Floor Pan Dilemma (1971 Challenger)

[h0wb0y]

Hello Everyone - Life got in the way of my project but I am back at it.

So, my new floor pans came in. I laid them in the car and I am extremely impressed with the fitment. I am pretty positive that I really only need to patch in the spots where feet go in three out of the four seating positions because the rest of the floor seems solid; however, after seeing the new pans laid in there, I started to wonder.

I know I have heard people say to leave as much original metal as possible - but I have also seen entire floors replaced that definitely did not need to be replaced.

Also, I have heard that E Bodies are notorious for the unibody twisting/flexing all out of whack if the floor is removed - so I am a little gunshy about cutting out large portions of the floor --- even with square-tube bracing.

Do you all think I should only patch in what absolutely needs to be replaced - or weld in the entire new pans? What about bracing? Is it that big of a concern - or am I going to be fine if I take out half the floor - weld in - then do the other half?

Thanks everyone.

 

[quapman]

As solid as that looks, I would just replace the footwell area on the pass. side.

If it were me, I'd put a jack of some kind under each inner-rear seat bolt hole...more for reference than support. I had an "expert" do floors for me once and he didn't put the floors in level, so the seats sat crooked once they were bolted in. In order to fix it, I'd have had to cut all the welds between front & rear pans and redo 1/3 of his work.

 

[DetMatt1]

I agree, just patches over the thin spots. Have you thought about having the whole car media blasted first?

 

[h0wb0y]

I agree, just patches over the thin spots. Have you thought about having the whole car media blasted first?

Yes - I have several hundred pounds of Starblast waiting to be used. I just want to get a solid game plan together as much as possible before I start blasting - and I would really prefer to not blast both sides of entire panels that I am just going to cut out. I know it will expose issues that I hadn't noticed before - but - if I am positive a panel is coming out, I will not blast it.

 

[h0wb0y]

As solid as that looks, I would just replace the footwell area on the pass. side.

If it were me, I'd put a jack of some kind under each inner-rear seat bolt hole...more for reference than support. I had an "expert" do floors for me once and he didn't put the floors in level, so the seats sat crooked once they were bolted in. In order to fix it, I'd have had to cut all the welds between front & rear pans and redo 1/3 of his work.

You know, I have honestly never really put much thought to that. I have replaced quite a few floor pans - and I guess I have just always got lucky. I will definitely be paying attention to it now though! Thanks.

 

[DetMatt1]

Yes - I have several hundred pounds of Starblast waiting to be used. I just want to get a solid game plan together as much as possible before I start blasting - and I would really prefer to not blast both sides of entire panels that I am just going to cut out. I know it will expose issues that I hadn't noticed before - but - if I am positive a panel is coming out, I will not blast it.

That's smart, I did the same with my '68 RR which was a major project. I built a rolling dolly for it and stripped alll the rusty parts off of it and even installed some oem replacement metal prior to blasting.
Here it was on its way to blaster.

 

[aussiemark]

I've got a one piece front floor panel for mine I think it will be easier in the long run just need to weld it to the inner sills, the firewall and the rear pans when it's done it will look original with no welds visible and less chance of alignment problems.