Rusted out floor pans more news

[Jimmy240Z]

Well I just finished removing the prior fix to the floor pans on the passenger side. and you guessed it, it was worse than the drivers side. Take a look at the pictures. I have received my floor pans and seat brackets from Charlie. Getting all excited about installing them. But looking at the "fire wall" area, How am I going to "fix" that area? Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

[ggarrard]

Jimmy - Step one (before you put the new floor panels in) will be to replace the metal in the areas where there is rust - with enough overlap to ensure you are welding to solid metal. It might be worth your while to buy a 4x8 sheet of 20 or 18 guage metal to have enough to cover the gaps...

Step two would be putting the new floor panels.

Charlie's floor panels allow for some overlap, but I don't think enough to go far enough up the footwell in your case.

GWGarrard

[Bruce Palmer]

Was that body recently decommissioned from someone's navy?? Looks like it has been around the world under water...... Just keep poking and digging 'til you find sound steel.....

[webdawg1]

Damn dude....I don't feel so bad about how mine look now...()...Nothing that can't be repaired...it's just going to take a while that's all...Take your time and do it right the first time...

webdawg1

[geezer]

With that much rust damage it might be a good idea to keep an eye on your door and fender gaps until you get the new pans welded in. Use good white, stiff cardboard and make templates up to cover the holes left when you cut back to good metal on your firewall. That way you will not waste any metal making patch pieces. You will also find out how much to buy. Take your time and think it out, trying to do it with as few pieces as possible. With a little work you will able to mold the nessesary pieces nicely. Good luck and keep the pics coming as you go.

[beandip]

Jim Coffey just went through this on his Z . maybe you should send him a pm and see if he will forward some of his pictures . this may be helpful. Gary

[Ramses]

I had the same experience on my '73. If I can figure out how to decrease the size of my pics from over 1 meg to what is acceptable to these forums I will post them. I had to replace sheet metal up the firewall and all around the floor pans from 4' to 6" all the way around. The transmission tunnel was the worse section on my Z. After we cut out the damaged floor pans and laid in the new ones there was a big gap all the way around. We first secured the frame rails, after we made new connections and then we patched the floor all the way around. I think it would be a good idea if you removed all the vinyl and the electrical harness before you get started. Good luck

[Ramses]

Here are some pics of my floor pans that I had to add some extra sheet metal to.

[ph240]

Jimmy, I am going thru this as we speak. My 73 had no battery tray or firewall to speak of. I cut out the rust and welded in a panel that a local metal shop made for me. I changed the battery tray to a battery box and will use a billet hold down and a Optima battery. I am just finishing up the rocker panel before i weld in the floor pans. My drivers side is not has bad. I send pics but for some reason it wont let me.