Floor Pan Install Question

jefflock said

Sawzall's don't seem to work very well for me. I have one along with a 41/2" grinder/cuttoff wheels and a plasma cutter. I was thinking drill all the spot welds and cut the old pan out smaller than the new pan. Then laying the new pan in and using the plasma to cut the new pan along the edge and the rest of the old pan out at the same time. Butt weld or stich weld it in. What about the folded front seam??? Leave it there and cut it out say an inch below the folded seam??????

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Well hell, you didn't say you had a Plasma cutter!! LoL..... I use the cutoff wheels from 3M as they last a long time. I grind through the spotweld until it starts to turn blue then the edges will start to fold up. That is when you know you are through the first layer of metal. Then use a small prybar and pop the welds loose.

Throw a couple bags of sand or concrete in the middle of the pan to help push it down while you cut with the plasma cutter. This of course after you have removed the majority of the old pan. If you don't remove the old pan, when you cut the new one it will just fall through due to the larger gap.

Leave the front seam. You can always overlap and weld both sides. Be sure to use a light coat of weld-through primer!