How hard is it to remove the engine shelf, and what is the procedure?

its not too bad.

Remove engine
Clean the seam all along the shelf so you can see.
Using a snap punch (they do less damage than a hammer and a punch....its a spring loaded punch (harbor frieght))
get a solid punch hole in every spot weld.
Using a spot weld drill bit setup, drill out every weld.

OR....Rick Olah does it a different way which is somewhat safer for the metal remaining....if you do it right.

Take a grinder, snips, dremel etc and remove the engine shelf so all that is left is the 1/2 inch strip of metal that is spot welded.
Then take the dremel and cut on either side of every weld and remove the loose metal strip in between each weld.

All that should be left at that point is small geometric pieces of metal that are welded to the bottom layer.
Now, grind those off....instead of drilling anything.

When yo use a drill, you chance drilling the bottom piece and deforming it...which makes is weaker when you go to put the next piece back on again.

Ricks method gives you a better chance of doing no harm the to bottom piece and then you will have a better place to weld up the new piece.

Also, its one of the jobs that is not as bad as others....jack it up, put it high up on stands in the back, and you can sit on a milk crate in the engine bay and work on the project.

Rich

It's easy.

Step 1: Remove the engine.
Step 2: Cut the shelf out with a sawz-all. If worried about neatness, grind the leftover bits with a cutoff wheel and/or grinder.

Why do you want to remove the shelf? Are you replacing it? Then you might want to find the factory spot-welds and drill them out.

--DD

Previous owner (s) must have hacked around the area for some plumbing, or something, in the area of the drain hole, and so with the engine out, and sandblasted, I would have the body guy put in a new shelf. Maybe the passenger side to?

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment