how to fix a floor in a 56 olds conv?

[Guest]

A few years ago i purchased a red/white 56 olds super 88 convertible. The car had sat outside and the top rotted away thus causing the floor to completely rust out. The rocker panels are gone and the quarters are rusty. All of the braces are rusty and need replacing, including the seat supports and the braces that go from the quarters to the floor. I bought nos rockers, quarters, and floor pans (except for the ones under the back seat, which i also need). I was going to start putting the floor in but realized too much was missing. Recently I found a rust free 56 2dr hardtop and a 2dr post and have been debating if i should cut the floor/rockers/quarters out of one of them. But I would hate to destroy a perfectly good car and i dont know if the floor and rockers are the same in a conv as in a hrdtp and a 2dr. If someone has the dimensions and diagrams for the floor and all of its components, including the braces/rockers/quarters, than I would be willing, depending on cost, to have the missing parts made. Any information and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Pontiac59]

It may simply be easier to cut the top from the hardtop and transfer the convertible specific parts to that car, in effect making it a convertible. I would suggest locating a 1956 Olds Body Manual through eBay, this site, or one of the advertisers in Hemmings Motor News - it may run $40 or so but is worth the information it contains.

Can your car be restored, yes. People have done worse ones, because they're convertibles. Original sheet metal may be out there, but usually the replacement parts are fabricated by a metalsmith. For someone with those skills, it's not difficult - just time consuming.

If you don't want to cut up your hardtop, you could also locate a desert shell to use as a donor - something that's already gutted and of low value, but has a solid body shell and floors.

[Guest Albert]

you should be able to fab them up without too much of a problem i made up a new floor and rockers as well as rear quarters for my packard with a little work

[Guest Albert]

this is the rear quarter done on an english wheel

[Aanderson44]

I'd do a bit more checking around! One characteristic of GM's Fisher Body Division through the 50's and into the 60's was to use the very same floor pan, and rocker panels for an entire body series. I do know that this is true of Chevrolet in those years.

Therefore, it seems to me that a 4dr body from the same series (88? 98?) could very easily become a donor car for this transplant?

Art Anderson

[Fred Rawling]

I have a 64 Dynamic 88 with good floors in it. If it interchanges with 56, and you are close to Bellflower, Ca. you can have it free. fredrawling@verizon.net

[Guest Dave Wyatt]

Check with any of the Classic Chevy suppliers like CARS at http://www.carsinc.com/ Chevy and Olds panels should be very similar to each other, if not identical.

[Aanderson44]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Check with any of the Classic Chevy suppliers like CARS at http://www.carsinc.com/ Chevy and Olds panels should be very similar to each other, if not identical. </div></div>

Be careful! GM used three different body series in 1956: A (Chevy, Pontiac) B (Olds 88, the smaller Buicks) and C (Olds 98, Buick Roadmaster, Cadillac except for Series 75).

Thus, the various dimensions of the floors may or may not be the same. Also, consider that while all GM marques were still using conventional "ladder-style" frames in 1956, they were not all alike, in their widths, area of "kickup" in the rear, nor their body mounting points, thus it is quite likely that a Buick, Chevrolet, or Pontiac floor pan or floor patch-panels won't fit an Olds.

This is why I suggested that another Olds floor pan would be the ticket, as long as it is the same series (88 to fit an 88, 98 to fit a 98). GM was very well versed in utilizing the same body substructures from one model to another in the same marque--much less costly, and the two most expensive stampings in a body are the floor and the firewall/cowl/windshield frame.

Just my thoughts here.

Art Anderson

[Guest Dave Wyatt]

Thanks for the info Art, I knew the 98 was a larger series, but I wasn't sure if 88 and the Chevy's were the same series body or not, sitting here I thought it should be close.

I'd still look into sheet metal made for the bowtie boys before I would cut up a solid Olds. But I'm just that way about old cars.