Floor pan / Front floor brace welding questions

1. I didn't sandblast my floor panel braces. They were pretty rusty though. I used metal etch and soaked them for a week. Most of the rust was gone.

2. I used an epoxy between the brace, but you could use Por there as well.

3. I used weldthru on the bottom of the pan where it braces against the brace. That should be fine if yours are EDP.

4. Weldthru should be fine, that's all I did on the bottom. If I could do it again, I would epoxy the area that lays over the braces.

5. I would suggest lots and lots of welding practice before doing the pans. This can be a very frustrating process. I used sheet metal screws to keep the two panels tight, and then plug welded them. One problem was the panel kept lifting up when I would try to tack them in. Just be sure you are putting enough pressure on the area you are welding and hold the panel a few seconds after till the metal has cooled. I tacked mine and then as soon as I let go, the panel lifted up about 1/8".

Good luck and make sure to pratice on similar material before attempting.

I had my entire floor out so the cross braces were cleaned out and painted.

Take out one side of the floor, trim to about 1-2" rough overlap so you can get an idea of what needs to be trimmed. Clean out the channels and spray with epoxy. Lay new pan over the top and use sheetmetal screws to hold in place. Go under the bottom side and mark the outer edge with a sharpie to get the outline of the braces on the pans. Pull out the pans and drill holes about 1/8 /-1/4" off the outer edge so you can plug weld to the cross braces. Space the holes on the crossmember about every 2" or so. IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE TO Grind off the epoxy or you will not be able to weld the new pans to the brace.

I think you would be better off not butt welding the panels. Overlapping them will be much stronger, using a plug weld. That's how I did the toe sections and along the sides by the doors. You are going to have to fab up a piece to run down the center of the floors too. Click on my link in my sig and look at all the floor pan pics, this will help out.

Go buy a gallon of Southern Polyurethane. It's awesome stuff and for $130 you get 2 sprayable gallons of epoxy that will spray much better than any PPG DPLF.