I would like to find new driver's side floor pan or patch area's where I have some rust hole's. I also know that the prefered way to install new pan is to weld in place. Are there any other acceptable way's to install if I have no access to a welder? How much should I expect to pay to have welded in. How should I prep the areas, and what do I paint the area with after installation? Any info or direction's to getting info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Well, that depends on what kind of finish you want. If you want a stock looking finish, a patch panel isn't going to do that for you unless you're going to spend a lot of time grinding the finish smooth.

There are a lot of ways to install a floor pan. If you want factory, there's only two ways I know of.

First is to buy a full factory floor pan and remove all the spot welds from your old one and install it the same way the factory did. It's been a while since I've looked at a thirdgen floorpan, but I'll wager it's similar to the way my chevelle is setup in that it has the rockers, then the floorpan, then some kind of floor bracing for the seats. If that's the case, the seat floor bracing will have to come out first, then the old pan, then weld in the new pan, then put the floor bracing back in.

Second way, would be to decide what you need to cut out, trim the new patch pan in to fit, then trace it around the old floor pan, cut that out, and butt weld the new panel in. Then you'll have to go over all your welds with a grinder and smooth them down, which will take a lot of time.

If you're not concerned with a factory finish, you could use the second method and just put some seam sealer over it, or just spray it with some rust proofing.

You could overlap a little, which will mean you won't have the difficulty of a perfect butt weld. If you do this, I really recommend the seam sealer and weld both sides of the lap joint, so you don't get water in between the two panels at any point.

Or you could just make patch panels out of sheet metal and weld them in.

If you want some more specific answers, you're gonna have to tell us what kind of finish you're going for. Also, some pictures or at least a description of where the rust is at, would help.

Mathius

 

why buy a full replacement floor pan when you dont need one?

You dont want to completly weld the floor pan into place, it will distort it, and dont butt weld anything!

The way it was explained to me is, cut out the bad section, and put the new section in, over-lapping it about a 1 inch.

Drill 5/16 holes into the new piece. Plug weld it into place(filling the hole you just drilled) Do this every 6 inches.

Use seem sealer along the whole seems.

 

If you want a factory finish, this is one way to do it.

If you don't completely weld it it probably isn't going to be as strong (and it certainly won't be factory), unless you overlap and do plug welds. You should tack them apart (to avoid distortion if your welder is running thicker wire or hotter settings), but you still want to tack all the way around. If you're welding will run .023 wire and a nice low setting you can run a full bead, but you should still space them apart.

I KNOW all this, because I've done it before. Not on a camaro, but on a chevelle, but the concept is the same.

If you want a factory finish, then you have to butt weld. PERIOD. Unless you're going to do the whole floor pan. And you don't butt weld a panel and then not weld the whole thing.

So what you're saying is, you've never done this before. You are only going by what you're hearing, and yet you're telling him my information is wrong. Do you even know how to weld?

That will work fine, but if he wants it to look factory, it isn't going to work using that method.

It's spelled seam. Don't hurt yourself.

Mathius

 

Im pretty sure I said that about overlapping it and doing plug welds. No i've never dont a floor pan. Yes I know how to weld. I can do MIG, TIG, and Stick. Last time I saw replacement floor pans for third gens you cant buy the whole thing, so, there will be some welding.

BTW, you dont have to such a **** next time.

 

You're reading it wrong. I'm not agreeing with you. If you butt weld, you should weld all the way around. If you plug weld with overlap, you should space them out.

You don't HAVE to do plug welds, and if you do use plug welds, it isn't going to look factory.

Then don't come in here and tell me I'm wrong and then in the next sentence mention that you never did this before, that this is what you "heard".

I'm not in the habit of jumping into a forum and spouting off random crap I read about somewhere, unless I mention that it was something I read somewhere.

I've actually done this before, so I know what I'm dealing with. It's a LOT of work, unless you're dealing with a very small area. It's still quite a bit of work if you want it to look factory.

Mathius

 

Check how i did mine out lol ---> http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2666563

Its not the pretyest thing in the world but hey, when the carpet is back on top who the heck is going to look if it seems factory come one, i don't plan on jumping this thing lol. Id do the same, it didn't cost a lot and only took about 1/2 days work to do, just give it a good coat of paint and primer, it should be fine. I ain't putting back that sound proofing crap, i will just use this stuff i found, ashfault sealer crap. Should be gfine for a good 5 to 10 years, hopefully lol.

 

Ahahaha simply amazing.

I'm doing some floor pan patch up myself, and I believe that I found the cause for most rust near the corners of the floor pans... in all thirdgens. I shall do a write-up on it in a few days.

 

I have to tell you... obviously you can tell from my posts above that I've done this before. I have to say, you're almost better off making your own floor.

I just finished the floor on my '76 Malibu and now I want to put bucket seats in it, and I was going to do a side exit exhaust.

I found out that there's not enough meat on the seat floor bracings to support a bucket seat, I'm going to have to add a piece to both sides of the floor. And also, the rear seat pan dips down in the back seat where the passengers put their feet, so there isn't enough ground clearance for a muffler.

I think in the long run, I'm going to end up just cutting the rear floor pans back out, run my exhaust, and then put the floor over it. I really think that's the best way to do it if you want maximum ground clearance, plus everything neatly tucked up between the frame rails.

Mathius

 

THere's nothing wrong with butt-welding if you know what you're doing. Instead of running a constant bead, you stitch weld it to avoid heat distortion. You tack it in a few spots so many inches away, then go back and tack another one next to it, and so on and so forth until the entire seam has been tack welded. If you do this properly you won't distort the metal. Once you're done, a grinder and a skim coat of filler gets you done. This isn't as strong as overlapping, but if you're only replacing small rusty sections instead of the entire floor pan, it's fine. If you replace the entire floor pan, then I'd do it right and replace it at the factory seams. Overlapping and plug welding is strong enough, but now your floors look like they've been replaced. I suppose that's fine for a beater or a daily banger, but it's not how I'd want my floors to look.

 

Is there another place besides classic industries that sell the floor pans for our cars at a decent price? I mean Hawks is the same, jegs doesnt have any, and niether do summit or jcwhitney

If i could Id like to get the half sided floor pans like you see for the earlier years, if possible

Anyone know??

 

I do.

 

ricks comaros

 

I am looking for the part of the subfrom to the tranny mloount anyone know where i am able to get them ??

 

Thats a good question....and the reason is many times you will spend more time patching welding and grinding patches than it would take to replace the whole floor. so one or two holes is not a big deal but if you have seat braces rusting and big holes sometimes its just easier and faster to replace all or most of the floor at the factory seams ...personally I wouldnt even consider doing a floor without a welder...These days you can buy a cheap mig that'll do the job for a few hundred bucks. and once you have one you never understand how you could live without one even for welding things around the house its just so handy to have.
I'll be doing a 3rd gen floor pan job in the next couple weeks and I'll post all about it..I'll be using one from a donor car and doing it the quickest ,easiest way while also making an undetectable repair that looks like original factory job....if you can wait a week or so it should help you a lot...BTW ,the welds are spaced about 1" apart ,just like at the factory.
I've already replaced the inner and outter rocker,half of the hinge pillar and the 1/4 panel on this car now its floor pans.and ready to paint. heres a link to the thread....http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/repl...3-newpost.html

 

I can anything you want here in Ga...all rust free OEM parts...as a matter of fact I'll be cutting out a floor pan and it wouldnt be very hard to cut that out too,if you want....but you'll have to post a pic of exactly what you want.
I just realized how old this thread was...