Replacing the Floor Pans

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Not yet. I took my car money for the month ( SWMBO lets me have an allowance for MY spending :D ) got repurposed to a new 73" Mitsubishi 1080P TV, a new gaming computer for me, and three computers for the kids. I haven't even ordered the kit yet...

Next month, after all the credit cards are paid off ( we don't like to carry a balance ) I get to get back to car stuff. Hopefully that Seattle moderate winter will return, and I can get in the garage and do some work. It has been snowing for a week now, and with no power in the garage...it's kinda cold :(

j
 
ted_sweet said:
in opinion the floor pan is a suctural part of the car and s/b welded in not glued.
Click to expand...
As I understand it, that is how the new cars are built. I also understand that it has been common practice in body shops for a number of years. I've never heard of a car falling apart, so I am not that concerned.

j
 
I dont think they glue floors in new cars. They do 1/4s and roof skins But I doudt they do floors or frames.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they do it on "full frame" cars but I would be a little leary about our uni-body cars. I'm under the assumption the floors in our cars provide bracing and stability to the car as a whole. Just my thoughts.
 
I used to work on spacecraft....and every panel is glued. Megastrong stuff.

However, that stuff is built under perfect manufacturing conditions. Temp, humidity, surface prep, all perfect. The metal will fail before the glue joint will!

Glueing floors into 40 yr. old metal with grease, oxidation, and god knows whatelse on them, to "new" floors that are dissimilar. Epoxies mixed with varying degrees of efficiency. Forget it. Never would I trust it.

WELD them. period. floors are structural in the unibody. Qtr.s? maybe.
 
www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/mopp_0705_floorplan_replacement/index.htm

another article: Well, we have talked about this a number of times, can "gluing" panels on a car possibly be as strong as welding it on. Well, my 10 year olds science project may have the answer!

He cut 12 pieces of 20 gauge steel. We then welded them together in pairs. We butt welded with the MIG, "plug welded" with the MIG, spot welded with a $20,000 ProSpot STRSW and drilled 1/4" holes and bolted two as well. HE (grinding and gluing them by himself) then bonded with Winzer Universal Panel bonding adhesive another piece of metal to each of the pairs of welded and bolted sets.

We put clamps on them and pulled them apart using the Chief frame rack at work (10 year old boys love destroying things, don't they?).

Here are the results, the glue won every single time! Pretty impressive I would say.

another article: As far as strength goes the manufacture state then when applied correctly the adhesive joint is 11 times stronger than a weld joint. I was reading on a 4x4 forum about a guy that had used the panel adhesive on almost all of his replacement panels and one day out on the trail he rolled him 4x4 all the way down a big hill several times and although the truck was pretty smashed up, none of the adhesive repairs had failed structurally.

another article: www.goodwrench.com/gmgoodwrenchjsp/...Z06)/2006-2008/12_Floor_Panel_Replacement.pdf

I'm not saying i have glued in a floorpan. I've always welded them in, but i think if it is prepared correctly it can be done.
 
I haven't had a chance to read the posts but I have found similar information online regarding the strength. Just haven't heard of anyone gluing them in. I will begin welding my pans in today. Praying all goes well with that. Thanks for the input guys.
 
I would glue only if I was building a model......

Lap welding is good if your a novice..... not much to mess up.. like the other guy said your carpet will hide everything, people burn thru for alot for the wrong reasons usually not with the heat to high either 1) bad ground on the gun or to far away, you just sit there with the torch until you have molten lava and then there is a big hole 2) not a clean surface its got rust and grease and yuck...
and 3) If your not using gas on you Mig don't be welding, shielding gas is the best way to make a good weld, unless you are welding on your car trailer then no one would care why you have these giant blobs.....

Spot weld removers are the way to go, realativly cheap, number of sizes 3/8 and 5/16 are my choice, Lay the old metal over the new, drill your spot weld holes and whammo, just like mopar......

If you have never done any of this work its ok to practice but find someone in your club that has done it before invite them over for pizza and tea (remember this is a family board) and let them give you some tips.....

Sheet metal isn't cheap neither is shipping when you have to buy a new panel because you warped, blew a hole, or cut it to short....

Happy Welding....
 
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