If you decided to read this post, then you probably know that I have a 1955 Ford Sunliner convertible that I bought because the price was right. (my first car was a 55 Ford Club Sedan, love the mid-fifties fords) And why was the price "right"? The photos help to tell the story. The irony is that before looking at it and before purchase, I had no idea on how good a job a body man had done on replacing the floor pans and struts - very good work, solid, thorough, and hard to tell any difference from original work.

My plan is to eventually take the body off the frame, using angle iron and old metal bed rails for support to keep the body from buckling. But before I can do that, I believe as though I need to replace the trunk floor. The PO had begun the process by drilling out the spot welds, and the floor is just about ready to come out as you can see by the photos. I have an EXCELLENT 95% rust free floor from a donor car that I have salvaged front end sheet metal from for the convertible. All measurements and specs are the same for both trunk floors and tail pans (the donor is a 55 fordor car).

To date, I would consider myself a beginner welder. I do have a mig that I have used on occasion around the garage and on sheet metal patch work, but I have never tackled something like this (isn't that half the fun? )

Questions
Here are my questions to see what recommendations some of you Y block body men would have...

1. How much trunk floor pan should I take out of the donor car? Is it better to replace the whole thing or section it out? You probably cannot tell from the photos, but the way a 55 Ford is made, you can take a whole floor out and in without having to section it.

2. When removing the donor trunk floor, should I drill out all of the old spot welds just as it sits in the body, or should I try to make a clean cut first (since I am trashing that which I do not need or what no one would want from the donor car) and then remove the spot welds after the trunk floor is removed from the car? (in essence, cutting above the spot welds so I am taking out more metal than I need to trim later?)

3. The PO also began working on the tail pan area, and had slated that part of the car for entire removal (which it needs, but again, the donor car is ready to give up the goods!). Should I do the tail pan before or after the trunk floor?

thanks for taking the time to ready my ramblin'....

    

    

    

Most of the rusting around the edges is because the body panels have been separated by the PO, exposing the metal. All this is surface rust, and is very easily removed and prepped for welding/work. You can see in the one photo where the uppermost part of the trunk floor has already been separated by an inch or more. Same goes for the passenger side of the tail panel.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com