hey guys. So I've been bangin away an a rotten ol 57 chevy g***er project, and have been trying to avoid the elephant in the room. So the floor and rockers were completely rotted away. To the point that only the trans tunnel was hanging on by a thread, and the rockers were held in by the sill plates! So after much yankin and crankin, i was able to get it back into shape, and got the doors to open and close nice. I then got rid of the trans tunnel. So my questions are, do i replace the inner and outer rockers first, then work on thr floor? Or floors then rockers? Also, being its gonna be a g***er style car that i plan on racing with a 4 speed. I would like to make my own trans tunnel, and make it removable. But whats a good way to brace that up so the floor has some structure but not weight a million pounds? Thanks forcany advice. I need it!
If you get the full one-piece floor with braces, it comes with the inner rockers already attached. Since I don't need new outer rockers, I'm not sure what order is recommended.
I agree even though I did not do it that way. I think it will all come together if you are careful with reference points.
one more thing, if you go the path of getting the full one-piece floor, let me share my experience with you.,, About the best price for it I found was on that well known auction site. I took a chance and called the vendor directly for a price, mentioning I had seen their offering on a well known website. They gave me another $100 off, which was a win-win. They made a bit more, and I paid a bit less. It was going to be freight shipped to the PNW, regardless, so that charge was the same either way and unavoidable.
Yep, get the no-bottomed body as straight , level and plumb as you possibly can and brace it before the first cut. Make sure to leave room to install (place AND weld) the new parts. Look at the work done here by anthony myrick https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/finally-starting-on-the-wife’s-56.1135206/ I would brace, then lift the body off the frame, mount the floor to the ch***is to check fit then trim the body to fit if you can get one big repair section. As said by those with much more experience than me, restore first, then modify in terms of the tunnel.
Yep. I’d get things as close as I could and brace it up. I’d probably order a one piece floor with the inner rockers and floor braces. I would trim and prep all the weld flanges and fit the floor. Get the door gaps where ya like then weld. I did mine the opposite. The link was just posted. I repaired the floor. So I fit the inner rocker first tweaking door gaps as I went. Then welded the outer rockers last. You will notice you can move the rocker gap some. You can tweak the rocker to door gap by pushing in or out on the lower pinch weld.
Da man hisself! Listen to this guy! Anyone have advise on the best product line for this guy so he can have the best chance for success, provided he's not ready to follow in the path of buy a sheet and make your own?
Working on this as we speak. Mind you my car was completely trashed from the get go so it’s been an adventure. Full floor and rockers. I bought my floor off of Jegs. It was the cheapest going. My understanding is all the aftermarket ones come out of the same spot. Except maybe real deal….
Well the bracing is done. And the floor is gone and the rockers are, well... pretty much non exsistant. But the old sill plates are kinda screwed to the remains!!!
Having the replacement parts on hand is a big help. The 1-piece floors were a revelation, less moving parts to juggle, a win for me if I was tackling it.
I would never repair a floor for a customer like I did mine. Very time consuming. I guess I saved having to do a lot more bracing and removing the body. but it’s coming off anyway. The fun part is the lower A posts are usually rotted when the floor and rockers are.
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