omg what did I get my self into?? (floor repair)

GEezus. I went into this job thinking that I only had to do the 6 inch sections between the frame rail and the rocker. I peeled the rug off and WAM everything BUT the frame rail needs to be replaced. I worked on it from 9am to 430 pm + clean up time and I only have half of one side done:bawl:. I kinda wish I just bought a floor pan. I drove home tonite with just the drivers seat, dash board, and the essentials. Oh yea and a great view of my exhaust and the road going by.


So the point of this thread.

Following recommendations to anyone going to attempt to patch floor-

Dont attempt repair the day you take the carpet out. Take the carpet out and interior and do a very maticulous job of figuring out exactly how much sheet metal ( buy to much). Inspect all areas especially where you are going to be welding too. Then draw or write out your plan of attack thoroughly.

If you are able to do this over a few days.

day 1. remove all interior very carefully and do not break or misplace anything. Maybe clean the carpet, interior panels, etc while they are out.

day 2. Start performing patch job and continue untill complete. Once its done clean it up real nice with vacuum and some sort of cleaner. Then undercoat complete floor pan inside and out and let dry over night.

day 3. Put complete interior back in.

Sorry if this seems so simple but believe me the more you take into concideration before you attempt this the better off you will be.

massscene said:

do not break or misplace anything.

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NOW YOU TELL ME!!!!

Jump This said:

NOW YOU TELL ME!!!!

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LOL. Looking back on that it probably wasnt necessary to be said.:looney:

Might not be in time to help you, but I found that making paper templates to fit and then transferring the shapes to the sheetmetal made getting the compound curves along the tranny tunnel a WHOLE lot easier. Good luck.

well im finally done. 24 hours of labor! I am so beat. On the passenger side I used 16 gauge. (to thick to form and cut easy but good to weld with). on the drivers side I stepped it down a notch on the thickness and went with 22 gauge (a lot easier to cut and form but need very low temp to weld with)

all in all i am pretty happy with how it turned out. I seam sealed the inside and undercoated all my new patching in the undercarraige.

Next time Im going with a floor pan.

Apparently you got yourself into a free class.

Welding experience never hurts

That is true. I was actually thinking about taking a welding class once I started doing this. It seems there would be invaluable when building any sort of automotive project. Kinda funny since I did this job people around me are surprised I can weld and are coming up with some projects for me. Maybe Ill make a little cash on the side.

Floor pans are for sissies anyway! The holes in them let the water run out when roof and doors leak too. It makes it much easyer to remove the tcase also. Just beef up the rail and lay down some plywood if the ball and chain bitches much. IMO anyway

Weld up my floor pans for $$?

Good 18ga sheet steel is what I put down. I just formed it up and welded it into place. The hardest part was the tranny tunnel and the wire wanting to poke thru the material. Best bet is to take a light ballpein hammer and tap underneath on the floor to check for soft spots.

Blaine B. said:

Weld up my floor pans for $$?

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I would honestly not do the amount of patching I did on mine for anthing less than a case of beer and dinner for a week, and that would be from one of my closest friends.

If someone came to me that was a stranger or just someone I knew and wanted me to do thier floors what I did to mine I wouldnt do it for less than 1000.00 bucks. At that point you could probabily take it to a proffesional or get rid of the thing and start fresh.




but mine are done!arty:

I don't know if this is feasible for you all, but I didn't wield anything when I patched my floor boards A. because I don't own a device and B. I would burn something/myself. I am sure I will get flamed buy ever one of you hard core body guys, but here is what I do.

Bite, rip and cut the entire interior out, salvage what you sit on, or hold on to, toss the rest.

Grind, cut or smash all that is rusty out of your way, the more jagged it is when you are done, the better.

Use rust converter or some type of caustic rust removal product on all the bare metal after the surgery. Then apply rubberized undercoating to all metal surfaces. I am cheap so I went to a company that does gutter and metal roofing and bought up alot of their heaviest scrap, they gave me most of the small pieces. Get the kind that is pre-painted/primed. Cut them using snips until they fit, once they are close, use a rubber mallet and beat them until they fit the contures(sp). Then spray down a gasket of spray insulation around the hole and pop rivet the new plate/patch down. Then coat with your favorite cheap bed liner.


Reassemble.


DONE!!

It may be Sanford and son style, but it works for trail rigs. I wouldn't be as violent on a DD.

Full pan replacement is no picnic either. As I look at my 90' and realize I still have to finish both pans and no longer feel like playing with this thing I started them a year ago...lol, as a part time endeavor, I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna pay the $40 and have it taken to the bone yard and wish it were the "cancer carpet" designers going in to the crusher instead of my XJ.

You might want to consider "parting it out"...then send it to the boneyard...
if that is not an attractive solution for you, you may be able to find a charity to donate it to and use it as a tax writeoff...here in CT, there are many local organizations that will arrange to have a vehicle removed at no cost, and supply the required paperwork to be used as a tax writeoff if you itemize at tax time...You will be helping them and yourself...

just my .02

McQue...

Donating is out of the question...If I can't have it nobody can.....LOL...I'm Kidding. Its already torn apart interior gutted except for the dash and once the floor pans were out you could really see the extent of the rust. Inner rockers, wheel wells, fuel tube housing etc. The exterior rockers along with the lower door panels and lower rear quarters.
Now I'm sure I could fix all this. I have the pans and various size sheet metal sheets, welders (ARC, MIG, TIG, Oxy/Acet) etc. Seems the one thing I'm missing is the desire....lol.
I will prob. strip it down to just the rusty old carcass, cut that down and dispose of properly, ya ...thats it ,,properly.
Figure I'll rebuild the eng. It has a good tranny (AW4) and TC (242), I would like to put the 242 in my 91'...sorry to all 231 lovers, I just like the 242 better and I if don't keep it I will donate the Renix "brain" to 5-90.
Now I get to replace the rusted spots on my 91' and the 89' I just picked up, and trust me it will be patch repairs, no more full pan replacement.

dizzymac said:

It has a good tranny (AW4) and TC (242), I would like to put the 242 in my 91'...sorry to all 231 lovers, I just like the 242 better and I if don't keep it I will donate the Renix "brain" to 5-90.

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How far from Albany, NY are ya? I wanna swap my 231 for a 242. I'm pretty sure it will fit a '98 4.0L 5-Speed, right? I'd need the shifter handle though

what is the best thing to spray on the entire undercarriage of my rusty 94 so i dont have to worry about rust any longer? would the weight of spray in bedliner be enough to throw of any angles of balances? Thanks!

por-15 is pretty sturdy and will handle surface rust well. it's not a simple job though, since you need prep work and prep chemicals.

will that stick to pretty much everything? like axels and all that stuff? and what about previous undercoating?

POR15 is a good product...but....(Diz steps up on his soap box)...it does contain isocyanates, terrible for your lungs and as guys we all know that we don't take all the precautions that we should, so that is why I switched to Zero Rust.
I have parts of my 90' that have been exposed to NE weather for two years, protected by nothing other than ZR....no rust at all. It comes in colors and DOES not need to be top coated so you don't have to worry about UV.
All that being said treat any rust you have first then coat with a bedliner type product. I wouldn't have any concerns about the weight of it, the benefits far out-weigh( I'm sorry..I had to) the downfalls.