Floorpan replacement question - Whole pan or half?

[cuda346pk]

Ok so during this winters upgrades that just keep on going and going I have discovered  the rust on my car. Obviously cowl filled with leaves and held water, rusted thru firewall above power block and accelerator cable penetration. Also got cowl area inside on drivers side. From there it puddled in floor pan and got it too. Now I have patched the firewall/cowl stuff and I have a new AMD floor pan. 1st question is if rust is only in the front half of the pan where it is deeper and held water, is there an advantage one way or the other to replacing the entire pan or just cutting out front half well behind weak metal and replace that only? What would you do and why?
2nd question - How do I deal with getting the floor pan out from under the 4 speed hump? I can see that it is a continuous piece across the transmission just in front of the shifter. Do I have to remove the hump so I can cut it apart there? I cant imagine getting to it underneath without pulling the tranny. Of course that may be a good place to cut the old out to as it is behind the rust and join the pans over that cross member then I do not have to cut that section out.

[Edison1970]

If the rest of the floor is in good shape, just replace the drivers side. If the rust goes up to the hump, remove it. Mine came off fairly easy. All welds are accessible from the inside. Look at the latest issue of mopar muscle. They replace part of a floor pan.

[HP_Cuda]

That firewall rust is not looking good, if you can find a really good metal guy it might be able to be saved.

[cuda346pk]

I already repaired the fire wall and cowl inside, just need to seal it now. That was fairly easy.
 I was only planning on replacing  the drivers side but am curious about only replacing the front half of the pan.
 I was thinking of cutting old pan in the middle of the transmission cross member flanging the new to slip under the old. That way both halves will attach to the cross member and they will join each other right over the middle of the cross member.


Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[jimynick]

I already repaired the fire wall and cowl inside, just need to seal it now. That was fairly easy.
 I was only planning on replacing  the drivers side but am curious about only replacing the front half of the pan.
 I was thinking of cutting old pan in the middle of the transmission cross member flanging the new to slip under the old. That way both halves will attach to the cross member and they will join each other right over the middle of the cross member.


Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

  Where's the savings? You'd have twice the seam welding and half the quality of repair. Drill out the spot welds in the hump and remove it, then cut out the whole floor and put it in, to it's seam behind the frt seat where it overlaps with the rear section. You'll have to skin it off the firewall, rockers and braces, but you'll get a chance to check/clean the insides of the front frame rails and if the torsion bar X member needs work too, you'll never be in a better position to do it. In addition to all that, you'll have panel  and structural integrity, no more worries about when the OTHER side will show it's pinholes, a cleaner, nicer repair all around and no Frankenstein $hite underneath your car, either. At the end of the day, it's your car and you'll do it the way you want to, but you DID ask and this's just my  Good luck 

[cuda346pk]

Either way I will only be doing the drivers side pan. I will also still be able to access drivers front framerail and the trans cross member on drivers side. If I go all the way to the seam at rear floor pan then I have more brackets on the underside of the pan to swap over and I will have to cut the transmission tunnel where the new floor pan will attach since oem was a 1 piece front pan. I was thinking if I cut it and joined over the crossmember I could retain the strength maybe even more than if I cut horizontally along the trans tunnel behind the hump as I will have to in order to do the full length pan.
I did not realize I put 2 pics of the floor pan earlier and not the firewall. Here are some before, during and after shots.

[HP_Cuda]

Ummm okay...

[cuda346pk]

Ummmm ok? In reference to what I said or to my repair. This is my first time making a patch panel  of any kind. Much less with the curve of the cowl. It's obviously not perfect but it will be fine once i grind it and seal it apply a little body filler on tge outside and paint it. When the time comes I'll do it right with a new firewall but i think this will be fine for now.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[Haddixj]

Looks fine to me. Your not restoring the car just making it drive able. If you just want to get it going just change it out and leave plenty of room to be able to cut the spot welds in the factory pieces once your going to strip the whole car for a restoration.

[HP_Cuda]

Heck I applaud you for doing it yourself but you will have problems with that accelerator cable fitment.

[cuda346pk]

You mean the accelerator cable? It fits great I had to do it twice but it makes it extra thick. I even pressed it like the factory one with the raised area, at the same angle as factory.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[jimynick]

Don't take it the wrong way. You're a talented amateur, but your time HAS to be worth something! I'm confident you'll make it work; it's just that you'll go to all that effort and still have a patched up, ready to rot in another spot car. Like I said, you car, your call. Have fun. 

[Edison1970]

The patch looks good.  When I fixed mine, I gave it a lot of thought about replacing the entire fire wall.  But my car is not a original car.  I want to have fun with it and not spend a ton of money to do it.  I coated the entire inside of the firewall with POR15 when I was done. 

[fishn4cuda]

Looking like a vary good repair so far on the firewall. As far as the floor pan, I would just butt weld in what is needed. taking the whole pan out for just a small area is not worth the time and effort. The 4 speed hump is stitch welded in from the factory, so after removing the seam sealer, using a cut off wheel you can cut along the welds and remove that section exposing the floor pan and repair it easily. Done many this way. I think your doing great!!...keep up the good work.
Fishn

[Topcat]

Looking like a vary good repair so far on the firewall. As far as the floor pan, I would just butt weld in what is needed. taking the whole pan out for just a small area is not worth the time and effort. The 4 speed hump is stitch welded in from the factory, so after removing the seam sealer, using a cut off wheel you can cut along the welds and remove that section exposing the floor pan and repair it easily. Done many this way. I think your doing great!!...keep up the good work.
Fishn

I agree.
Looks like a good fab job and should work out fine.

Some run away like their hair is on fire when they see rust and that everything there needs replacing.
Every car is different on it's condition. No two are alike.