68 Barracuda floor pan rust advice

[UtahUtes]

Hi all, been reading this forum for the past year since I picked up this car but just joined. Looking for some advice on best way to address rust in the front floor pans. The rust is fairly localized in the grooves although there is some deep pitting outside of them. Most of the pan looks in pretty decent shape (most of the brown stuff in the pic is carpet glue). Do you think it's best to cut away the entire section and replace with aftermarket steel or do some more localized patching. I've seen videos using a combo of POR-15 and fiber tape but that obviously wont add much in the way of structural stability. New to this, it's my first project. I do have some experience welding but don't currently own one (might be a good excuse to finally buy one!). Appreciate any advice.

 

[DC 340]

Welcome to the forum. To me, it doesn't look worth cutting out the entire section. You can probably completely plug those holes using a mig welder alone and a grinding wheel to smooth both up top and underneath. Unless it looks a whole lot worse underneath, that's the direction I would head in. Rust proof it all afterwards. Yep, I would buy a mig welder. It helps a ton on sheet metal repair.

 

[1MeanA]

It depends what you want....a quick fix (nothing wrong with that) or the highest quality fix. I would say good luck welding a patch in to that rusty metal so you would be looking at a new front floor. For a quick fix I would try Por15 Patch. You got not much to lose.

 

[RustyRatRod]

However big you think the rust damage is, it's probably about twice that size. So keep that in mind.

 

[gdrill]

Showcar?
Gotta do the entire floorpan! Start at the roof!

Awesome car to be driven?
Cut out everything to clean steal and weld in a patch of flat steel. Make sure to spot weld it back to the frame where it was from factory. Extra spots doesn’t hurt.
I would stop at that big divet just past the end of the groove.

 

[UtahUtes]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. Everything to the rear of this pic really looks great so I wouldn't want to mess with any of that. Drivers side front pan has some damage too, although not as bad as in this pic. This is definitely not intended to be a show car, but I do like the piece of mind knowing that something as low-level as floor pans is fixed and fixed right so I wont have to revisit it at some point.

 

[Bodyperson]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. Everything to the rear of this pic really looks great so I wouldn't want to mess with any of that. Drivers side front pan has some damage too, although not as bad as in this pic. This is definitely not intended to be a show car, but I do like the piece of mind knowing that something as low-level as floor pans is fixed and fixed right so I wont have to revisit it at some point.

Start poking at it with a blunt tool like a phillips screw driver. That will give you an idea of how bad it is. I'm thinking you are about to do some welding.

 

[barbee6043]

Start poking at it with a blunt tool like a phillips screw driver. That will give you an idea of how bad it is. I'm thinking you are about to do some welding.

^^^Above is so true!
I use a big right angle grinder with a 4 inch wire CUP to also determine what metal I have. And like the other guy said, thin metal is hard to mig weld, and rusty metal won't weld!

And also like said, there are quick "fixes" and real fixes! I always prefer to leave as much original metal as possible.

There are ways to actually make repairs to these reinforcing ribs that can last many years, with a car in a garage, but lipstick on a pig is what it will be called, so I won't go there.

 

[1MeanA]

....And also like said, there are quick "fixes" and real fixes! I always prefer to leave as much original metal as possible....

After my last project I am a big believer in saving as many factory welds as possible and replacing metal at the minimum. However, you have to consider that welding on old metal doesn't yield good results. It can work but won't be pretty which isn't a big consideration on a floor for many.