[rickdfv]

Hello, I have retired and started the restoration of my 1955 Safari. The Safari needs floors, braces and rocker panels and was wondering if anyone could tell me what model(s) 1955/1956 Pontiacs I should use for a floor donor. I am told we can use '55 Chevy floors but the floors, the rocker panels and braces need changing. I was thinking of cutting the entire floor, the rocker panels and braces out from another donor car and changing the floor as an entire assembly. Any help and or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[peters23]

I don't have an answer for you but you might look on this site or contact the author:
https://www.pontiacsafari.com/

[Stuart]

How bad are the floors? Replacing the entire thing seems like a lot of work, if only some patches are required.

(note: I changed the title of this discussion to make it more descriptive, and hopefully get more attention.)

[HoovDaddy]

I have done a few full floor pans and body on frame like yours is the easiest. Installing a complete donor assembly with rockers attached may sound good in theory, but not in reality, in my opinion. Once you start cutting the old floor out, you’ll realize how many nooks and crannies you can’t get to but need to for welding. The donor floor assembly fit the body it came off of, but probably won’t fit your body due to dimensional variances during the original factory assembly. The rockers need to line up perfectly with the quarters and cowl, even an 1/8” wider or narrower isn’t going to work. I ordered a repop floor assembly for a Mustang recently, when I went to fit it, it was a ½” to ¾” to wide, I’m not going to stretch the body to make it fit like you see on the internet, so I cut the floor assembly and narrowed it because I want the doors and other parts to line up as original.

Go ahead and search for a donor, if it’s in good shape it will have usable pieces but I wouldn’t attempt installing it in one piece. You'll need at least 4 people to move it in and out multiple times.

If the donor is really clean, I would separate the pieces from it and reuse them individually. I would build the structure (rocker panels and braces) separately inside the body shell then lay the floor on top. The rockers weld to the body shell, the braces weld to the rockers, the floor skin welds to the braces and rockers. I would buy new inner and outer repop rockers and new floor braces to ensure you have good metal to weld. Pretty sure I’ve seen Safari repop rockers. I’m not sure if Chevy braces are the same, but should be close enough to modify unless you are a purist where every crease and bead must match as original. Once you have the rockers and braces fitted to the body, that is your main structure and you can do a nice job welding it all in place and it will be strong. Very difficult to align and weld a used assembly securely to the body shell mainly due to the condition of the old steel in both structures. Everything hangs from the rocker panels so your inner body shell needs to be sound on both ends where the rockers mount, or you’ll need to fabricate new plates to weld the new rockers.

I have done body on frame floors with the body sitting on the frame when the floor braces don’t need changing and I have done them on a rotisserie when new braces are needed or it’s a unibody. For the rotisserie I build a inner tube structure (1”x1”x3/16”) to support the body from twisting and to keep the body width from changing (I mentioned the Mustang width above). I also weld gages to the structure for floor pan height or other fitments such as rocker height that affect driveline and exhaust, references that I’ll lose once the old floor is gone. You don’t want the pedals to feel weird when you drive or the seat to be to low or high.

The Mustang below is a basket case that belongs to a foundation, the floor was shot, torque boxes non-existent, but the previous shop put new quarters over rust and seam sealer. They welded the front on crooked, the wheelbase is 1 ½” longer on the left side. Once the floor is in the quarters will come off and the front end will come off to make place for a Mustang II suspension kit. It will be a resto-mod and auctioned off. The other car is a Chevelle which has your style floor. The rockers and braces are perfect, so it's just a matter of replacing the floor skin with the body on the frame. Cutting it a little bit at a time.

[Big Bear]

Dont know how close the Chev floor is to the Pontiac but here is a series of videos of a Nomad frame and floor pan swap. He also has another Nomad he welded the floor in pieces. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis..._Q2SZfw3CkHGL1

[Bill Hanlon]

'55 Pontiac had an X frame. Did the 55 Chevy?

[HoovDaddy]

The Pontiac wheelbase is 7" longer than the Nomad. That's not to say that parts won't interchange with some fabrication.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by Bill Hanlon

'55 Pontiac had an X frame. Did the 55 Chevy?

No X frame on the ‘55’-‘57’ Chevy.

[HoovDaddy]

It's a perimeter frame with an "X" brace and outboard body mounts like a C1 corvette.

[b-man]

The X brace would be exclusively for convertible chassis, no ?

[Stuart]

I was looking at this 1955 Chevy Engineering Features manual, and the pictures don't show any X member. I'm no Chevy expert so it's possible the manual just left it out of the diagrams for clarity or something. https://oldcarbrochures.org/United%2...res/index.html In any case, if the wheelbase is different than the Pontiac the floor pans would be different.

[Bill Hanlon]

The X frame used in the 55-56 Pontiac (and Olds) was why they had to go to the famous "slant pan" HydraMatic. The wasn't room for the tranny linkage unless they rotated the body of the transmission to make room.