Removing The Belly Pan

I have learned that the belly pan is a very important part of the chassis because it helps keep the chassis stiff and can make an important difference in an accident.  Belly pans are not only riveted but they are also bonded to the chassis with a high strength adhesive.  So, in order to get it off I had to drill out all the rivets and then get the adhesive to release.  But first, I had to flip the frame over and I was alone for this task so it was time to get resouceful with my engine hoist.  Here, I have seperated the transmission from the chassis.

And now the real challenge!  I grabbed the frame on the side with the engine hoist and lifted so that it was now on it's side.

Half way there!  I then used the hoist to grab the frame at a point where I could continue to rotate it.  And then it is upside down so that I can get to the rivets.

Eric Langbein told me to be very careful drilling out the rivets because the holes in the frame should not be disturbed -- assuming that they are perfectly round and re-useable.  He also told me to use a small punch to push out the mandrel of the rivet so that the drill bit is easily centered on the rivet.

There were well over 100 rivets so it took a while to finish the drilling.  Not all the rivets were the same size so I had to use different size drill bits always being careful to not get into the frame.  All I was really concerned out was getting the head of the rivet off.  After I got done with the drilling, I then used this tool to carefully pry the belly pan away from the chassis without bending it because I am planning on using the belly pan as a template for a new belly pan.

I actually used this tool to sheer some of the rivets that I didn't loosen enough with the drill.  Finally the belly pan was seperated from the chassis. 

And now the discovery process continues.  Even though I was careful about not distorting the holes in the chassis, the person installing this belly pan wasn't so careful.  A number of the holes are oblong and a lot of them are quarter inch.  Plus there was a lot of oil in between the frame and the belly pan at the back end of the car and there was rust between the belly pan and the chassis at the front of the car so the belly pan was not doing everything it was supposed to be doing and I'm really glad that I took it off!!



The next step was to get rid off the remaining adhesive so I used a grinder with a wire wheel and it worked like a charm.  Here is the back end of the car and the front after being cleaned up.

As you can see, it ain't perfect but as Eric said, this is all pretty typical of a 14 year old race car and everything can be fixed.  Eric is going to look at it at his shop and we will figure the best path to go with the belly pan.  He may end up welding a new one on which means I wouldn't have to deal with all the issues with the holes in the chassis.  Of course the issue with that is that it won't be so easy to remove it if needed!