Those torque boxes

So, we've recently been working on replacing torque boxes and front floor panels.  To save money Eli decided that we'd just use metal from an old lawn tractor trailer for the floor boards.  We did purchase a new passenger torque box ($87.99) as it was completely rotted.

from the outside bottom

rot cut out and new box half in

complete box in

floor metal welded down

I forgot to take pictures of the driver's side torque box, but it wasn't nearly as rotted as the passenger side.  So, we patched the one bad rusty spot on the box and took the same sheet metal approach on the floor.

floor metal

before, and Eli is going to town grinding

So, it took longer than expected, but it wasn't too expensive.  Also, I should note that we welded a small support from the floor support to the rocker panel on either side since our floor metal wasn't grooved like the original and we worried about flexing.  It's solid as a rock now, so I'm not sure that was necessary, but it's there!  He's ready to put the old carpet back in and bolt the seats back down.

Eli put in a new replacement heater core ($25) too and some new heater hoses.  Oddly enough, the radiator hoses looked pretty new so we'll reuse those until they explode.  It's now ready to fill up with anti-freeze.

Also, we put new front brake hoses on ($12 x 2).  So, in theory we could put in some brake fluid and see if that works too!

This stuff cost: $136.99

Total project cost:  $3506.51