Floor pan rust - need to replace or patch? 56k beware

[Bambikiller240]

There is plenty of "too thin" metal surrounding those holes. Too much for my car to have, and IMO too much for a "restoration". The floor pans tie the transmission tunnel to the rocker panels and give that part of the chassis a good portion of it's strength, and rigidity. The early cars (like ours) were pretty light-weight and not as strong as the later 240/260Z's.

BTW, POR is good, and when used with their Power Mesh fabric (really just fibreglass mat) it is good for repairing PIN holes in floorpans, and it will protect "structurally sound metal from further rust, but I don't consider it to be appropriate for repairs of the magnitude needed on the passenger side photo's you posted.

Just my opinion.

[Zeus]

Carl, thank you for the info. I am going to order both floor pans and frame rails from zedd findings. I do not want to look back on this car and have thoughts of "I should have done......."

thanks

[Bambikiller240]

Not sure it's necessary to replace the Driverside pan (judging from looking at the pictures, anyway), but then again if you're going for a restoration, and intend to keep and drive the car for a long time......structural repairs are probably one of the best places to invest your money, time, and effort.

[Zeus]

It would just seem wierd to me replace half of the car and get it all strong while the other half is not. I am sure it is not necessary, it just seems like the "right" thing to do. Again, no regrets!

I have talking with beandip about the floor pan replacement on his car. He says that his welder could not get them in with his MIG welder and that he had to go TIG. Does anyone else have experience putting these in with MIG? They seem plenty thick enough to not cause any problems.

[Bambikiller240]

It would just seem wierd to me replace half of the car and get it all strong while the other half is not. I am sure it is not necessary, it just seems like the "right" thing to do. Again, no regrets!.....

That makes sense to me.

[bob m]

The floors in my Z are between your drivers and passenger floors. In discussing replacing them with my body shop, they suggested using "panel adhesive" instead of welding to the 18 gauge metal. Their arguement is that the heat weakens the metal and spot welding every few inches is not as good as a solid seam of adhesive. I agree with Carl that the floor system is an intregal part of the strength of the body and it is foolish to short cut these repairs. The question is, what is the best method? If the floors are rusted, what condition are the rails in?

Bob M

[Zeus]

bob,

i have decided that i am going to replace the floors entirely this summer once the weather shapes up..... i am not going to cut corners on something this important...

thanks

[EricB]

Hey guys do all of you weld at home???

That's one thing I don't know how to do & I've long wondered where I could take my Z to have at the very least the passenger floor replaced (what's with the passenger side behind the seat anyways it seems that more often than not that's where Zs have a problem)... Anyone here in LA who didn't do it themselves recommend a place?

-e

[ncz]

Hey guys sounds like we are all in the same boat. I get too many good tips from all of the replies. Making my life simpler! One question, Zues how did you get that f#$% tar paper off the floor without tearing everything up worse? You got it very clean. I was thinking about putting some stripper on it to "soften" it up and then try to scrape it off. My passenger pan( and probably rail from Mikes reply) is shot, but the driver is like yours just surface rust. I wouldn't touch the driver pan on mine but I worry about rust being underneath the paper. Nothing is coming through the bottom. I'm also getting a rust spot between the jack compartments. Where is that coming from? Its been dry for a long time.

[EricB]

I've got the answer to that one...

Get yourself a heat gun, heat until it softens and then scrape with any heavy duty scraper you have, finish off the remaining spots with Goo Gone (or was it called Goo Off??) - yellow 12 or 16oz container with a red logo and commonly found at Home Depot. Pour some on the tar, let soak for like 10sec and rub out with a rag... Good ventilation helps because that stuff gives you a headache after a while... Did three floorpans like that on the various cars I've owned and it came out perfect - Best part is that it doesn't attack the paint under the tar so provided you didn't get too crazy with your scraper you've got a nice clean floor pan when all is said and done.

-e

PS: Although I don't have a final clean pic of the floorpan of the pictured car handy right now take my word for it it came out super clean. Pic1 is initial 30yr old tar paper, Pic2 is after heat gun and scraper but before Goo Off applied...

[MikeW]

Get yourself a heat gun, heat until it softens and then scrape with any heavy duty scraper you have, finish off the remaining spots with Goo Gone (or was it called Goo Off??) - yellow 12 or 16oz container with a red logo and commonly found at Home Depot. Pour some on the tar, let soak for like 10sec and rub out with a rag... Good ventilation helps because that stuff gives you a headache after a while...

I used a heat gun as well. However, instead of the commercial "goo gone" I used Xylene. Xylene is the main ingredient in the commercial goo removers and it's much cheaper to buy a quart of the stuff (also at Home Depot). I would advise working outside in the fresh air and/or using proper ventilation.

[Bambikiller240]

I used a heat gun as well. However, instead of the commercial "goo gone" I used Xylene. Xylene is the main ingredient in the commercial goo removers and it's much cheaper to buy a quart of the stuff (also at Home Depot). I would advise working outside in the fresh air and/or using proper ventilation.

I used this method also, but I used plain old cheap as dirt Paint Thinner to remove the remaining "crusty bits" from the floor pan. Simple Simon!