Here's a pic of the passenger floorboard on my 65 El Camino. I'm getting ready to pull the body off the frame but need to take care of this first.

http://4msmya.homestead.com/files/65_Camino_Floor.jpg

As you can see, the only rusted areas are the in the first couple inches of the "toe area" of the floor. In your opinion, should I replace the entire front floorboard on the passenger side? The driver side is in good condition and does not need replacement.

I'm just not sure sure what options are available (other than floor pan replacement). I've searched through the existing posts on floor pan replacement, but there haven't been any other options mentioned (maybe for good reason).

Thanks for your opinions, insight and guidance...

If the rest of the metal in the floor is solid, why replace it? Buy the toe pan patch from one of the many suppliers like OPG or NPD and cut it down to the size needed for fill the hole you make cutting out the bad area. Just because a panel comes bigger than you need is doesn't mean you have to use the whole thing, only the part you need. The smaller the area you need to, or do, replace the better, IMHO.

I am in the middle of a frame-off restore and replaced both sides with new pans. While you may only have a few holes in one area, you obviously have rust further back towards teh rear seat as well and while it's not through yet, it has weakened the pan, probably more than you realize.

Upon closer inspection on mine I found the supports to be rotten as well. Behind the area where the supports spot weld to the rockers were huge holes of rust that couldn't be seen.

Inspect and verify that you don't have rust in those place if at all possible. Use a sharp object with moderate pressure to verify the driver's side pan isn't weaker than you think as well.

Chances are if your floor pan is rusted, there's more, and likely a lot more. Make sure you know how much for sure. Now's the time to fix it and make it strong and right and stop further rust.

Steve

I agree with Steve. I had mine sandblasted and that when all the little holes turned into big holes. Since you are going to do some type of replacement, I recommend the whole floor pan, left and right. This way you could also inspect the supports. The floor pans dont cost that much more than a patch panel. I only had to replace one side, the left. Done, no more worries.