Project 3.4 Camaro

Heres the deal, I need a new driver's side floor pan, because I am on a budget, and because my front driver seat bracket is completely rusted out on the left side I am going the JY route(new floor pans don't come with the seat brackets, retarded right?)
Anyways, I am not going to be installing it myself, but I will have to get it myself, and I need to know how to go about cutting one out, I'm guessing I will have to gut the interior of the donor car, which will be a pita....but also won't know what shape the floor is in till I do that....going to be fun, def going to check the hardtop cars first, also I am wondering if by some chance in hell I might find a car that has SFCs on it how I might go about getting them out with the pan, and cutting out the pass side without the pan.
One thing I am worried about is if the car will be structurally sound after this or if its going to collapse and then the JY owner kills me or what not, also wondering if I will be able to just cut the carpet, would make things a little easier. And yes, I used the search button, also the JY said I would have to use a sawsaw, they don't allow ppl to cut with torches I guess, not that it matters since I don't have one.

jakemussman

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like you got it right. How long it will take is going to depend on how much of the floor pan you need/ how much of the interior you will have to remove. You shouldnt have to cut the carpet thought it would probably make it easier. To get the driver carpet out of the way you unbolt and remove driver seat. Also unbolt and remove the seat belt receiver, seatbelt retractor, and door sill. At that point you should be ablr to lift the carpet and fold it over the center console. If you need to cut further back unbolt the bottom of the rear seat and fold that over as well.

jakemussman

iTrader: (3)

Bring a drill so you can make a starter hole for the recipricating saw. The car even if on blocks should remain structuraly sound enough to not collapse on you.

Project 3.4 Camaro

I pretty much want as much of the floorpan as you get when you buy a new reproduction one, but the other thing I forgot to ask was about the rocker panel, where does the floorpan begin and the rocker panel end? I believe that I'm supposed to cut right along the inside edge of it?
I had a huge hole in my pan which got patched, but the shop didn't mention that my seat bracket was on its last leg, that and I honestly don't like the rivetted tin they put in, and my transmission tunnel on driverside has some bad rust too, going to take it to a diff shop to put the pan in, the guy specializes in rust repair and old muscle cars, has good rates too, and actually charges less for muscle cars :P And yes the camaro is technically a pony car, but muscle car is kind of the catch-all, and I know it qualifies for the lower rate.

Project 3.4 Camaro

It's looking like the hard part will be finding a saw, and a floorpan thats in good shape, I live in PA...so wish me luck, lmao. Remarkably my car is in great overall shape as far as rust, I have the whole interior stripped atm, the only really bad area is driverside pan, pass side has a little but it can be sanded down repainted etc, quarter panel had a hole or two at the spare tire well, but thats most of it.

Curious, anyone have a rough idea how long it will take a good shop to cut out and replace my floor pan, with the interior already gutted?

jakemussman

iTrader: (3)

If your trans tunnel has rust too your going to want to remove the center console from the donor car as well so you can cut as much as you need. I recomend cutting a little more then you need becuse the shop can trim down what they dont use. The edge your talking about is under the the door sill if I recall corectly it has a lip facing upward, you should see it once you pull the sill and pull the carpet back.

Project 3.4 Camaro

Actually come to think of it I'm pretty sure I know exactly what you're talking about, how is it attached though, is it welded together? ie. how can I seperate it from the rocker, one thing I do wonder is if they would charge me for both panels if I cut even a little bit in my favor...

jakemussman

iTrader: (3)

If I rember it looked like it was spot welded. Theres circulur indentations along it. The junk yard around here are pretty good and probably wouldnt care. Im not sure about your junkyard though. I would bet they wont care as well though.

Gumby

Of course, now who wants the other side if you cut to much.........

Give the yard guy $10 to torch them out.
[how it goes around here, they say you gotta do it, but flag down a guy covered n grease and pay him off]

Project 3.4 Camaro

I'd like to get someone to do it for me, problem is Idk anyone in this area that could,lol. Sucks cause I don't have a sawsaw, speaking of which, do you think I could just run that down the rocker panel/floor pan seam and it would seperate them and go through the spot welds?

hardon85

you should be able to get a decent sawzall at wal mart I don't know if they would have power readily available though at the junk yard. If you want how much you get with a repro floor pan you are basically gonna have to gut most of the interior also from what I have seen they don't make repro trans tunnels. If I were you I would get as much as I can and I wouldn't worry about the rocker panel I would just cut that out too you can always throw metal away but if you don't have enough that can be tough and really why would the junk yard care? they are just gonna crush the car in a year or so anyway so if they can make an extra $30 why would they care?. However I do think the hardest part will be finding a 3rd gen with decent floor pans in a junk yard.

Project 3.4 Camaro

They don't make repo trans tunnels because the repo floor pans each have 1 half of it, when I first saw the rust damage on mine and panicked cause I couldn't find any I looked up the pictures of the floor pans and found out that was why. And yeah, ripping apart the interior is what I'm afraid of, thats a lot of work and it might take several cars to find a decent floor.

Gumby

ripe to much and they may want money for that, gonna be cheaper to pay them in the end cause your gonna need to buy or rent portable tools, that or a mile of extension cord.

Project 3.4 Camaro

I would pay them to, but they said I would have to cut it out myself.

naf

iTrader: (7)

Add up the total cost of cutting out, paying for and paying someone else to install this floorpan for you. Is it really going to be that much less than finding a rust free body to use? There are too many rust free bodies out there to work that hard imo. If they aren't available near you price a trailer rental from u-haul. There's tons of stuff within an 8 hour drive from PA. Check the classifieds here and the dreaded CL for NC on down.

Add up all those other little parts you need and then divide by a rust free parts car sitting next to yours.

