Hello everyone, First post. I was referd to this place by one of my friends that is working on a 92 Camaro.

I bought a 91 firebird recently. I ripped out engine and the interior to discover pretty bad rust on both the passanger and driver side floor panels. I have a little rust here and there but those two are the WORST. Driver side is totally gone, and the Passanger has a rust hole on the right side near the wheel well. Also on the driver side, the beam going across (where you bolt the chairs to, is rusted.).

My friend suggested to cut it out and then bolt/weld new metal back in place. Some other people i have asked say to just get rid of the whole floor and get a kit that fit into the bird. I dont have A LOT of money so i want to go with the cheapest/long lasting quilty work. I am also not sure if they do make inserts for the 91 bird. I need to do most of this myself so please keep that in mind.

Thanks for the help. Also once i am done with repairing the rust what should i do to the metal to keep it from rusting anymore. I know there are products to undercoat your car with ect.

 

There's a ton of options here, that is a very common problem, and fixing it depends on what you are going for. You could:

a) Put sheet metal in the spaces, weld/glue it in, and make sure you clear all the edges of the bad rust. This is probably the cheapest possible way to do it, and longevity completely depends on your handiwork. The problem with this, is it is a patch, and if you plan to show your car or something, it would be a problem.

b) Get the floor from a car that has been junked. You can swap entire floor pans, or just a section. Same worries as the prior, but done right you won't really be able to tell the difference.

c) order a replacement. This is the most time consuming and expensive method, but by far the longest lasting and most original looking.

Done right, any of these solutions would work. After you have all the rusted sections gone, you'll want to coat the floor in something. If your really cheap, prime it, paint it, then put truck bedliner on it. If you want it to really last, buy some POR-15 (expensive, but awesome) coat it on there, and you have solid metal forever.

 

Thanks for that info, do you know off hand how thick the sheet metal is?

 

I don't know, but being an older car I'd imagine its 18 or 20 (completely wild guess though)

I used the patch method on my car, since it has a rebuilt title and will never be worth squat, and I just used the remaining sheet metal from the damaged door skins I removed from the car.