The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Floor replacement on my 53 1300

Ive looked in tech tips on how to replace the drivers side floor on my truck but can't find any info. I have the replacement panel and am a capable welder but wonder about the cab support to frame and how to deal with that. Any help gratefully accepted.

This (1947-54) Factory Assembly Manual would help a lot on how the factory spot welded the truck together.
It covers the cab support to frame in detail and more.
Well worth the investment.

Fellow 'bolter Woody a.k.a Czechman has one of the most comprehensive cab restoration blogs i've seen to date.
You might find some useful info here.

You can crawl under the truck to see the general condition of the front cab supports. You won't know the whole story until you remove the floor. There are numerous spotwelds which can be found with a power sander, removing the paint/rust away. This will expose most of the spotwelds, as the the sanding disc won't clean the paint/rust out of the depressions originally left by the spotwelding process.
Will you be replacing any of the inner cowl (kick panel), or the rocker panel? The floor has a flange along the side which is tucked in along these panels.
Carl

My pictures start here, I hope they help. In my opinion if you can weld this is not difficult work.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/8129129278/in/album-72157631867396207/

Ask and you shall receive. With the advice and photos from all of you I should be well on my way. Fortunately the passenger side appears to be done. Ive had a look underneath and the cab supports seem OK at least visually. Ill go up the kick panel part way and overlap the metal there. I do have the Factory Assembly Manual so that should keep me out of trouble. I have to replace a missing hold open spring on the drivers door so will take it off before anything is done. I will likely do this in the winter as I use my truck for hauling soil and such in the summer. I do use Nostalgia as a truck. Many thanks for your help.

Brad
Thanks for the photo tour. I'm looking at cab floor and cowl restoration in the near future (hopefully), but I've got lots more "air" in my cab metal than your pictures show.
I especially like your custom clamp. I may have to copy that design when I get into the job.

For those that have not used a 1/2 clamp to fit iron let me explain the use and benefit. Cut half a small (or large) C-clamp as shown and weld to a small plate. By drilling a hole you can use it where possible by bolting it and clamping it down. Also on the front of the plate the same side as the clamp pad or on the side you need only to add a button weld, clamp down, tack, wiggle the clamp back and forth and move to the next spot. You will only have the small remaining button to clean-up. When it gets a bit hard to button weld due to build-up clean the plate by grinding it as new. I should add this was used sparingly but in areas that need a little extra or I didn't have a spare hand it works.

I had maybe a little less air than Brad, replacing the floor isn't hard, I'm not the best welder in the world but I managed ok, just be sure your new panel fits correctly when you cut it to size, in other words make it a little big and sneak up on it, otherwise you might wind up with a gap that needs filling (speaking from experience or lack there of) Still didn't turn out too bad