need help with floor [Archive] - Chevelle Tech

: need help with floor


chris71
Dec 5th, 01, 5:11 AM
The floor is my 71 has 3 rust holes about the size of a dime where the driver heel would rest. Otherwise the floor is great. I really don't want to replace the floor. Could I cut it out and weld a patch in there? The car won't be a show car by any means just want it solid for my own satisfaction. There is a lot of welding on the job (diesel tech} but not dealing with body work or techniques. Thanks in advance

FO_FDYFO
Dec 5th, 01, 5:33 AM
of course you can. cut out as much of the rust as you can. thats all. repaint it well.

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normie
Dec 5th, 01, 6:10 AM
Chris, those holes might end up being bigger than you think (or real soft metal) my guess is that it is directly on the seam!? Here is what I did.. Take a screwdriver and poke the HECK out of the panel for about 5" in diameter around the hole.. If the driver goes through you'll need too replace that area too. You may end up needing to do what I did.. Cut the bad sections out, get a replacement panel and cut too fit.. Was one of the easyer jobs too do. Good Luck..

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Randy Mosier
Dec 5th, 01, 9:40 AM
Of course. I did the exact same thing under my rear seat. The pans on both sides had rusted through but the rest of the pan was solid. So I found a donor car and cut those two small sections out. They were approximately 15 X 15.

sevt_chevelle
Dec 5th, 01, 4:52 PM
By all means you can just patch the floor you dont want to replace the whole floor if not need be. Just make sure you remove all the rust and get the patch welded into clean strong metal not anything rusty.

Start out by knowing how much needs to be replaced by removing the rust. Then go buy your patch panel. Once you have the patch, lay it over the rusty metal and outline it onto the metal rusty floor. This will tell you how much the patch will cover. Dont just cut on that line only remove enough metal to rid the rust, so if you need to cut down the patch. Now cut out the rusty floor and with that removed place that over the patch and draw its outline onto the patch panel, this tells you how mcuh to cut down the patch. Cut down the patch to meet the outline but leave around 1/2 inch all around. Check the alginment of the patch to the floor and remove metal on the patch to meet the floor so it will butt up next to each other. You want about 1/16 inch gap between the patch and floor.

The reason you only want to remove as much rust as possible instead of just welding in the whole patch panel is because later down the road if it shows up again you can still just use that patch panel instead of having to buy a complete floor half.