Anybody know where I can get floor pan sections?? I am looking for the smaller sections not the whole side?? I am aware of classic industries and year one but all I really need is the front driver side section and rear pass section. I kind of want the want to keep the factory look and rather not use small sections of sheet metal. I have attached a pic of 1 of the areas I am replacing.

 

Wow that's looking pretty bad!
I don't know where to get replacement pans and even then they're steel... will eventually rust like the originals.
My plans are to wait another couple years on the originals and then cut them out for aluminum riveted and bonded sheet. When I get the rusty parts out of the car and see what I have left to work with I might even go with an aluminum honeycomb where it will be epoxied to the frame. These cars aren't worth much anymore so don't worry about digging in and getting dirty. Just like the fuel tank access hole... WHO CARES. These things are dime a dozen and when done well can be better than stock.
An alternative to replacing the pan is to scrap the car and just get a low/no rust replacement roller.

 

Yeah I plan on using steel I just want the orginal look, not just flat unformed steel. I am hoping that there is just the front section out there instead of the whole left or right side.

 

After you get it back together, do yourslef a favor and undercoat that beast!

 

Right now it is supported on its side, it is totally gutted and getting ready for media blasting. I then plan on to paint the underside gloss black, I also am sandblasting every little bracket and bolt and going to have them powder coated black. This car will never see anything but 70+ sunny days, no rain, no snow.

 

Instead of just painting it, use some rust encapsolator from a company like Eastwood or POR. You can dilute them down and spray it with a gun. Then top coat it if you don't like the color. Paint won't hold up and just a few chips and dings will turn into rust 10, 20, 50 years down the road.
As for powercoating the bolts and stuff, here's one better that will be a lot less expensive; electrolysis. The result (of nearly no physical labor) is a steel part coated with a black oxide that resists rusting! I'm doing this too all of my bolts because I know I can't paint them and expect them to stay protected. Well, I'm doing this to the majority of bolts, the rest is getting stainless hardware.

 

so I take it that nobody offer just the sections new, not the whole side, just the front sections.

 

no places that i have ever seen sell the part you are looking.

the other problem you going to have if you try to find one out of a junker is that all of them rust in that exact spot.

you might have better luck buying the hole side cutting out the part you need and sell the rest to some one looking for the other half.

i ended up having to replace the hole thing after getting all the paint off. you might find out that same thing and may end up needing the hole thing. what started as a small hole turned out to be a big one.

 

yup, I took off the driver side sub frame connector and found alot more rust behind that, so now the driver side will need the whole floor pan.

 

Where should I shop for new replacement floor pans? I used to have a link but that was MANY a computers ago .

 

Mine is rusted from the inside out due to leaky t-tops. Luckily only on the passenger side, so I actually got lucky and found a guy parting out a car that was in great shape who cut the piece I needed out for me.

I would do some searching around and likely you will find what your looking for. If you can find someone parting out a hard-top car, you'll likely find a decent floorpan as long as it hasnt seen 20 years of winter driving.

If you cant find something or you dont want to wait, Classic Industries isnt too bad. my guess is you will end up spending 300-350 shipped for a whole new section.

 

yeah classic industries sounds like my best bet.

 

so how bad is it to actually replace the whole thing? did anyone do a writeup on this?

My car has rust holes almost in the same spot as original Aaron's post and some other pin holes in other places. I was contemplating of actually buying replacement floor pan to match the shape and then cutting out patches only where needed.

I've got the tools, but I am still learning how to actually weld and it seems that if entire floor pan is gone, car becomes a little structurally flexible.

 

In the picture above, where are the seat mounting brackets?

 

mine came from classic also. but i did manage to get them from someone on here and save a little bit more.

if you do some reading you will fine that there is only 2 places that make the part. everyone else that sells them gets it from one of the 2 places. so it comes doen to best price and shipping rates.

 

the new pans do not come with the seat mounts. you will also see that there is no mounts for the shifter or center arm rest.

they have to reused from the old pans

 

its a ton of work. way more than i thought it was. not realy hard just alot of work. i have spent hours cutting and fitting the pans. they need to fit tight so they can be welded. and you have to be sure the car is totaly supported so it will not twist or bend. i also ended up having to rebuild parts of the rockers and sidewalls.

i am sure it would be even harder if you did not take the car apart as much as i have. working around the dash,trany,engine would all add to the work and trouble

 

I have a complete set (LH RH) floor boards out of a rust free Camaro. I need them gone at $40 a side. PM if interested (got pics too).

 

I've seen them. They are in great shape. Would beat having to buy new ones and for the money.........

 

is that the gray POR 15? if not what is it??

 

yes its gray por 15

 

awesome awesome!

 

I did the floor in my '76 Chevelle this past summer, in fact I never did 100% finish and I'll tell you why in a second....

It's my recommendation that you replace the entire floor. I found it extremely difficult to cut the pans to the correct shape. I found it a lot easier to cut the floor to fit the patch. I did patch panels, 4 of them, because they don't offer a full floorpan for my car. Had they done that, I would have gone with it.

From the factory, my floorpan was installed in one big piece, connecting to the firewall, over the rockers, and I forget exactly where it was connected in the rear, although I think it was just below the seat pans. Then they put the floor support (i.e. where the bench seat was supported) on top of that and spot welded it in. So part of the difficulty I ran into was trying to make the patch panels fit when they were literally sandwiched between the rocker and the floor support. It will never be fit as good as the factory because I didn't remove the floor support.

In addition to that, I now have hours worth of grinding to remove all the welds and make the floor smooth. Also, because I had difficulty fitting the pans in place, a lot of the welds were placed where I couldn't get 100% penetration, and I will have to later weld them from the backside when I can get the car up on jackstands or a rotisserie (sp?)

Part of _my_ problem was I had to get the car done in a week because I'm currently using it as a driver. Given enough time to do it right, I would have done a lot of things differently. For starters I would have taken the time to remove the spotwelds from the floor support, and then welded in the full pans instead of cutting them to fit. Then I would put the floor support back in place. But because of the parts that are available for my car (73-77 is known as the third generation of Chevelle/Malibu/El Caminos, but also called the lost generation because of lack of parts and general following, although they are finally gaining public attention, mostly due to popular hotrodding magazine) I would have had to lay down full welds on the transmission tunnel regardless. They just don't offer a full pan.

First off, the reason I recommend you get a full floorpan (or at least as big a section as you can) is the ability to replace the factory spotwelds, instead of having to weld large seams like I did. This will eliminate a lot of the need for grinding and ensure a better fit in the long run.

Secondly if you want a factory-quality look, you have to use as close to possible factory style parts.

The picture shown above looks like he did it exactly as you should. From what I can see he used the largest section of floor pan he could find, remove everything as the factory installed it, and is starting from reverse. Take a look at Classic Industries though, I'm almost possitive they offered a full floor pan, and that would be the way to go because the tranny tunnel is already there.

Hope this helps,
Mathius