1970 GTO Floor Installation

True car restoration takes time, planning and hard work. Whether it is a complete off-frame restoration or a much less time-consuming, work intensive effort, you must perform the process correctly. If you do not, the lack of effort and mistakes will be noticeable and wreck any value you hoped to add to the car. Floor installation, a common need for cars such as the 1970 GTO due to rust issues, is an area that many times gets only a patch and fill job, spot weld patching or worse. Since floor flaws are usually easily detectable, make every effort to do them professionally.

Instructions

1

Remove the seats, front and rear, and set them aside. Also remove the console, if present, and the carpet down to the metal. Mount the car on the rotisserie rack.

2

Inspect the floor of the GTO carefully, and look for the best way to remove the entire floor from the back seat to the toe panel. Look for the quickest way to cut the current flooring out completely while making the fewest required cuts possible and saving the rear seat brackets you will need with the new floor. One-piece total floor transplants are the best way to avoid a lot of work and still end up with a poor quality floor.

3

Brace the GTO on an elevated rack firmly. Look to see if the inner rockers need to be taken out and transferred to the new floor. Clean off and grind the original spot welds using an abrasive wheel and an air grinder, exposing them enough to clearly see and work with.

4

Drill out the exposed spot welds. Use the air hammer and plasma cutter to cut out the biggest area of the old floor. Use the cutter bits and drills to remove the welds on the sides back and front.

5

Transfer and attach the rear seat brackets onto the new floor using an air wrench and socket. Line up the spot welds on the new floor with the original frame. Measure the seat brackets and line them up in position on the new floor.

6

Remove the inner rocker panels and inspect them for rust. They are usually in good shape, and you can use them with the new floor. With all the excess metal removed, punch additional holes around the perimeter of the floor frame for a solid spot weld installation.

7

Fit the new floor into place from underneath with the help of at least two other workers. Clamp it into place, and insert sheet metal screws to hold the floor in place. Complete the plug welds first, then use spot welds starting from the middle and working outward.