HGC

Has anyone had a body shop replace their floors? What kind of cost would I be looking at for the front floors on a 65 coupe? I thought my floorswere pretty good but I found the previous owner had done a patch on the driver's side. It's not a bad repair. about 7 by 5 inches where the floor curves up in front. He sheet metal screwed in a patch and sealed it up. The rest looks OK although I have not taken out all the carpet...a little surface rust inside but they withstand the hammer test. The passenger side does not seem to have the same problem. I haven't welded for like 40 years (I'm 56)and I don't really have a place to do it myself so I thought I might check the body shops to see if they could do the floors. And yes, I suspect a leaking cowl caused the rust...but that's another project. I'll just drive it on sunny days until then. As always, thanks for the help. I don't know what I would do without this forum and its search function.

palerider

Good luck finding a body shop to do rust repair and even if you do shop rates can be hazardous to your health. I had both full floors on mine along with trunk drop offs and rear tail light panel - $1800.I supplied the parts. I've since bought a mig welder and would be okay doing this myself.Matter of fact it was a bad cowl that caused mine - plan on giving it a go myself this winter.

Another option is when at local cruise nights ask around. I found a guy that does auto work out of his home shop full time that does good work and quoted me $25 hour shop rate. Plan on having him redo door skins, patch qtrs and shoot the car. Basically any part visible - don't trustmyself to do it.

shr

if you do the teardown, put the car on a trailer or drive it down to a shop but figure around 25-30 hours of charge time at 40-60.00 / hr. most shops do that just to get rid of people that want rust repair but that should give you a round figure depending on your location. and that is your suppling the parts.

HGC

Thanks. I have been thinking about buying a MIG welder and signing up for a welding course at the local junior college, or getting some scrap metal and have a go at learning it myself. If I did I'd probably have to go with the 110 flux core unit. The local Farm and Fleet store has some nice Lincoln MIG welders for around $300 - $400. I'm still a little cramped for room with a two car garage and three cars. I've gotmaybe a couple of feet on both sides of the Mustang to work in. I think I'll take your advice and ask around at the car shows and see if I can find someone experience and willing at a better price than body shops. The car isn't so bad its going to fall apart but sooner or later I'm going to have to do this or get it done.

4reboy

My body shop replaced my floors, along with all the patches, door skin, etc. Came out great, but obviously more $$$ than doing it yourself

groho

Sound like we're neighbors. Well, after 20+ yrs, I'm currently in a welding class at the local community college, and it's amazing what you think you know verses what you SHOULD know about welding. Taking an evening semester of weldinghas opened my eyes to the PROPER way to weld. It teaches the necessaties, and differences in each technique: MIG, Stick,TIG, GAS, PLASMA, and Oxy-gas. I'm very confident, and looking forward to pulling and patching a few panels on my coupe when my schedule opens up. If you plan on buying a welder anyway, spend the extra $40-60 in tuition and take the class. BTW, sorry to get off subject, but the last price I received to replace a qrtr panel was $1400 per panel, usinga lap weld and bondo. I could screw it up three times over before spending that much money.
The best answer to your question, if you want immediate satisfaction,it's gonna cost ya.

66 Restomod

I had the same rust problem on my coupe, but with no prior repair to undo. Here's my cheap fix.

I bought a curved driver's floor panel from one of the parts places for $25, and traced out the affected area and a few extra inches on each side on the new panel and cut it out. I then took an airgrinder and took the rusty area all the way down to bare metal as much as I could, as well as the back of the new panel. There were some new holes visible now, which showed the repair would have been right on top of the frame rail which had no rust in it at all. I then used plenty of 2-part epoxy panel bonding adhesive for about $40 to adhere the patch to the previously rusty area. (This is sold at auto-refinishing places, not hardware stores.)

It's as close to being a permanent repair without welding as it can be IMO. Seemed excessive for me to remove an otherwise fine floor to fix such a localized small spot of removeable rust.

109jb

I wouldn't personally do the panel bonding adhesive on a mustang unless the area is very small. Reason is because the stang is a uni-body car and EVERYTHING is part of the structure that holds the car together. The panel adhesive is tough stuff, but is not as strong as a weld.

TexasAxMan

I asked a body man with over 40 years experience (including a lot of classic Mustangs) about the panel adhesive. He said that it is more than strong enough for floor pan repairs. He used it on a truck that was subsequently rolled, he said the metal tore but the bond held up.

I haven't decided to use the panel adhesive, but I am considering it. I'd like to hear other opinions.

109jb

The floor pans ARE structural and the info below is directly from 3M's website:

3M™ Automix™ Panel Bonding Adhesive
Two-part epoxy used to bond steel, aluminum, SMC and FRP. For use on outer body panels only, not on structural components.