Save original metal or use the full patch panel?

[popovm]

I’m feeling more indecisive than normal so I thought I’d ask the 2002 crew for their opinion. Think I should use the full patch panel on the passenger side floorpan or save as much original metal as possible and trim it down more?

 

My original thought was to save as much OG metal as possible but now I am thinking that won’t look as good. I may go for that painted bare metal look on the inside and a line down the middle of the panel might be harder to make look ok-ish than a line on the curve where the transmission tunnel starts. As I am writing this I am realizing this is pretty dumb but what the hell, I’ve already written all this out. Maybe it’ll be entertaining for someone. 😄

 

 

[TobyB]

If it was a smaller hole, I'd say just use part of the panel.

But since it's 3/4ths of the way there, I'd go all- in and not have a seam

in the middle of the floor.

 

That floor gets hot, btw's

 

t

 

[Highnote1]

Here is my take and I have made both choices in that exact spot!

 

I would do the piece vs. the whole panel! Doing that whole seam inside on the transmission side is a pain to line up with the curve up of the hump. Having the straight flat edge on the floor to but weld is so much easier!

Smaller is better to me for seams. Those big panels have fought me with a back and forth more because of all of the flex from side to side and the strength of the thing to pop up a side when beating it down. 

[popovm]

@TobyB, yeah, I pulled out the old heat shield. I am thinking some sort of adhesive backed heat shield for that area, but not sure if that's a good idea to use that on the outside. 

 

@Highnote1, totally fair points. I remember mating up to that section to be one of the hardest parts of the driver's side. I had to do a full pan on that side... 

 

We're 1 for and 1 against using the full pan. 😆 I'll see what other's think before making the fateful cuts. 

[Son of Marty]

You can try the cut and butt method on the full or part metal floor replacement. Fitzee's a rock star watch all his stuff.

 

[popovm]

28 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

You can try the cut and butt method on the full or part metal floor replacement. Fitzee's a rock star watch all his stuff.

 

 

Oh man, I've spend many an hour watching Fitzee. That's exactly the technique I was going to use after I plug welded to the sill and firewall. 

[JsnPpp]

Love his videos. The only thing I'll say is that he's working with 16gauge steel or thereabouts where our floor pan is like 20-22 gauge. Relative tons of room of error for his, no room for error on ours! But he's a master, hands down.

 

I'm trying to decide what I would do in your shoes, especially since it will be visible. I think I vote for the full pan and then spend extra time on the visible side with a dremel and fine paper/disk or air DA (fine grit!) to clean it up. 

But could argue that you can do the same with the half pan. I lean full pan b/c there are more up and down bends in the middle of the pan that would be harder to weld without it all pulling in and distorting.

But I ain't fitzee.

 

~Jason

Edited May 3 by JsnPpp

[BarneyT]

    I think it will end up being stronger to just do a patch and leave it as much of the existing metal as possible, The bend at the transition from the tunnel to the floor pan, adds a lot of strength and having as much metal as possible on both sides of that bend/ corner will help.

[Redtail]

On 5/3/2024 at 1:09 PM, JsnPpp said:

...he's working with 16gauge steel or thereabouts where our floor pan is like 20-22 gauge...

I just welded in a few small patches and the floor in my '73 was 18 gauge FWIW

[JsnPpp]

12 hours ago, Redtail said:

I just welded in a few small patches and the floor in my '73 was 18 gauge FWIW

 

Ah ok thats better, thanks 👍 I was thinking of the nose panel metal, floor must be thicker.

Edited May 5 by JsnPpp

[Markster]

On 5/3/2024 at 12:21 PM, popovm said:

 

Oh man, I've spend many an hour watching Fitzee. That's exactly the technique I was going to use after I plug welded to the sill and firewall. 

Me too!!!

[popovm]

Team full pan won out. Thanks for everyone’s input, lots of good points on both sides of the fence. I wasn’t super confident I could make the various lines in the middle of the pan match up well without a lot of work and I am running out of time. That and in case the tunnel seam goes badly for some reason I won’t see it as well from the driver’s seat. 
 

I got through most of the sill plug welds before 9pm when I like to shut things down due to the noise. The folks in the neighboring townhomes have been cool so far with my noisy metalworking and I’d like to keep it that way. Hoping to get all of it, including the cut and butt, done tomorrow. So close!

 

[popovm]

Welp, she’s in. The welds aren’t anything to write home about but it didn’t come out too bad. There was a bit of a hiccup because I started spot welding the portion that goes against the firewall before I had the left side settled down all the way. Those spot welds ended up higher than they should be by a 1/4” or so. Not catastrophic but it made the pan sit proud of the frame rail towards the front. A little percussive persuasion fixed that. On to seam sealing and all that. 
 

Thanks again for everyone’s input!