Been awhile since I updated this. We were waiting on a local fab shop to make new floor braces so I could go ahead and start welding in my new panels... but we weren't happy with the pieces they made. So all that time waiting was wasted. As rusty as the original braces are, they were still stronger than what the fab shop made. So we decided to patch up the original braces by reinforcing them with steel plate and bars.
3/4" x 3/8" bars that'll be cut and shaped to fit in the recess.
Put an arch in the bars using our tubing roller.
Some of the body mount areas were thin so I cut and bent 1/8" plate to reinforce them. Not pretty but they'll be between the brace and floor pans so they'll be hidden.
We took the body off so the owner could change the transmission out to an original overdrive trans. He also took the center section out of the axle and had a new crush sleeve installed.
Once the body was back on I braced the right rear body mount to keep it from collapsing. I leveled the body on the frame so I'd have a good starting point to start setting up floor braces at the right height. I'll get the floor braces blasted, then weld in the reinforcements and start welding in the new metal.
