Well, my small patch panels were too small. As I started welding them in, I ran across more rust and the welder just blew right through the thin metal in those areas. A new rear seat pan is going to be needed. Suggestions? Has anyone tackled this particular pan? Did you lap or butt the joints, and how did you address the pinch welds on the sides?

Randy,
I am in the same exact process right now. The goodmark section doesnt fit well around the inner rear fender likes about 2 inches touching where it is rounded, I had to trim the new panel to fit it, I butt welded the front and middle side, on the pinch weld I am going to have to try and weld to the 1st piece of metal instead of the middle one. I trimmed it really close like a dummy. I should have left about an inch of origional floor so that i could have butt-welded it. The rear of it just tucks under the rear upper part of the trunk floor. All of those spot welds that have to be cut out are a pain esp. the ones that hold the brace from the floor pan to the back dash. Hope this helps. What year are you working on??

Hope this helps,
Jamie Clayton

Randy I did this panel on a 70. Not a hard panel to do,just lots of crap that needs to be moved. I removed the braces that weld to the inner quarter support, quarter glass bolts to. Those braces weld to the support then to the floor, covering many of the welds that need to be drill out on the side. You could just cut the floor around the braces and butt or lap the new to the old, but thats kinda taking the easy way out. You should remove those braces to make the best repair.

That panel is sandwiched between the support and rocker, so you only want to drill through the support lip and floor pan. Once I got out all the welds I simply just pried up on the lip getting it out of the way. On the front I cut the pan right after the rear brace from the bottom. The new pan overlapped well past that brace, so my plan was to buttweld it to the old floor right on the brace lip, making a unseen seem from the bottom, plus it was super easy to weld!!

Now at the back the panel went right up to the trunk divder at the factory seem. I cant remember the excat way the metal was placed...the divider then trunk floor, seat panel then brace...or if the seat panel was under the brace? Am pretty sure the seat panel was third in line. I drilled out all those spot welds from the top, going through the brace was tough.

To make things easier on yourself if you have access to an air hammer, before you drill out any welds remove the majority of the metal to make things easier. This way you are only fighting small sections instead of one large panel. I got my panel from the paddock and had no fit problems, just were they welded to the inners the curve was slightly flatter, but about 5 minutes with a hammer and dolly, bent the curves I needed so nothing major.

I should add that before you weld those lap joints up on the sides and back and aslo on the front you should first apply some weld thru primer.

Jamie, it's a 71.

Sevt, you're saying you drilled out the spot welds on th sides where the pan is pinched between the rocker and inner rear quarter, and then peeled the upper layer back?

Randy, yes I drilled out those spot welds on the sides. I just pryed back enough to slide the old pan out and the new one in. Plus you need it high enough so you can grind off the remaining spot weld "Nuggets" which will remain after using a spot weld remover bit. I just used a cut off wheel to grind them away.

Randy I must appologize on the sides I forgot the rear seat pan is under the rocker lip. It goes inner quarter-rocker-then seat panel-inner rocker. So you got to drill through 3 layers of metal to remove that panel.

If you have room between the frame or can get acces it would be much easir to drill out those welds from the bottom. Drill through the inner rocker lip then seat panel. That inner rocker lip is pretty light gauge metal so bending it back would be no problem compared to trying to bend back the quarter support and rocker lip.

You could even loosen the mounting bolts and jack up the one side and then drill out the welds from the bottom if access is not great

Excellent, and thanks for the help! I have a pretty good spot weld cutting tool, so hopefully it'll make the job go a bit quicker. I may have to go at it from the top since the body is still on the frame. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it'll be worth the extra effort.

Thanks again!

sevt,
thanks for the info also I was stumped on the side spot welds also I am at this point and decided to take a break until I found a way to get it out. hell, I feel like a real dumb a$$ now because I cut out everything else fine until I reached the side and got stumped may have been because I was concentrating on modifying my new pan to fit.

Randy,
Good luck on your install, I figured out that welding is a lot harder than it looks, I have been practicing on scrap metal pieces until I am confident enough to weld Until then I will use a few sheetmetal screws to hold it together.

have a great day guys
Jamie

The welding was going good until I hit the rust that I had previously overlooked. Thin rusted metal cannot be welded, no matter how good a welder you are.

Now it's just a matter of waiting on my refund from my uncle so I can order my pan!