kldezine:
So just the middle part. No sides, no header, no footer.
To turn off side columns: in admin/Configuration/Layout Settings change the value of Column Right Status - Global and Column Left Status - Global to 0.
You can't really disable header as a whole in admin (unless a site is under maintenance; then you do it in Configuration/Website Maintenance), but you can eliminate all of header's elements, which with some css manipulation should do the trick.
To turn off display of categories: in Config/Lay. Set. set Categories - Tabs Menu ON/OFF to 0.
To turn off EZ-pages links: in Conf/EZ-Pages Settings, change EZ-Pages Display Status - HeaderBar accordingly.
To turn off serch option: in Tools/Layout Boxes Controler set sideboxes/your template/search_header.php status to OFF and OFF.
To get rid off remaining text use Tools/Developers Tool Kit to trace the text and remove it.
The case is similar with footer, you need to disable elements.
To turn off EZ-Pages: Configuration/EZ-Pages Settings, set EZ-Pages Display Status - FooterBar to 0.
To turn off IP adress display: Conf./Lay. Set. set Footer - Show IP Address status to 0.
Get rid off the remaining text using Developers Tool Kit.
You may also want to have a look at the inspiring story of Plastique Monkey's site (page disigner describes how he achieved seamless integration of zen-cart into exinting page):
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47269&highlight=plastique+monkey
Hope it helps,
joasai