DIY floor pans.

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"if you're gonna replace more than about 25% of any given panel, you're time, effort and ultimately money ahead to do the whole panel."
This is very true. Unless you have tons of free time and no money it makes no sense not to do a full pan. Its very easy to do and takes a fraction of the time than playing around with a bunch of individual patches. Yeah I have patched floors before but very small spots. Your car needs an entire floor, no way around it.
It doesn't need the entire floor the drivers side is fine just the the passenger side so it needs half a floor hahaha.
 
There was a fuy jere or on youtube down in south america thay firmed his own floor pans with factory brads and all. Beat a panel over a wooden form with router cut reliefs in it for the beads. Came out pretty darn good if all you have is time and wood and a piece of 18G.

I've seen a video where a guy did that, might even be the same one. I was pretty impressed with how the panels turned out! But, I also have to say that guy in the video I watched definitely had more than average form building and metal working skills. And I know for absolutely sure that what he did wasn't easier, less time consuming, or even cheaper than buying a full pan if you considered his time and labor. Maybe he just had a ton of time on his hands, but more than likely he couldn't get a replacement panel because of where he was.

It doesn't need the entire floor the drivers side is fine just the the passenger side so it needs half a floor hahaha.

I dunno about that. With the rust that you show there I think you'll find that some of the metal you think is good enough to weld to definitely isn't. I've done a lot of patches and even partial pan replacements where I ordered just the front foot well or just one half of a pan, and most of the time when I'm done welding I wish I'd made the patch twice the size I thought I needed because a bunch of the metal I thought was good really wasn't. You don't want to end up in a spot where you're making new floor pan with welding wire as you overlap bead on bead looking for good metal.
 
Ok thanks guys I really appreciate it. I have a couple questions. Did anything change dimensionally from 74 to 75 I cant find anything for 75 everything stops at 74. I'm pretty sure nothing changes from 74-76 in swingers and scamps? This is the whole passenger side floor full length and it says it goes from the rocker to half way to the hump will this work? Even tho it says 74?

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Think it had something to do with clearance for catalytic convertor. Im sure someone will chime in with a solid answer.

home made panels, large flat area, i prefer 14 gauge, then 16 or 18 for the more shapely parts.
Smaller parts are easier to form.
Air hammer and various bits on a block of wood and you can shape beads and use it for forming the panels. I made my own 4 foot brake, and a planishing hammer with a frame to hold my air hammer to shape metal pieces. Its handy.
 
Ok guys im working late tonight lol i got the rest of the car cleaned out and all the old insulation out the drivers side looks solid all the way back to the trunk hump the passenger side is another story under the seat insulation had some surface rust i cleaned it with a wire brush and took a screwdriver to it really good i had one spot that went thru. What is the panel called behind the floor pan? Like the part under the seat? Its flat enough i can weld a panel in there im not worried about it. My question is, is why is the passenger side so bad? Where is all this moisture coming from only on one side of the car? Here are some more pics of the whole thing.

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Ok guys im working late tonight lol i got the rest of the car cleaned out My question is, is why is the passenger side so bad? Where is all this moisture coming from only on one side of the car?



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Maybe the windshield is leaking. Maybe the heater core. Or maybe the lower cowl. Going to have to get your heater box out and start poking around up in there, see what you got.

Welcome to the rabbit hole. Come on in. There's a bunch of us in here. LOL.
 
Maybe the windshield is leaking. Maybe the heater core. Or maybe the lower cowl. Going to have to get your heater box out and start poking around up in there, see what you got.

Welcome to the rabbit hole. Come on in. There's a bunch of us in here. LOL.
Rabbit hole? Underground rabbit habitat. We all live there...
 
Wiper pivots are suspect as well.

I think 75 was the first year for catalytic converter. The 75 up floor pan has a hump for cat clearance. If your running a cat you will have to modify that area. If not, install the pan as-is.
 
Wiper pivots are suspect as well.
Maybe the windshield is leaking. Maybe the heater core. Or maybe the lower cowl. Going to have to get your heater box out and start poking around up in there, see what you got.

Welcome to the rabbit hole. Come on in. There's a bunch of us in here. LOL.
I know my wiper pivots and the air duct area leaks but how would that affect the rear ? Does it make it that far back?
 
I guess the dart floor is a little different in the rear than a duster.
Yea i think it is mine has like three separate pieces the floor pan then the section under the seat then the part that goes over the wheels into the trunk looks like the duster only has two the floor and the part going into the trunk
 
What do you guys think of this idea? I can reconstruct the driveshaft hump down the the floor and the area under the seat then put this in the floor pan area?

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