padak

iTrader: (10)

It's time to repair the floor pan on the drivers side of my 1987 Trans Am. I don't think it's in too-bad of shape; but what do I know?

Can I get some opinions on how to repair, and the easiest way. The floor pans I see on all the parts sites are like $300. Is anyone selling any here on the boards, can I use regular sheet metal?

PIC:

nr82ta

Hey Padak, I had the same problem on my car. You are fine to use sheet metal for those sections. I wouldn't spend $300 on a whole floor pan for that small area.

deadbodyman

Im getting ready to do my pans...theres a lot of ways to do it it all depends on your skills ....Can you weld and do you have a welder? If not do you want one and want to learn to weld? Are you doing this yourself because you want too and enjoy doing this kind of work...because believe it or not theres some real sick pups out there that LOVE doing this sheet (like me) I can show you how to do it when I do mine...next week... I'm using a used floor pan from a donor car that costs about 100.00 complete from front seam to rear seam,and rocker to rocker and all the braces for the seats and all...But I want an undetectable repair ,you probably just want to keep your feet dry and inside the car and done in a weekend without doing any welding and theres a way to do it that way too.
Mine rusted out because I was stupid,they were perfect last year.

padak

iTrader: (10)

OK - I just want to buy some sheet metal and cut/bend it like nr82ta.

Question, what size (thickness) should I order?

Does anyone recommend a dealer/vendor on the web?

deadbodyman

go to any bodyshop and ask them for a bent up hood ,they'll give you one.
whats great about using a hood is it has epoxy primer on both sides already . Pop rivits and seam sealer should take care of the rest...

1991sleeper

iTrader: (-3)

I'm so glad I live in the south n ain't gotta worry about this crap

91' bird 305 TBI T-5, trick flow 175 cc heads, 4.10 gears, lots of suspension upgrades......... 24mpg @ 2300rpm hwy 65mph ........ 8.63@ 85mph 1/8th on street tires... 8.000's soon

padak

iTrader: (10)

I have the "bulge" hood that came stock on my 87.
I purchased a "GTA" hood, listed my "bulge" hood locally and no one was interested.

It's a shame to cut up a good good, but oh-well, no one wanted it.

thanks for the advice!

nr82ta

I used 20 gauge I believe, it's better to go a bit thicker than factory, I think factory was about 22 gauge. You can get sheets of steel from you local steel companies, I have no clue about online

flash2042

getting ready to do mine, too. I was thinking 18 gauge, but if factory was 22 I may rethink that. I'll be posting pictures in my thread "A new beginning".

nr82ta

Yeah I'm not 100% sure but but I'm pretty sure it's around 22-20 gauge, especially after 1982 they used thinner metal on the body of camaros and firebirds, you may be fine with 18g but it's a lot harder to shape!

flash2042

Yep, but not above my skill level. I still have all my tools from the days when I was a NASCAR body hanger :-P

nr82ta

Haha you're golden then! I only had my hands, a tin snip and a small hammer to shape the steel so it was pretty tough.

flash2042

Those, a small body dolly, and a pair of duck bill pliers should do you fine.

phasevariance

Don't forget the fuel filter and lines run right under that rear seat if your going to weld. I did mine as well, 19 guage along with a thinner guage for the bends. Cut the rot entirely out, each tack I did was about an inch apart. Seam sealed, por'd and it's been solid ever since.

Replacing the entire pan is not for the faint of heart.

lks91gen3

Check out the latest album of my floor pan repair. If you like how this was done and want some pointers do not hesitate to contact me. Here are a before and after of one area just like you posted.

lks91gen3

100% agree!!!!! These Uni-Body frame cars are not easy to replace the entire floor pan. I did mine exactly the way you are explaining. In fact..... My sheet metal came from Home Depot of all places. 18" x 18" sheets were around $9 bucks a pieces. I used 4 sheets for the areas I had to fix.

Golfvette

iTrader: (1)

If anyone is looking for a deal on a set of Classic Industries floor pans PM me.

padak

iTrader: (10)

Question: What is the minimal specs of a welder needed to complete this type of job? Say I found a skilled welder/fabber and he currently didn't have a welder, but I can go rent one and have him complete this job, what would I need?

Thanks

nr82ta

[QUOTE=padak;5808635]Question: What is the minimal specs of a welder needed to complete this type of job? Say I found a skilled welder/fabber and he currently didn't have a welder, but I can go rent one and have him complete this job, what would I need?

Thanks[/QUOTe

Hey padak, any mig welder would be fine to use, I even did my floors with a 200$ flux core welder from Canadian tire and it worked nicely.
One thing I don't understand is why you would want someone else I do it for you? The experience is about learning and building a car yourself isn't it? If you get others to do work on your car it defeats the purpose of doing a project car. Have fun with your project! You'll make mistakes and learn and become better and in the end you can feel good because you did it yourself.

padak

iTrader: (10)

I would most likely do part/half of the work at least. I would love to learn how to weld, but I don't want my learning experience to come at the price of butchering my floor pan lol

nr82ta

I see your point, mig welding is pretty basic, as long as your bead is not a high ball on top of your metal it should hold. When you set your floors in as a beginner i would leave an overlap about 1/2 inch so you can place your new pan over the overlap, it's easier to weld without burning holes. You'll probably burn holes which isn't a big deal I burned tones of holes when I started lol. As for penetration you'll see the bead kind of melt into the metal. I'm not a pro welder but I've learned a lot from doing my cars