[A-Merry-Can]

The floor is coming along nicely, although slow. I decided to use Ny-Locks instead of normal nuts, to make sure the floor wouldn’t loosen over time. The problem is, it’s almost impossible to keep the heads from spinning while i tighten the bolts from beneath! I’ve tried a number of different approaches, and the best seems to be DON’T smack it home with the hammer until you get the nut almost tight. Up until that point, I hold the top of the bolt with a pair of pliers, then smack it home with a hammer and hope for the best.

At any rate, 3 out of 4 floor panels are in, and with them, the new wheel wells i had fabricated. they look great! A local shop did them for $125 a pair. I couldn’t say no to that. They built them out of galvanized metal, as the originals were. My big problem with the originals is the tabs were rusted pretty badly (obviously), but more important than that, the inboard tab at the bottom of the wheel well was only 1 inch, BUT the distance between the outside edge of the frame and the back of the wheel well was 3 inches, leaving a 2 inch gap, that the factory filled with a piece of scrap aluminum. As you would expect, the floor was rotted there as well, since the belly pan didn’t cover that section. Look at the picture from beneath for a better view of what I mean.

The tail panel is going in tonight, then I have to replace the straight channel pieces on the side, before working on the belly. I’m planning on picking up the aluminum tomorrow ( .025 3003h14 mill finish).