Pan Shortening - Continued
Page 5 of 5
the outside edges of the pan match. Use the silver pencil to draw a line on the overlapped portion of the
rear section. Pull out the loose corner and cut off the excess material at the marked line with tin shears.
Now fold the loose corner back in place; clamp it; and weld it.
I find cleaning the pan before painting is best accomplished with a heavy duty wire cup brush on a welding
grinder (sand blasting is optimum). Painting the whole pan with POR-15, a rust inhibiting primer and
finishing it with Rustoleum or other enamel paint is recommended. Finish the whole process with
Rubberized undercoating on the bottom.
To strengthen the tunnel weld, cut one 1-1/2 inch wide strip from the
removed tunnel piece and weld it over the top of the tunnel weld. If the
pan has slots next to the emergency hand brake for heater controls,
these slots must be welded shut and strengthened. Cut the remaining
piece of the tunnel lengthwise into 1-1/2 inch wide strips. Weld one strip
on each side of the tunnel on the vertical surface just below the hand
brake opening. The cut narrow strips and weld them over the heater slots
and to the upper edge of the straps that were just welded into place.
The last detail is to shorten the clutch, accelerator, and fuel lines that are
sticking out the rear of the chassis. Use the measurements for correct
length that were made before the chassis was cut in half. Re-install the
fuel line grommet to keep it from rattling and braze the clutch and
accelerator cables tubes to the edge of the pan just under the rear access
cover. Don't forget that the shift rod must also be shortened 14-1/2
inches. When you shorten the rod, scribe a horizontal line on the rod
before you cut it to be sure that the two halves go back together without
any twist. Install a new nylon shift rod bushing inside the tunnel just
behind the shifter opening before putting the shift rod back in place.
