73 Swinger Ratty Daily Driver Project
Well I’ve been busy on the Dart the last couple days. I picked up a Hobart welder and some sheet metal from the hardware store to make some patch panels for the bad spots in the floor. The passenger side footwell was really bad.
So I made a cardboard template to cover most of the bad area knowing I would have to make a couple extra small pieces for the rust going up on to the trans tunnel.
Once I had the template transferred to my sheet metal and cut out I bent it into shape the best I could. DISCLAIMER: this is the first floor pan replacement I’ve ever done. I made the patch panel with a grinder, a couple of 3lb sledgehammers and an old piece of jute padding as a makeshift sandbag on the tailgate of a pickup truck. I know it isn’t the best way to do things but I’m limited on what I have to work with at the moment and metalwork is something I hardly ever do so I haven’t invested in anything special to do it.
Once I had the patch panel roughly in the shape I wanted I cut out the floor pan and ground out what was left of the spot welds.
And after that, lots and lots of tack welding to stitch the new floor pan in place. I’m not a great welder. Especially with flux core but I’m pretty sure there aren’t many pinholes and I used undercoating along the welds to seal up anything that might be there. There was also a small area in the drivers side rear footwell that needed to be cut out and replaced.
While I was at it I took a wire wheel to the more minor surface rust spots in the floor and put some rust treatment on them so hopefully the floors in this thing will be good for a while. All in all I’m fairly satisfied, no it’s not pretty but I’ve seen a lot worse jobs when it comes to floor pans and once the carpet is in the car ain’t nobody gonna know, haha. I’m pretty happy with no more gaping rust holes for a total of $20 for a piece of sheet metal and some time invested into it. Gotta keep to the spirit of the car! Meaning on the cheap!
Well I’ve been busy on the Dart the last couple days. I picked up a Hobart welder and some sheet metal from the hardware store to make some patch panels for the bad spots in the floor. The passenger side footwell was really bad.
So I made a cardboard template to cover most of the bad area knowing I would have to make a couple extra small pieces for the rust going up on to the trans tunnel.
Once I had the template transferred to my sheet metal and cut out I bent it into shape the best I could. DISCLAIMER: this is the first floor pan replacement I’ve ever done. I made the patch panel with a grinder, a couple of 3lb sledgehammers and an old piece of jute padding as a makeshift sandbag on the tailgate of a pickup truck. I know it isn’t the best way to do things but I’m limited on what I have to work with at the moment and metalwork is something I hardly ever do so I haven’t invested in anything special to do it.
Once I had the patch panel roughly in the shape I wanted I cut out the floor pan and ground out what was left of the spot welds.
And after that, lots and lots of tack welding to stitch the new floor pan in place. I’m not a great welder. Especially with flux core but I’m pretty sure there aren’t many pinholes and I used undercoating along the welds to seal up anything that might be there. There was also a small area in the drivers side rear footwell that needed to be cut out and replaced.
While I was at it I took a wire wheel to the more minor surface rust spots in the floor and put some rust treatment on them so hopefully the floors in this thing will be good for a while. All in all I’m fairly satisfied, no it’s not pretty but I’ve seen a lot worse jobs when it comes to floor pans and once the carpet is in the car ain’t nobody gonna know, haha. I’m pretty happy with no more gaping rust holes for a total of $20 for a piece of sheet metal and some time invested into it. Gotta keep to the spirit of the car! Meaning on the cheap!