'74 Duster Floor pans

[ssouthers]

Hey guys,

I've been working on this car for awhile and I'm down to some hard cosmetics and body work. I know I can buy a brand new whole floor for about $500 with shipping. I can also buy the pieces separate and do it that way. Anybody have any suggestions or advice? Anybody done anything similar before?

It's automatic with a 318 for the curious. No advice is bad advice.

 

[ESP47]

What's the damage like? Does it just need 1 or 2 floor patch panels or the whole thing?

You can get separate Goodmark panels for fairly cheap but they require some massaging to fit right. AMD stuff requires very little extra work. Basically cut and weld. So you have to decide what's more important to you, time or money? Also it depends on how much of a stickler you are about the restoration. Patch panels are more obvious once installed but most guys aren't too worried about that since it'll be under carpet.

Search whole floor replacements on here. Most guys will brace the car with 2x4's or something like that to keep the car from tweaking since the floor is a big part of the structure.

 

[76orangewagon]

Hey guys,

I've been working on this car for awhile and I'm down to some hard cosmetics and body work. I know I can buy a brand new whole floor for about $500 with shipping. I can also buy the pieces separate and do it that way. Anybody have any suggestions or advice? Anybody done anything similar before?

It's automatic with a 318 for the curious. No advice is bad advice.

I went full floor, but it all depends how much panel replacement is needed and your welding skills, technically a full floor only needs spot welded after you drill or punch a million holes. I used AMD and it dropped right into place and fit perfect.

 

[ssouthers]

esp47 , The front panels are pretty tore up. While I'm at it though I think I just wanna replace the whole thing, because the back looks like I could have problems with it in the future. I'll probly go AMD. Thanks for the advice on the 2x4s and such, I'll definitely look it up on here before I do anything drastic.

 

[ssouthers]

76orangewagon , That job you did looks pretty nice! I have similar rust in the front panels of my floor, especially on the passenger side. If I could do a job have as nice as yours looks then I'll be happy. I'm a pretty good welder so tacking it in shouldn't be a huge deal. It looks like you tacked it from the bottom as well, is this correct? The photos are a great help btw, I definitely appreciate the feedback on this question.

 

[76orangewagon]

76orangewagon , That job you did looks pretty nice! I have similar rust in the front panels of my floor, especially on the passenger side. If I could do a job have as nice as yours looks then I'll be happy. I'm a pretty good welder so tacking it in shouldn't be a huge deal. It looks like you tacked it from the bottom as well, is this correct? The photos are a great help btw, I definitely appreciate the feedback on this question.

I put the floor pan in place and outlined all the braces from the underside of the car, then removed it and drilled several 1/4" holes that would become the spot weld area's. I had my Dad push down with a wood handled hammer one hole in front of where I was welding to get a gap free weld. Everything was welded from the top. There are several better pictures on the first few pages of my build, covering all the panel replacement in case your interested in checking them out...the link is below by my signature.