Crap! Rusted floor pan on resto-project

[foothilltom 33]

Oh man, I'm wondering if I'm screwed. Just got done removing the carpet and underlayments of the project car (in prep for replacing the interior), and I found my worst nightmare: a totally rusted driver's side floor pan.

 

Here is a picture of the mess:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/tdayton/MustangStuff/photo#5141044380366280546

 

Here is another more "artistic" shot with a light source under the car. Ugh.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/tdayton/MustangStuff/photo#5141044384661247858

 

So I don't have a clue what to do now. I could probably shove my fingers through the floor pan now. The passenger's side (looking for a silver lining) is in great shape (not pictured). As I recall, the guy I bought it from had the driver's side window down about an inch, so he probably left it that way for years.

 

Can one buy a floor pan? How in Hades would one cut out the rusted mess? If anybody has a link to some instructions or can offer up some words of consolatiion, I would be most grateful.

 

This has put the brakes on this project in a big way. Now I have 2 rust buckets on my hands: one with a rusted roof, this one with a rusted floor pan. Dang, am I hosed or what?

 

Thanks,

Tom

[james the flame 11]

Tom,All the floorpans will be available from texasmustang.com. They are located in Fort Worth Texas, Ask for Gary. You can get partials or complete sets.

[jerry69 10]

Tom here are a few write ups I found that might help...

http://personal.ecu.edu/boydd/tech/floorpans/floorpans.html

http://www.desertmustangs.com/Write-ups.htm

 

Make sure when your done you seal that metal real good with Rustoleum or POR 15. POR 15 is great to use under the entire car, but don't get it on you... it can take a few weeks to rub off your skin. Some people brush it on and some spray it on. I'll let others respond what's best. I brush mine on. Make sure you check other areas of the car, rust is like cancer... you have to get it all and then treat it. Good luck

Jerry69

[burritoboi5 10]

Tom, Tom, Tom, stop being so dramatic, part of the fun here is getting your hands dirty and going to town on some repair work. To be honest your rust problem doesn't even look that bad. I would check though, that the torque box/front rails on the driver side are not rusted (just crawl under there and poke around with a screwdriver)

 

The floorpan itself (I would buy the whole thing and cut to fit) will be relatively cheap. MU has it here for 65 bucks.

 

http://www.mustangsunlimited.com/itemdy01.asp?T1=FLP1+01&Category=Body&subCategory=Floors&CatKey=EMUSTANG

 

First thing to do will be to cutout the rusted metal in the old pan.

 

Then using the old pan as a template cut the new one to fit.

 

From here the best option would be to weld it in. Just by reading your post though I am going to guess you don't own a welder. Another option though not regarded highly, would be to rivet it in. Personally though I would start trying to find someone who can do some welding for you on the cheap. Otherwise consider investing in a reasonably priced MIG and teach yourself like I did and many others have.

 

Don't get all frustrated about this slight hicup, if you need inspiration read some of the project threads and see what myself and particularly BlackGMC (corey) have done and had to deal with.

 

In the end all the hard work you put into your car will payout in a big feeling of accomplishment, so stick with it, and do it right the first time. I think we need some more information about your mech skills/desires for this project in particular.

[foothilltom 33]

Hey guys,

 

I'm going to make it my New Years resolution not to let this stuff get me down. You're right, the whole reason I'm doing this is for the challenge. Seeing light through the floor of the car invoked all kinds of instincts to panic. I will sack up, as they say.

 

As someone astutely guessed, I have no welding skills. It sounds like that's something that should change if I'm going to be more self-reliant. I have never riveted anything either, but damn I'm willing to learn.

 

For what it's worth, I'm reasonably inclined mechanically...meaning I can figure out how stuff comes apart (my numerous questions here notwithstanding). Hell, who am I kidding, I'm pretty much a novice at all of this, but I'm totally open-minded.

 

If someone can recommend what TYPE of welder I need, that would be great. I'm definitely heading to Home Depot this weekend to pick up some stuff that would be great going forward (cutter, air-wrench, etc.).

 

Thanks for the level-headed responses. Next time, I will not panic. Unless I'm on fire.

 

Tom

[1BAD351 21]

I bought a "rust free" 69 and it had a hole in the floor pan, I bought the new pan, cut it in half to fit, cut the old crap out, and glued it. Yeah you read right, I glued it with some special insane epoxy; it came out great and it was very easy to do, don't get down or worried all the work is WELL worth it in the end.:tongue:

[james the flame 11]

I agree with Jerry, POR-15 is an awsome product. Guys at my local car club told me about it. Go to their website and order direct from them and they will save you ALOT OF MONEY. I did the complete undercarriage and engine bay of a 1957 chevy belair and used 2 coats. It only took 1/2 gallon POR-15. I first tried it on a sample piece of a car fender.When it dried I had to use a grinder to take it off. That stuff is bullet proof. No moisture will ever get to your bare metal again. I used an old primer hvlp gun to apply. It lays down beautifully. Use a good respirator. This stuff is VERY,VERY, TOXIC. Wear a body paint suit and eye protection. It WILL NOT WASH OFF. You can buy it in flat or semi or high gloss. I used high gloss and loved it. Buying the product by the gallon saves you a lot of money but storing the leftover is a small challenge. If you even get some of this stuff on the lid of your container it is PERMANANTLY SEALED SHUT. I found another jug that several lids fit and put a clean lid on each time. Good luck with your restore. By the way, cost for 1 gallon with activator is $150. Enough to do the underneath of 2 complete cars

[PaleRider 12]

As someone else suggested you need to go over the whole car and look for rust in usual places. Cowl, shock towers, trunk, torque boxes, kick panels, frame rails. Floor rust could be from a leaky cowl which if there is rust there the floor pan will look like a walk in the park. Seeing you did not notice this until you pulled the carpeting - I'm guessing you have not done much looking underneath the car. Get some jack stands and get under it and see what you got going on.

