Well guess what, my classic had a little surprise for me under the carpet. Daylight coming through the rusty sheet metal floor pan on the passenger side. I know where to buy the replacement parts but does anybody know of a web site that takes you through the A B C's of swapping the pan out?
I just did this with my father over spring break. Now if your looking for a pretty job, I would recommend not doing it yourself unless you know how to weld. My father and I did it and didnt care what it looked like since its going under the carpet anyway. What we did was cut to a height above the rust with a grinder with a cutting wheel. We cut out both pans completley (including seatrisers). Then after that we didn't really measure we just kinda free handly measured by setting in the new pans and drawing a line on where to cut the new pans. Then we cut the new pans so they basically fit the hole in the floor from where we cut the original floor pans out. We then laid them in and one of us would stand on the new pan while the other one welded so they were bent into the right shape/position. We overlapped them cause we didnt really care because we used a WHOLE LOT of seam sealer. So we overlapped the new floor pans to the old floor pans (as in we didnt cut the new pans to the exact amount we cut out of the original floor). We basically welded on top and bottom as much around as we could. Then put in the seat risers...hammered them into the correct shape of the floor pan...pressed em down to fit and welded those on. Then we primered the entire top of the floor pans and seat risers. After that we put seam sealer wehrever we could with as much as we could (wanted to make sure no water got in whatsoever through the floorboards. We basically used about 2 cans of seam sealer just to be sure (watch out with that stuff, its real hardcore with the smelling and you might get a little high or at least a headache from applying it). THen after that we sprayed undercoat on the underside of the floor pans to prevent rusting from the bottom. We sprayed it all on pretty thickly. The job was kinda crappy but since its under carpet we didnt really care. We did however grind down any sharp welds to make sure we wouldnt get any holes in the carpet from it being cut open by sharp shards of metal. Best bet if your doing it yourself is to use a MIG welder. They're real nice and easy to use. We simply rented one from a rental center and bought different guage feedwire for it and used whatever did best. Just remember when your doing it yourself the welds are supposed to look like a row of nickels. If not its not a big deal since its under the carpet anyway (at least thast how we looked at it) And at the end let me tell you...those floor pans aint goin no where. Ours are sturdy as can be and its a real new feeling not having your feet drag on the road So yeah thats how we did it...I couldnt figure out how to get pictures up but the description is the best i can do...hope that helps out somehow