So I ground off the bondo and exposed the fenders which were in good shape. The pan, however, was not. Here's some picts.

Backside (rotted piece is x-member support)









I cut the bolts holding the pan to the fenders and it's free to travel up to the door. PS. The PO had almost 1/2" of bondo over the pan.








So OK on to my questions.

The top of the pan looks liike it may have been 2 pieces as there is a clean seam where the pan rolls back against the under door part where the lock catch resides (surround). Before I grind and cut too much I have the following ???

1.) Was the under door piece (surround) a separate piece and the pan a separate piece? (Mine has a niece separation about 1/2 way across, but then it appears to be solid)

2.) Were they originally tack welded and was it really just one piece made out of two at the factory?

3.) Classic Haulers shows a fiberglass pan 48-52 (P-6553) and Gibbons shows one for a 53+. Has anyone ever used one? Is the '53 pan/rear different ? Do they include the door surround portion?

4.) Before I grind (and cut). How does the seam (if it does) travel up into the door surround (for lack of a better name)

5.) Anyone have any gems of wisdom for replacing the pan?

6.) Ok , don't know what the hell I'm doing!! Can someone throw me a line?

&.) And - except for the under door edge, the pan may be repairable, although it is "hacked" enough that I may need some good picts of what the shape should be.

 

Bump! To see if I could wake up any of the Panel Guys!

 

The roll pan itself should be one piece, the second piece you're talking about would be the door sill. My 56 panel was about as pretty as yours so I made all new pieces.

This is the only picture I have of it shortly after I made it but later put a licence plate provision as I'm not running bumpers. I built a small english wheel I got the plans for from the hotrodders knowledge base to help build it.
I had to start with new lower door posts and a whole new floor structure before I got that far though but managed to salvage the door sill. The pan was plug welded to the door sill.
Not sure if this helps answer your questions

 

On my 51 the rear pan is bolted on the sides The rear pan was spot weld to the sill plate and welded at the sides. the whole piece fits closely to the rear cross brace below. From what I can see you will have to fab a new brace to support the back end from flexing too much. Here is a photo of my rear pan looking down where the rear doors would be.

 

Yeah, got the sides loose (ground and cut the bolts)... Love to see the photo.. didn't see it on your site....

 

I dont have it on my site because I have not really done anything on the rear pan other than sanding it down to see what I was up against. going to remove the bondo and see if I can work the metal out a little more. If you need more pics of the back end let me know. I have the body off frame so I can get more pics taken if you need them. My cross brace also needs some work, but have not gotten to that point yet of my plan of attack.

 

Just got a better look at the pan and brace, the outer pan is spot welded to the upper part of the brace which is made in two pieces welded together forming part of the lower door frame, originally I thought the brace was below the door sill. So the brace is an important part of the door frame. Hope that clarifies it a little better.

 

Got out the wire brush and could see the spot welds, the left side being rusted and separated. That picture you teased me with would still really be appreciated. . Now I'm off to figuring how an Explorer gas tank fits in a panel.

 

I will have more pics in a little bit just cleared out the panel and waiting for the battery on the camera to recharge

 

This might help:

 

 

Thanks Bob... That's a lot of help...

Scrap... Went to the album but the picts are all empty.. Thank's for your effort for me. Maybe the site needs to update itself?

 

I see that now, not sure whats going on. Click on my build page below my avitar and hit roll pan tab the pictures are now on there.

 

Thanks ! (and more thanks ) They just magically appeared this morning on your User CP

They are just what I needed. My sill is OK but the top rollback of the pan is mostly rotted away. I'll get the pan off now and see what I can do. All the repo's I've seen are 'glass.

 

I still kick myself in the a$$ to this day when I scrapped the shell of a Panel years ago that still had a good rear pan and quarters. Also scraped the reinforcement that goes behind the rear pan.