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Rust in floor pan recommendations requested

3K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  chownage 
#1 ·
68 Mustang Fastback

I’ve got some rust on my floor pans in a couple of spots. It doesn’t (yet) appear to be too bad, but my question is, are these spots small enough for a cut and replace or should I be looking at replacing the whole floor pan?
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The top 2 photos are the drivers floor and the last is behind the drivers seat.
 
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#2 ·
Start poking at the rust, it's certainly worse than it currently appears, it Always is,.......
 
#4 ·
I can weld so my standpoint is cut all the rust out and weld a patch

If welding is out of the question and it’s just a driver I’m not saying you should do this but some good paint and fiberglass would do it but it’s not the best at all the floors are the body of your car
 
#6 ·
Rust holes mean a lot more rust, thin metal, etc.

I am old school, repaired a lot of rust with a welding torch. When it was hot enough to melt the steel, the holes would double or triple or more in size as the thin metal vanished. It took a while to "force" it to good metal. So poke away, find where it is still thick and good, and plan on patches or sections.

Or, as was common, go get a street sign, cut it, and pop rivet in some patches.
 
#8 ·
Step 1. Get everything off the floor
step 2. Clean it well especially since it has the Mustang in it. You can’t tell the extent of the damage like it is.
Step 3. strip the rusted areas down to good clean metal. You will likely find it is 3 times as big as it appears.
Step 4. Post new pics with the full damage clearly visible.

If you can weld or have a friend who can, that damage doesn’t look too bad and could be patched. It just isn’t clear if you would be better off replacing a whole pan area I.e. front drivers pan, a whole side, or the complete floor. In some ways the whole floor is easier than a large patch because you are sticking to original weld points.

Once you know the full extent of the damage you can make a better decision.
 
#9 ·
Clean it all up. Use a wire wheel and get it to where you can see where the bad ends and the good starts and proceed from there. The 2nd pic looks ike it has been repaired previously. Under the brake pedal and along the transmission tunnel etc.The last pic looks like an easy patch. But you never know until you can see what's there.
 
#14 ·
I had a similar situation with my car I cut out the affected area cut the same section out of the new panel welded it in finish ground the underside for a non repair appearance left the top side welds a little high for strength.
 

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#15 ·
Those look good enough for a "cut and patch". The places that concern me would be the overlapped seams. I'd probably take a spot blaster, or the like, to them as well as flood them with a "rust treatment" (Ospho, Naval Jelly, EvapoRust, etc.) and then when everything is done and patched up coat the whole thing with Master Series Silver, seam sealer where applicable, cover that with M-S-S and then your coating of choice....or Lizard Skin, Kill-Mat, etc.
 
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