Floor pans

danza · Sep 8, 2005

So my floor pans are rusted out on the o'le 67 coupe. I went ahead and purchased both sides.
I took it to a body shop and they quoted me 200 for each section. So $800 to weld in the new floor pans. What do you guys think? Is that pretty much average?

By the way, I'm in California.

HHStang · Sep 8, 2005

Sounds like a bargain

Most shops I've heard of start at $1,500 for pans.

danza · Sep 8, 2005

wow. Well thanks.

cgstang · Sep 9, 2005

Have you thought about doing it yourself?

danza · Sep 9, 2005

I don't have the skills nor the tools. Sucks for me.

HHStang · Sep 9, 2005

Floor pans are a good (and common) place to learn. Having spent the past month (of weekends) doing this, I'd probably say the $800 is a bargain. I'm assuming their work is good and that you can shop for, and buy your pans yourself. (They are relatively cheap)

gjz30075 · Sep 9, 2005

Almost sounds too cheap. Does the price include grinding down the welds and will it be fully welded all around the seams, not just tacked in a few places? Just a few things to ask.

Platonic Solid · Sep 9, 2005

danza said:
I don't have the skills nor the tools. Sucks for me.

The question is: "Do you want the skills and the tools?", since a nice MIG welder - auto darkening helmet - tank setup would be around (a little less than) the $800 price.

NasaGT · Sep 9, 2005

I agree with platonic solid - consider if you would like to do it yourself. The tools to do this are cheaper than having someone else do it. And you can work on it until you are satified with the quality. Buy the tools, get some scrap metal and practice welding for a little while. I'm doing this right now.

danza · Sep 9, 2005

I would definately like to learn and the logic you guys present is pretty solid. I guess if the tools cost around $800 I might as well buy them and practice.

So lets say i buy all the tools and do it myself. Is the job forgiving. Say I make a mistake or some of the welding is crappy. Will i be able to tell.

Basically my point is this. I don't want to fall out of my car because i did a crappy job on the floor pan welds. I don't know how realistic that scenario is but thats my only concern.

Also, I dont' own any type of lift. Is that required or can all the welding be done
from inside the car.

thanks for the replies.

Platonic Solid · Sep 9, 2005

No doubt, the fastest way to get it done is to pay someone else to do it. Also, if you don't have the desire to learn this skill, you'd surely be wasting your money. That being said, there is a lot of welding involved in doing the floor pans. By the time your done with the interior welding, I'm sure your confidence and skill will be greatly increased. I would weld both sides, but it's certainly not structurally required. I wouldn't worry about falling through the floor. Once you've practiced on scrap pieces, gotten the wire feed rate and gas settings right, I'm sure you'll do fine.

A good place to start is to get the "Welder's Handbook" by Richard Finch.

edit: If you weld the underside, you will have to weld laying under the car, which isn't the most cumfortable thing to do. You might try asking the welder who quoted you $800 if that included welding both sides.

danny clemens · Sep 9, 2005

Welding the pans are not that hard unless you want it to look perfect. Welding pans to look as though they are original is much harder and time consuming. It can be done but either way you shouldn't have to worry about falling through the floorboard.

Good Luck

65fsbkhipo · Sep 9, 2005

danza said:
So my floor pans are rusted out on the o'le 67 coupe. I went ahead and purchased both sides.
I took it to a body shop and they quoted me 200 for each section. So $800 to weld in the new floor pans. What do you guys think? Is that pretty much average?

By the way, I'm in California.

In my shop, I charge 8 hours @$45 an hour per side. They are done right. Considering the amount of time it takes to remove the old pans, clean the surfaces, mate the new pans for a good fit, prep the new pans for welding and then actually install them...the price you were quoted is going to be a botch job with the pans laid over your original pans. Ask them 'exactly' how they will perform the work first.

Additionally a good MIG, argon gas, auto darkening helmet will run you about $1110 easy.

Platonic Solid · Sep 9, 2005

65fsbkhipo said:
...Additionally a good MIG, argon gas, auto darkening helmet will run you about $1110 easy.

I guess "Good" is a matter of perspective. IMHO, "Good", for the average hobbyist working on one car (such as the poster), is a 120V 20A MIG with gauges ($500), Auto-Darkening Helmet ($75 on eBay), Tank ($100), Misc. clamps - wire - gloves ($125). I'm sure this setup would not satisfy a professional as yourself, but is perfectly adequate for most of us weekend grease monkey types.

HHStang · Sep 10, 2005

120 V welders

Platonic Solid said:
is a 120V 20A MIG with gauges ($500)

I bought one of these and couldn't get it to work. I ended up upgrading to a 220v unit that works great. Maybe it was just me though.

Platonic Solid · Sep 10, 2005

HHStang said:
I bought one of these and couldn't get it to work. I ended up upgrading to a 220v unit that works great. Maybe it was just me though.

I'm not sure how to respond to that. What exactly did you initially buy and how did it "not work"?

I should correct (or clear up a couple things):

I should have said 120V 105A MIG Welder. The 120V 20A (input) is the required rating of the supply circuit. (Most standard outlets in your house are 120V 15A - some garage circuits may be 20A). I ran a new 20A line in my garage. The welder I have is the Craftsman 20559 (which is no longer available) and I'm very happy with it. I got it on sale about 2 years ago for $450. This Hobart is similar (this is just an example, you may be able to do better on price elsewhere).

The biggest difference between MIG welders, as the price goes up, is duty cycle and supply circuit requirements. Mine is small, thus only has a 20% duty cycle (which means for every 2 min. of welding, it requires 8 min. to cool off). I haven't found this to be an issue yet, since I pause frequently to inspect my work. The 230V (input) MIG welders tend to have longer duty cycles (30%-40%) which I'm sure is beneficial if you're doing this on a regular basis.

Here's a low cost auto-darkening helmet similar to what I'm using.

I may by off on the tank/gas price. I remember having to put a deposit on the tank, since you are essentially renting it.

I really didn't want to get into a nickle and dime discussion on price though. If $100 +/- makes that much difference, then you're in the wrong hobby. I managed to get everything necessary to do decent welding, including an impressive clamp collection, for about $800.

NasaGT · Sep 10, 2005

Again I agree with platonic solid - I have around $750 invested in my setup. Its a Lincoln SP-135T Mig welder, not industrial grade but it'll get the job done for light duty use. Add in all the other stuff and its right at $750 total.

HHStang · Sep 10, 2005

I made the mistake of buying a low end (15A) unit that could barely melt ice. I only paid $100 or so for it on the dicount rack, so it wasn't the worst mistake I have made.

19simmons65 · Sep 11, 2005

I paid $200 at a body shop here in Monrovia for the guy to remove and reinstall the front pan in my 65. They welded the top and bottom of the pan from the firewall to the seat riser.

HHStang · Sep 11, 2005

Wow. $200. I figure each section takes 3-4 hours to do at most shop's labor rate of $50+, you got a bargain.

Floor pans

danza

New Member

HHStang

Member

danza

New Member

cgstang

New Member

danza

New Member

HHStang

Member

gjz30075

Member

Platonic Solid

NasaGT

danza

New Member

Platonic Solid

danny clemens

Member

65fsbkhipo

Platonic Solid

HHStang

Member

Platonic Solid

NasaGT

HHStang

Member

19simmons65

New Member

HHStang

Member

Similar threads

Floor pans

New Member

Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

Member

Member

New Member

Member

Member

Member

New Member

Member

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency