I'm concerned about heat, and the dashboard. I'm sure someone here has some do's and don'ts about welding near the foot area. I also have to get up high into the wheel well.

Tack? bead?

The rear driverside pan I discovered has a donor pan welded in. However, you can see in the pic it was welded in higher than the original. I don't think I can leave it that way because I think water is just going to flow right up in there along the chassis.

What's the best approach on dealing with the fuel lines? - On a side note I have to drop the tank because of rusted lines so now might be a good time?

Thanks!

 

Tack every couple of inches. Only tack, no bead. Heat is not your friend. At the very least drop the fuel lines. You certainly don't want to nick them with a grinder and the like. Make sure to clean off all the contamination on the edges of the metal where you intend to weld. The metal is very thin and contamination will make welding it even more difficult.

 

I am doing the same with my camaro. My advice is to remove as much rust as possible and treat it with some type of rust converter and paint it before welding in new metal. do it now while you can get to those difficult areas. just grind off the paint later where your going to weld. tack it in and use some type of undercoating above and below the floorpan to seal it good from moisture. I'm using a roof sealer from a caulking gun on mine. just faster if u used rattle can undercoating.

 

Thanks guys this is some solid advice. Are you using pans from a donor car or fabricating?. I don't think this is a bad area to fabricate, the floor is nice and fllat.

I plan on Por'ing the top and bottom of the pan when done and lastly seam sealing to make sure it's water tight.

I'm going to drop the fuel lines, and cover the top and botton dash area with tinfoil to help protect against splatter.

 

I found some at a salvage yard that I cut out. It would look so much nicer if you used the pan off of a donor car.

 

I'm going to hit the yard tomorrow and see what I can find, but they will probably have to cut it out for me.

Might be much quicker and easier to install i am thinking. Just grind all the other crap out and fix up rocker panel.

 

I live in a bad area where rust is a huge problem. Not only on these cars but every car that's been driven in the winter. Since yours has rust, most of the cars in the yard probably have rust. if you do find one with good floors just remember that its kinda hard to find all the spot welds that hold it to the frame. But is better to weld with cause the alloys and thickness are the same as whats currently in your car. I couldn't find all my patch panels and had to use flat stock to patch it. The steal I used was thicker and I figured it would be stronger. Was a pain to weld. It would burn though the thin floorboard and not even stick to the thick replacement metal I used. I got it done and its strong but very frustrating to weld. you can see in the pic how I sealed all the seams with rubber roofing from a caulking gun. Then brushed on Van Sickle black tractor paint. Did the same underneath. The rear patch panel was the only one I found after looking at a dozen cars. Its from a firebird but there is no difference from a camaro.

 

Krisner, thanks for sharing. You bring up a good point. I'm on the east coast so there is always winter and salt here.

If the yard doesn't have a good donor, I'm thinking of using 16 guage steel for the floor and somthing like 22 guage for the rocker panel.

The only crappy part is the bottom fender mount area completely disintegrated on me.

By the way, how did you manage to weld the back seat area with the fuel filter back there underneath?

 

Use a zinc weld through primer on the areas getting welded before welding you'll never have a problem rusting at the weld

 

Good work guys