Job went much easier than I anticipated. A whole lotta worrying about nothing. There's been so much written on this topic that it seemed like I be attempting brain surgery.
All told, it took about 1.5 hours to install the new pan including the time to drill new holes for rivets (make sure you have at least two good bits on hand before beginning).
I took a slightly different approach. I epoxied the pan first and then set 2x4's cut to length and set on edge over the pan where all the frames (cross-members too) lie beneath. I then used 14 good sized clamps to dog down the wood over the frame. The result was no gaps between the pan and the frame.
The next day, after the epoxy had set, I went back and drilled my holes and installed the rivets.
My pan came out great.
BTW, I used a product called West System Epoxy. It's a two-part epoxy used mostly in the marine industry. I'm not even sure I could chisel the stuff off once it's dried.
Thanks for all the tips, and to those of you putting off getting into this project, don't sweat it.
[size="1"][ 01-23-2003, 09:55 PM: Message edited by: MikeC ][/size]
