Frame rails to floor pan?

[65nProgress]

Hey guys. I have a question for all you seasoned stangers who have replaced their floorpans (or if you haven't but just know)... how are the frame rails attached to the floor pans? Mine are heavily rusted and its hard to tell. Are they just spot welded? I'll be replacing both sides soon. Do I just use a chisel and pop the old pan off the rails?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

 

[66ford289]

I am pretty sure that they are spot welded (at least mine were.) If you want to make life hard go at it with a chisel. The best thing to do is use a wirebrush to try and expose the old spot welds. (should just be a small indentation, maybe 3/8") Then use a spot weld cutting bit or a drill bit that will remove most of the weld. High quality bits help a lot. Then when you have all of them, or what you can find, go at it with the chisel to seperate the frame from the pans.

 

[10secgoal]

They are spot welded. BUT, since you are getting new pans, drill them out. This will give you a hole to weld thru when you have the new pans. But inside, where it meets the car, either cut it straight down, and grind it all off, or use a spot weld remover. The spot wled remover is a good tool, but is a reall PITB sometimes. I am going to be doing my floors soon too, beofre I put in a cage. I am just going to cut the floorboards right up against the car, and grind the spot welds, then tear the remaining metal off. Ought to be fun to do this all over again, ugh.

 

[70vert]

sort of like this

here are some photos from midway through my floor pan replacement. There's a good image in there from the front frame members to floor pan connection:

http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/PhotoAlbum73.html

look at "image010". That's what you're looking to reveal, if it helps to have a mental image. This is for a '70 vert, YMMV but I think the basic front frame construction would be similar.

Joe

 

[slepe67]

check out Mustang Monthly.com under tech articles. Real good info on this subject

 

[65nProgress]

Thanks guys! I would be lost without this forum and its members!!!