Project 3.4 Camaro

Um I have about 3 grand in this car. New windshield, brand new catback exhaust, high flow cat, headers, y-pipe, swapped in a built up 3.4, IROC-Z rims, pin on fiberglass hood, 255 lph fuel pump, etc. So hell no even if I did have the money to get a new car, and even if I did it would surely come with a few problems of its own, whereas mine is just about finished.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

What is it with all of you guys telling those of us with sentimental value (and way too much money already) in our cars to junk what we have and get a new body? Can't some of you realize it's not cost effective in most cases, especially counting however much it may cost to pay someone nobody knows for delivery?

3rd gen, go to Sears or eBay or CL and pick up a Craftsman C3 cordless saw like I did, and you can get 3 spare batteries for the price of one (also did that) on eBay. You'll probably need to cut through the body just above the floor pan pinch weld and right along the firewall and the gas tank hump (if you're going that far) or where the floor comes up to create the rear seat mounts. What you really need to do to cut the sides is to actually cut DOWN into the rockers. Take the seam sealer out from around your door sills and you'll see what I mean (the floor pan folds DOWN to make the flange that's welded, not up).

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Rust-free thirdgens don't exist in PA for under $3k. Period.

And you forgot to add up the cost of gas /diesel to drive a truck and trailer 8+ hours each way to pick on up to the cost of a rust free thirdgen. Right there is gonna be more than the cost of a brand-new floorpan for his car. And that is assuming he has a truck and trailer to bring it home with. If he has to rent one or the other, then the costs skyrocket from there.

Even paying someone to replace the pan, he will be ahead of the game if he can find a decent used one in a JY. Especially considering what he has already put into the car, and the fact that he KNOWS what is wrong with his car vs. getting a "mystery machine" with who knows what kind of hidden problems.

Project 3.4 Camaro

Pretty much sums it up, I've already found my car's demons and exorcised about 90% of them.

naf

iTrader: (7)

Pay someone for delivery? That's like paying someone to weld in a floor pan for you. Who'd do that?

Rental for a tow dolly from here to PA is like $150 (I checked) a car trailer is just under $300. Bet you can find half a dozen rust free bodys within an hour of me for under $1000. There's been a FB on CL now for two weeks at $800. Given if you're going to put in less than $1500 in your rusty car don't bother, but swap the stuff you're attached to (sentimentally) onto a rust free body, sell the rest...what's not to like.

If you've already put too much money into it, by all means, keep spending...

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Well, how else would someone get a car from out of state to their house? A transporter? A lot of us don't have pickup trucks, or access to any. For some of us, our thirdgen is our ONLY CAR. Which means we would HAVE TO PAY SOMEONE TO DELIVER A NEW BODY. Just like a lot of us don't have the tools, shop, or the means to replace the floor pan PROPERLY, which is why he HAS TO PAY SOMEONE TO DO IT. Some people need to think before they act .

You're in South Carolina, well out of the rust belt. In a junkyard up here, you'd be hard pressed to find ANYTHING that isn't rusted in some way or another.

Like 3rd gen, I've already put at least $4K ($200 more than I paid for the car just in the T5 swap alone, and almost the same into the stereo system) into mine, and now I have my own rust issues, mainly the pass side quarter panel. And I'm not paying for another body and then delivery of said body on top of it.

And um, I think you need to recheck your numbers on rental of the tow dolly. I looked one up back in 2003 from here to Saratoga Springs, about 275 miles or so, and that was over $300... Not counting renting the pickup truck I would need to attach the dolly to.

torque_is_good

find a shop that does metal work. bring some real detailed photos and ask them what they would charge to fab a repair. I am worried because you call the tool a "sawsaw" and not the brand name by which it's known which is "sawzall" and the description is "reciprocating saw"

I live in a high cost-of-living area and to get a non running vehicle transported by flatbed for 15 miles is around $80. If I negotiate a round trip it can be had for $140-$150 round trip.

Steel Armadillo

In that respect, SC and FL are kinda similar.
We have salty oceans nearby. Thereby it is always dripping wet humid with salt water, especially in the summer months. We also have a considerable amount of rainfall. Add in the fact that thirdgens weren't exactly noted for their rust resistance, we're pretty familiar with rust as well.

Project 3.4 Camaro

You can't expect me to know the exact spelling of every tool, and I think most people know that they are a reciprocating saw, but then, so is a jigsaw, sawzall is a bit like Kleenex or NOS because its most notable brand by far, it is often used as the shorthand term for the product. And in this case it helps differentiate it from a jigsaw. And I already know where I am taking it, and won't even consider taking it elsewhere, this is my floor were talking about, I'm having it done by a guy that specializes in body rust repair such as this.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

do you need the entire floor pan for ht driverside, or just the front parts in front of the seat bracket mounts? that can all be cut out without the car folding up on you.

is your car rotting in thefront corner of the floor by the rocker, behind the front wheel? thats a tough corner to fix.

any pics of your floors?

a cordless sawzall is the way to go if you cant use a torch, or have power available for a electric saw. But keep in mind, the trans sub frame is under the floor in that area, and you will have to cut through that as well, and if you need parts of the rocker and such, that can be difficult to cut with a cordless sawzall. It will take a lot of batteries and blades.

I have a 28volt milwaukee full size cordless sawzall, makes all other cordless ones ive ever seen look like childrens toys by comparison (this thing is a sawzall god), and it would take a good while for it to chew through all that sheetmetal, subframes, ect, especially if its cold outside, since most batteries dont have nearly as much power/runtime when they are cold

it would be a lot easier to have the car, or whats left of it, at your house and cut whats needed at home, save you the hassle of doing all this is the middle of a field somewhere without power.

your going to have to pull the interior out of the doner car, if its not already out, and that can be a chore. especially if the floor is also rotted once you get it all torn apart.