New guy - and I have a question!

[Mattham]

Hey everyone, I am new here so I would first like to say hello to everyone.

Now my question, I have a 1988 Mustang GT (5.0L). It has been off the road for about a year and half, it spent part of that time outside covered and now it is in a garage. I had some rust starting, but currently after inspecting the car I realized it was a little worse than I first thought.

1) My floor pans have rusted through at both the passenger and drives side (were your feet are). I have decided to just replace them, is there anything I need to know, any tips as I will be replacing these myself.

2) I also just noticed that the drivers side strut tower has rusted through, if you look through the wheel well you can see through where it has rusted (about 3” wide x ½” high area). I was hoping to remove this section and weld in new metal. Any concerns you guys might have with this, is this acceptable? It is rusted about half way down.

This car is more of a weekend driver, doesn't see any track time and the engine is fairly stock! Thanks for any info.

 

[criticman]

Never done any myself...but assuming you (or someone else) welds it properly and uses high quality materials, I don't see any problems in your future.

I'd be a bit weary if you were to see track time though with that front strut tower...but for weekend driver or even daily driver, sounds like you'll be fine.

 

[Daggar]

All I've got to say is "Yikes". It makes me wonder what other suprises are hidden from view (i.e. torque boxes).

 

[Mattham]

I have actually had the car for 8 years, it was actually my first car. It was in very good condition, but I let it slip, at least at the areas that I mentioned, I saw them starting to rust and never got around to them. Plus this car had seen a few winters!
The chasis and body are still in good condition, it does need a paint job though.

 

[jackchan]

find a local mustang club and a good friend with a welder and a few skills! it will defintly help when doing floor pan work........my tip here is watch out for fuel lines, brake lines and anywhere you put a patch panel in (floor area) be sure to put in some 3M seam sealer to block moisture from getting back into these areas.
good luck
Jack