What comes first???

[Multiphonikks]

The floor panels or the chassis legs and cross members?

I'm nearing that stage... and it's just occured to me that I don't know which order I should be repairing Hebe's floor in!

Help!?

[chickenjohn]

When I did my Traveller, due to lack of space in the gararge, I started at one corner (front right inner wing) and worked round. to the back of the car. Then did the back of the car (boot etc) turned him around and repaired the passenger side.

localised Inner wing repairs are a good start as its less critical and a good place to build up confidence and experience.

Don't take too much metal off at once! Repair one are then move on so as to keep structural integrity of the car.

[Multiphonikks]

Hi john -

I want to start on the bottom of the car though Since that's the area most in need of help!

But I can see how that works

[chickenjohn]

I would inspect the inside of the sills before removing floor plans- remove the sill cover/kick plates.

[rayofleamington]

Less is more - as already recommended it's best to start in one area, for example front left - then do A post, front left sill, front left floor repair at the same time.
It's better to do the crossmember before the sill, so it's usually best to do one crossmember end at a time.
The crossmember needs to be welded to the floor so you can't get far if the floor needs doing.
Again with the chassis leg - it's often better to do just a half leg if the rest of it is ok as this leaves more of the car structure intact. If you do the whole leg it needs to be welded to the floorpan anyway.

There are no hard and fast rules apart from:
1) don't cut out a lot of the car in one go.
2) Support the car weight carefully and evenly when removing sills and /or crossmember.
2) Use the doors as a guide when doing doorposts and sill repairs
3) Support the car weight carefully and evenly when removing a chassis leg (you've made a good start here here as you've already removed the engine)

The crossmember and chassis leg are not an ideal job for a beginner. Repairs like floor and inner wing and boot floor etc... are a much better place to practise.

When I started my first structural resto, I didn't get advice and jumped in head first. I cut far too much out of the car (all sills, floor and crossmember) and wasn't using any bracing and had removed the doors etc... My welding was a bit primitive too. After learning more about it, I left the car half finished and eventually scrapped it.

[Multiphonikks]

Okay! Thanks guys... I'll be very careful about how much I remove. Thinking about it, I'm gong to contemplate exactly how much of the work I dare tackle