[briskedm]

So on my 67 cutlass that I am doing (and the first full resoration I've done) the floor boards and one of the cross supports are junk, calling them swiss cheese is a nice way of saying it. I plan on pulling the body to blast and paint/powder coat the frame, re-run all the lines, upgrade suspension and breaks and possibly make some room for 15x12 tires... the question I have is should I/ do I need the floor in solid shape to pull the body or will some 1x1 sq. stock temp bracing be sufficent to keep the car from folding in half? the rockers are questionable, the doors themselves are good (although the bottom half of each skin is gone) all glass is in and solid, the roof is in amazing shape (guess the MI road salt didn't make it up there). Insight from the experenced crowd is greatly appreciated in my slow going process... Thanks in advance, Doug

[Irelands child]

If it's a hard top or, especially, a convertible I would probably install some cross bracing - 1" might be a bit heavy and a pain to work around with 3/4" being a enough smaller, a fair amount cheaper and much easier to work with. If it's a coupe, a couple of braces across the bottom would keep the sides parallel if you take the entire floor pan out all at the same time. It's too late if you don't spend some time and some bucks now, rather then lots of time realigning the body later IF the car panels move too much.

Dave W

[daoldbuick]

You should be ok without bracing. The firewall and diff tunnel will stop it from folding.

[joe_padavano]

I would suggest tack welding in cross bracing, mainly to keep the shell square when you cut the floor out. If the floor is really that bad, there is now a full floor pan (including the section under the rear seat) available as a repro for the 64-67 cars. It's not cheap, but it makes the job much easier since you simply weld it on at the factory spot welds.

[techinspector1]

How tough can it be to find a solid '67 Cutlass to start with? Geez Louise!!! Part out that turd and start over.

[briskedm]

Originally Posted by techinspector1

How tough can it be to find a solid '67 Cutlass to start with? Geez Louise!!! Part out that turd and start over.

yeah...about that, wife's grandfathers the original owner, were the second... theres a little bit of family sentimental value to it... been down that road, not a good on to travel We now live in VA, it's not hard at all to find a solid one, but she wouldn't have it

[briskedm]

Originally Posted by joe_padavano

I would suggest tack welding in cross bracing, mainly to keep the shell square when you cut the floor out. If the floor is really that bad, there is now a full floor pan (including the section under the rear seat) available as a repro for the 64-67 cars. It's not cheap, but it makes the job much easier since you simply weld it on at the factory spot welds.

yeah, I came across them for the tune of 8xx but, just like you said, much less work to put in one piece vice having 6 to fit, trim, refit, square up then weld in... Thanks for the suggestions guys, Ill fire up the welder here shortly (by shortly i mean atleast a month, life on a destroyer sucks) and get it ready to go into storage to work on the frame

[joe_padavano]

Originally Posted by briskedm

yeah, I came across them for the tune of 8xx...

They were about $550 at Carlisle. Shop around. All of these repro sheet metal panels are stamped in the same one or two Chinese factories.

[Cape Cod Bob]

Originally Posted by briskedm

yeah...about that, wife's grandfathers the original owner, were the second... theres a little bit of family sentimental value to it... been down that road, not a good on to travel We now live in VA, it's not hard at all to find a solid one, but she wouldn't have it

OK, so you need a doner car in better shape . Take them both apart ,mix up the parts etc.,start putting the better one back together and "Gee honey, I can't believe how well Grampa's car is coming along"

[Guy Hiltz]

Originally Posted by techinspector1

How tough can it be to find a solid '67 Cutlass to start with? Geez Louise!!! Part out that turd and start over.

Tech,I got to say that your statement above is a bit offensive,as well as narrow minded.Not everyone lives in a rust free enviroment as I'm guessing you do.Theres lots of places in North America where cars from 1967 are long gone,either from rust,or being crushed.
Guy