Technical Best value for the money on floor pans

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Technical Best value for the money on floor pans

Raccoonman

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Been looking at replacement floor pans and somewhat confused; they are expensive and difficult to get clear indication of what is needed to install them. At this point I am ready to make up my own. Who has a good price on full length pans?
 
Going to make my own. Got a 4x10 sheet of 18ga sheared down to 2x4ft blanks. Probably should have gone with 20ga but I feel like the extra weight is nothing compared to the mess of fiberglass and license plates I pulled out of it today.
 
Are your floor pans rusted out everywhere?

On the cars I've repaired, the rust was usually confined to under the driver's /passenger's heels plus the outriggers (which carries the front car jacking point) underneath and maybe a little bit along the front part of the inner sills (inner rocker panels) flanges. I try to avoid removing large sections, preferring to just carry out localised repairs.

How are you going to re-produce the various swaging/pressed shapes that Fiat used to stiffen the floor pan?

Al.
 
Previous owners did a lot of scabbing over rust without replacing any metal. Which ruined even more metal. Reproducing every contour is unnecessary, getting the floor not to tin can is all you need for a daily driver. I have a bead roller to put some stiffening ribs in the pans, and my trusty flux core wire welder instead of pop rivets and sheet metal screws like the previous owner used, along with silicone sealant and fiberglass filler. Not my first rodeo by any means.
 
A couple of weeks later and this is my result
 

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I finished this last week and just got a chance to post it up. 4ft x 6ft of 18ga and about 4 pounds of.030 wire
 
Hey, Raccoonman, I hope you are still reading the various posts in this fiorum. It would be great to have you chime in on some questions others have.

regarding your floor pan work, that looks GREAT!! That kind of effort is way beyond my skills and experience!! I have never worked with sheet metal or a welder.

Your first question intrigued me, about locating a source for new floor pans, because there is a lot of rusted through portions in the drivers and passengers floor pans on the '77 Spider I am restoring. But I plan to learn a little bit about welding, then will attempt to weld in some plates to cover and strengthen the rusted through spots.
 
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