Floor Pan Replacement...
12-04-2001, 11:34 PM
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Floor Pan Replacement...
This is my first post so please bear with me... I am looking into replacing the floor pans on my 91 camaro... they are the only thing on my car that is rusted out, and it is because of leaky t top weather strips. My questions are how do I break the current welds that hold them into place? Do the new pans (nextgen 188.00) come with the supports? I have also read something about a sort of metal adheasion glue can be used in place of welding? How good are the claims on this, and how well will it actually hold... and one more 
... do I need to worry about structural integreity while doing this, should I do just one side at a time...?
thanks in advance
ray
... do I need to worry about structural integreity while doing this, should I do just one side at a time...?thanks in advance
ray
12-05-2001, 03:38 PM
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Ray, 1st, welcome to our gathering.
2nd, go to this site:
http://www.lightstream.net/~the_maniac/floor.html
It is a link on my page about my replacement floor pan project (including a materials list).
To help answer your questions:
- I got my pans from Classic Industries (probably the same pans, different vendor)
- The factory pan is 1 piece. The restore pans are 2 (two big to ship as 1 piece). So some re-engineering may be in order.
- The unibody frame is welded to the floor (this takes some finesse to detach the old floor from the frame members). My site shows a pic of them to give you an idea (if needed, I can circle and point them out to you).
- The best and easiest way we found in my replacement to remove the old ones was with an air chissel (that was awesome).
Hope this (and the link) gives you some food for thought. This is a big project. Mine took about 2 weeks (spending a lot of time working on it, mostly saturday and sunday). I won't lie, at certain points of the project, my father and I thought we just destroyed the car (it was his neighbor that showed us the light).
Once again, feel free to ask me what you need, I will try to help. When I did this, I could only wish I knew some one that had this experience already....
------------------
'84 5.0 liter v8 Z28 Camaro
'93 3.3 liter v6 Grand Am SE
http://www.lightstream.net/~the_maniac
E-Mail: The_Maniac@lightstream.net
2nd, go to this site:
http://www.lightstream.net/~the_maniac/floor.html
It is a link on my page about my replacement floor pan project (including a materials list).
To help answer your questions:
- I got my pans from Classic Industries (probably the same pans, different vendor)
- The factory pan is 1 piece. The restore pans are 2 (two big to ship as 1 piece). So some re-engineering may be in order.
- The unibody frame is welded to the floor (this takes some finesse to detach the old floor from the frame members). My site shows a pic of them to give you an idea (if needed, I can circle and point them out to you).
- The best and easiest way we found in my replacement to remove the old ones was with an air chissel (that was awesome).
Hope this (and the link) gives you some food for thought. This is a big project. Mine took about 2 weeks (spending a lot of time working on it, mostly saturday and sunday). I won't lie, at certain points of the project, my father and I thought we just destroyed the car (it was his neighbor that showed us the light).
Once again, feel free to ask me what you need, I will try to help. When I did this, I could only wish I knew some one that had this experience already....
------------------
'84 5.0 liter v8 Z28 Camaro
'93 3.3 liter v6 Grand Am SE
http://www.lightstream.net/~the_maniac
E-Mail: The_Maniac@lightstream.net
12-05-2001, 04:56 PM
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1st off nice site Maniac looks like a sweet ride.
2nd a couple of tips for darkvengance
1 If you know what you're doing an air chisel works great. If you don't DON"T USE IT, use a cutting wheel (better control for the inexperienced IMO)
2 a spot weld cutter will make short work of the spot welds that hold the pan to the floor supports (available from eastwood and swap meets)
3 cut the minimum amount of metal out that gets rid of the rust
4 take your time and MEASURE LOTS of times before cutting the replacement panel
I there's a lot of rust it may be better to have a body shop repair the rust depending on cost of course
Good Luck
2nd a couple of tips for darkvengance
1 If you know what you're doing an air chisel works great. If you don't DON"T USE IT, use a cutting wheel (better control for the inexperienced IMO)
2 a spot weld cutter will make short work of the spot welds that hold the pan to the floor supports (available from eastwood and swap meets)
3 cut the minimum amount of metal out that gets rid of the rust
4 take your time and MEASURE LOTS of times before cutting the replacement panel
I there's a lot of rust it may be better to have a body shop repair the rust depending on cost of course
Good Luck
12-05-2001, 07:39 PM
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1st: No air compressor... so no cutting wheel, and no air chissel... will a sledge and good chissel set and super sawzall work? (I knoe this is the long hard way - but I have time... to do this right.
2nd: I am thinking of replacing the rocker panels as well - I am worried about structural integrity... I meant if I take out the floor panels, the rocker panels, dosn't that mean there is nothing connecting the front of the car with the rear except the roof - and I have t tops on top of it :P (my car is not going to split in half is it?! )
3rd: I saw in the webside you provided that you left the transmission tunnel in tact from front to rear of the car... did this make the project a lot easier? (sorry the frame work is not very visible in your pictures...) Can you be more specific on the easiest way to remove the framing from the floor pan? Does the car need to be on stands?
4th: does anyone have any information on this 3m metal bonding glue? Will it hold as good as a weld... ?(very important question - any information...)
5th: So you know I will have the engine removed, the tranny removed, gas tank removed, exhaust removed... pretty much everything... I already have the doors, ground effects, bumpers, all front body panels, and the whole interior is removed. This car is being completely restored by me... but I have never had to do floor pans or quarter panels before (luckily I do not have to do the quarters...)
6: Can the floor pans and rocker panels be changed at the same time?
Thank you for all the help!!!
thanx
ray
2nd: I am thinking of replacing the rocker panels as well - I am worried about structural integrity... I meant if I take out the floor panels, the rocker panels, dosn't that mean there is nothing connecting the front of the car with the rear except the roof - and I have t tops on top of it :P (my car is not going to split in half is it?!
)3rd: I saw in the webside you provided that you left the transmission tunnel in tact from front to rear of the car... did this make the project a lot easier? (sorry the frame work is not very visible in your pictures...) Can you be more specific on the easiest way to remove the framing from the floor pan? Does the car need to be on stands?
4th: does anyone have any information on this 3m metal bonding glue? Will it hold as good as a weld... ?(very important question - any information...)
5th: So you know I will have the engine removed, the tranny removed, gas tank removed, exhaust removed... pretty much everything... I already have the doors, ground effects, bumpers, all front body panels, and the whole interior is removed. This car is being completely restored by me... but I have never had to do floor pans or quarter panels before (luckily I do not have to do the quarters...)
6: Can the floor pans and rocker panels be changed at the same time?
Thank you for all the help!!!
thanx
ray
12-05-2001, 07:48 PM
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Also I want to replace the panels from end to end, side to side... the panels I am getting are FULL replacements, so I will be cutting the floor out at the toeboards all the way to behind the seats... I want to reaplace as much fresh metal as possible, so not going to cut the new panel at all... I am concerned about breaking these welds... will a chissel work with a sledge? I have a very nice craftsman chissel set...
thanx again
thanx again
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