Well, the time to get started on the body work has rolled around. I am planning on repairing the floor pans, then the trunk floor, then the quarters/wheelwells, before moving on to the firewall and then the roof. While I have worked with metal since my high school years, I'm cutting my teeth on body work with this car. I feel very confident in being able to do the floor pans and trunk, but might call upon some friends to help out with the rest. Now for my newbie question, would it be better to overlap the joint on the floor pans or take the time to fit them up flush with the existing flooring? Thanks in advance for all you guys and your assistance.

Well, you guys can scold me now if you would like. I deserve it. It finally dawned on me to search for the words "floor pan" and low and behold, there was more information available than I could possibly read. Since I am not building a show car, just one that I can be proud of driving around, I have opted to overlap the seams and continue on with my journey.

Thanks again for everyones willingness and patience in assisting us rookies. I hope that I will be able to repay the favor some day.

I was going to say, the thin metal used in the construction of these cars is very difficult to butt weld. You would have to back the joint up with a brass block or use a narrow strip of sheetmetal on the back side and allow the weld to burn into it. Of course, it would end up being a permanent part of the car so you'd have to take extra care in sealing it up to keep water out of the seams on the backside.

I have a question regarding floorpans. I recently got all the rusted areas cut out of the floor and i am ready to patch it. I remember seeing a post about this and they said to use 18 gauge sheet metal, but what i dont know is if they were refering to steel or aluminum. I was planning on reparing it myself even though i have no metal working experience. I assumed i would have to get the metal anealed, forgive my spelling if its wrong, to be able to form it to the car. This car isnt going to be a show car either, its going to be my daily driver. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jesse

nt4sell, It's 18 gauge sheet STEEL. It's hard to weld aluminum to steel...You can buy floor pans to fit your car. If you use plan flat sheet metal then you will need to bend,fab,cut,and bend some more to get it to fit the floors contours...Someone years ago put galvanized sheet metal in the floors of my 66 and then riveted it in then seam sealed around it. It's still in there. Course it's coming outthis winter as I'm putting in new pans....

graemlins/waving.gif
Rick

thanks for the info.
im just going to do a temp fix so my feet dont go through the floor heh. so ill probably just screw it down and seal it for now and replace the whole floor when i can afford it.