stdyhand

Well I took a closer look at the rust and hole in the driver side floor pan. I thought it was only one small section of the floor pan. Boy was I wrong. Its pretty much all four corners of the floor pans. Someone didn't bother to fix door seals leaking and a clogged fresh air vent so water kept getting inside.

It turns out the floor pan is nothing but rust. The only thing holding the floor together is the subframe connectors. The floor is rusted from the left to right side and has a small hole on the driver side tunnel well, but looks to still be part of the floor pan itself. It is rusted clear up to where the floor pan attaches to the foot rest or lower firewall.

Obviously IF I were going to repair this I'd have to replace the entire floor pan on both sides.

I don't mind the work and I have a fair idea how to weld since I have several family members that were actually welders by trade.

My problem is the car already has subframe connectors welded on and I was under the impression the new floor pans slip under the cross member. I couldn't get the greatest look at it but it looks like the floor pan wouldn't slip under the cross member with the sub frame connectors on there, plus those connectors are probably the only thing keeping the car structurally sound.

Has anyone done this before and already had subframe connectors on?

I've browsed the web but the only information I've found was rather vague. I'm sure there aren't too many people that actually do this and if they have they probably didn't have the time to do an extensive write up.

mjr46

cut the subframe connectors off then weld them back on once floor is welded in, trust me it'll be alot easier that way

stdyhand

If I do that and only cut out one floor pan, say the left side first, will I have to worry about screwing up the structure of the car? The car shouldn't bend in any way should it?

Oh I was wrong on the hole in the side of the tunnel well. Its not the tunnel well, it is just part of the floor pan. It doesn't extend up the tunnel at all. The whole front half of the floor pan is rusted and literally hanging loose where it should otherwise be attached to the side, tunnel, and front foot rests.

My concern is what kind of shape is the foot rest/lower firewall in. If its rusted real bad the floor pan likely can't even be welded back to the firewall due to the damage. Hopefully this isn't the case.

mjr46

i DID A 68 mustang 1 side at a time and never had a issue with things getting out of wack......I removed the front rail and floor and welded the two back in and came out fine