Body interior shell-floor panel danaged?

Well, Thanks to Adam at C3VR registry problem finally reolved; now on to serious business. "OUCH!" Passenger floor area has hump - sheet metal like material with rivets and fiberglass forward firewall where one stretches feetccracked. Sure it was in accident. At first thought a bad jacking situation in shop or other place. Doors and all close fine, etc. JUst seems that floor panel pushed up from outside. Certainly cramps the passenger's foot space.. Is this correct? 77 vette didn't come with design, did it? Restoration going well, just next step seems like an expensive one... and questioning if it can be fixed? R. William needs big vette brother guidance.

I read in a NCM forum posting that the '76 and '77 models had steel floors. Don't know why GM did that, but they would be prone to rusting out over time.

Starting in 1976 GM put a partial steel underbelly in the formard section of vettes. It was supposed to add rigidity and help isolate the cockpit from the temps of the hotter running engines(smog motors). As for the hump, that I can't say.

|UPDATED|4/10/2003 9:24:40 PM|/UPDATED|

Some pictures of the area affected would probably be greatly helpful, also, the question might be more relevant in the "Interior" section of the forum, so a post there with the same information or linking to this post might help you to find the information you need faster. With the pictures though, try getting some pictures from underneath the car, and within(without the carpeting). We'll see if we can help. The directions to post a picture are in the Upper Right corner under "Help".

Scot

I had a 68 that had this same problem. The drivers side was cracked and a PO had "fixed it with sheet metal and rivets. I fixed it right when I had it painted. The metal that GM put in was a heat shield that was mounted in the engine compartment on 1/4" stand-offs. I am unaware of any integrated steel plate in the later Vettes.

Alex

alexnelsen said: I had a 68 that had this same problem. The drivers side was cracked and a PO had "fixed it with sheet metal and rivets. I fixed it right when I had it painted. The metal that GM put in was a heat shield that was mounted in the engine compartment on 1/4" stand-offs. I am unaware of any integrated steel plate in the later Vettes. Alex

Starting in '76, which I have, there is a partial steel floopan.
It runs all the way to, and I believe under, the seats. I have yet to pull the interior, but have pulled the carpet back to the seats.

Doc, as for the hump, from the firewall back almost to the seats the floor is flat in mine. About even with the shifter knob, when in park, the floor rises and runs under seats.

|UPDATED|4/22/2003 7:34:18 PM|/UPDATED|

i have a 76 also and the floor is flat in mine too. good luck with it!

I have a 1976 with poor floor panels. They rotted from the inside out (years of a leaky roof). I just ripped out the interior and replaced the pans. I found a few places that sell the pans for $250 per side without installation. I purchased a cheap mig welder on e-bay ($150)and a 4' x 8' sheet of 18 gauge steal for $60. It took a couple of hours to remove the old patches and make the upgrades. I am going to fiberglass over the sheet metal for added stength. I believe your floors are the same as mine. There shouldn't be any humps on the passenger side. The fire walls are fiberglass and riveted to the steal floors from the factory.

I had the same problem with the stress cracks from people pushing with their feet. I also had rust.

I sealed the cracks with an epoxy sealer, than I made sure all the rust was removed. After that I used Rust-O-Leum RUST REFORMER. That worked well. Repaired the rust hole by the transmission hump and primed and painted it.

I have pictures, but I don't know how to post them.

Norsky said: I read in a NCM forum posting that the '76 and '77 models had steel floors. Don't know why GM did that, but they would be prone to rusting out over time.

the panels were added for the extra head from the catalytic converters that were added that year