 

As you said don't get discouraged - Your car looks a lot better than what I started out with. Use this site and others to find out how to address things and get help. I was nervous when I started mine but pretty much to the point I don't sweat the setbacks.

 

I learned to weld as part of fixing up my car - not a big deal. Get a mig welder and practice. Gas makes it a lot easier and less forgiving. For anything you'll need to tackle running on 110 would be fine. I've got a linclon 135 and like it a lot.

 

Good luck

[SlimeGold 69 15]

As others have already stated, consider yourself lucky that's the only rust you have. They don't call them rustangs for nothing.

[burritoboi5 10]

Good stuff from all the guys one here. If you decide to take the plunge on a welder expect to spend around 500-700 for an entry level MIG that will run on argon/CO2 in a 75%/25% mixture. MIG stands for Metal Inert Gas. Basically it runs an electric current through a piece of wire running out of the welder, when the wire comes close to the piece/pieces of material you are trying to weld it creates an arc which melts the metal on the workpiece and the feed wire, therefore creating on piece of metal in that spot and holding together whatever you are trying to weld.....sort of a shitty explanation......

 

this may help a little bit.

 

http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/mig-welding-how-works.htm

 

If you want some more specific information feel free to post on here or if you have AIM/email my address is burritoboi52120 on AIM and burritoboi52120@aol.com

[Pakrat 1,043]

Yeah, before you do anohter thing on the car, check everywhere for rust, especially the cowl. That is not an area for a novice welder and not inexpensive even when you do it yourself. Just get yourself a big ole bucket of water and poor it right into that cowl vent at the windshield. The water shoudl run out behind your front tires but if it starts leaking thru the fresh air vents and onto your floor, you got bigger fish to fry.

 

Ford never intended these cars to be around so long and as such they did not paint these hidden areas well or even at all. Leaves or some times even factory body sealer would block the drains in the cowl and the water would just sit there on bare metal and rot it out.

[foothilltom 33]

Thanks for all the advice and info, gentlemen! I decided to take my head out of the sand last night and went on a full-fledged rust hunt. I've pulled up all remaining underlayments and was relieved to note that the interior rust is limited to the driver's side foot area. A bit of rust crept up the firewall, but there's no indication the water came from a leaky cowl as there is no rust higher up.

 

The seat risers and back seat area is really good, just a touch of rust where obviously somebody scraped the hell out of the paint (probably removing the bench seat with an axe or something).

 

The trunk is clear too. So, this is where my confidence fades...

 

I've got the car up on jack stands and can easily lay down underneath with a light. EVERYTHING seems to be the same kind of "dirty brown", like it's been coated with something. That POR-15 stuff came to mind. I cannot see any actual rust, but I wouldn't bet the farm on that.

 

What is a Torque box anyway? I could specifically look for that if someone could explain what it is. (thanks in advance).

 

Finallly, the rust on the driver's side sort of makes sense now in hindsight. The guy I bought it from thought the driver's side window roller was broken and the window was down a few inches for 7 years. (turns out it just needed to be greased really well and it works now). My guess is that water came in that side, worked it's way to the low point of the car and rusted away. The rust is DEFINITELY coming from the inside-out, if that makes any sense.

 

Sorry for the long posts, but this stuff is fascinating to me now.

 

Best to all,

Tom

[PaleRider 12]

Do the water test that Pakrat said. Also look at bottom of shock towers to see if any rust thru - have to feel around a little not too easy to see when under the car. Good luck.

[burritoboi5 10]

The brown grimy gunk may be some kind of an undercoating but is most likely not POR-15 which would appear like a hard enamel paint.

 

To answer your question, the torque box is what connects the front frame rails to the body of the car. It is located directly under your brake pedal and is triangular shaped. All you will see from inside the car is one face/toeboard. Just crawl back under there and look around where the frame rails run into the car and check for structural rust.

[dlinebar 2]

You wanna see rust checkout my car!! See below..Dude you got it easy!! And BTW you can get a welder to fix that for about $300. Its all on my site.

 

Dan

[bnickel 10,004]

as a temporary fix for now you can POR-15 the floorpan and then fiberglass the floorpan over the rusted area. as i said this would be a temporary fix and you should eventually weld in a patch in that area but if you need to save the money for other parts of the project this will do for now. what little rust you have there isn't bad at all, i remember riding to school every morning when i lived in corpus in a friends dad's 73 mach 1 that no floor pans at all in the rear, you could literally drag your feet on the ground on the way to school :scared: