replacing floor pans. Any benefit to the 1 piece units?

jerry S · May 14, 2006

I see that a complete floor pan is $500 (depending on the retailer) whereas two halves can be purchased for $60 each. According to my math, two $60 halves come to $120, which is somewhat less than $500. Am I missing something? Is the one piece that much better than welding two pieces together such that it commands a $400 premium?

dennis112 · May 14, 2006

jerry S said:
I see that a complete floor pan is $500 (depending on the retailer) whereas two halves can be purchased for $60 each. According to my math, two $60 halves come to $120, which is somewhat less than $500. Am I missing something? Is the one piece that much better than welding two pieces together such that it commands a $400 premium?

The one piece pan includes the driveshaft tunnel and the full area that is under the rear seat. 2 piece pans don't include those items. Patches are available for under the rear seats at an additional cost (about $30 a side.) The driveshaft tunnel isn't available separately.

Because of the additional hassle and cost of installing a 1 piece unit, I'd probably use the 2 piece patch panels unless I was doing a concourse restoration and didn't want to have a seam in the tunnel.

thehueypilot · May 14, 2006

If done right you should have a very hard time seeing a seam (butt welds blend in very well). You only need to replace just enough to remove the rust so a full floor pan should rarely be needed.

TOM B · May 14, 2006

A one piece floor is nice but you will need to remove just about everything
under the car to get it in, like the unibody frame pieces, all driveline, just about everything, and it is nice to have one of those car rotary things to.

65up2d8 · May 14, 2006

TOM B said:
A one piece floor is nice but you will need to remove just about everything
under the car to get it in, like the unibody frame pieces, all driveline, just about everything, and it is nice to have one of those car rotary things to.

Actually, it is my understanding that you can get it in through the windshield opening with, of course, the windshield removed. If I had it to do over, I think I'd go the full floor route just for the sake of knowing all the rust is absolutely gone. Its a real PITA to get the floor pans down to bare metal everywhere.

jerry S · May 15, 2006

thehueypilot said:
If done right you should have a very hard time seeing a seam (butt welds blend in very well). You only need to replace just enough to remove the rust so a full floor pan should rarely be needed.

Are you saying that if I do two pieces, I would have a hard time seeing the seam? My reasons for asking is that I will be stripping the car to the bare metal and completely replacing the interior. Given that I have some rust, I figure might as well do the floor pans and torque boxes while I am at it. I would sleep better knowing that I would have excised as much of the cancerous tumors as possible.

jerry S · May 15, 2006

TOM B said:
A one piece floor is nice but you will need to remove just about everything
under the car to get it in, like the unibody frame pieces, all driveline, just about everything, and it is nice to have one of those car rotary things to.

so is it easier to install the two halves rather than the one piece?

danny clemens · May 15, 2006

I've never done it but I would think that if you have everything out of the car anyway the one piece would be easier. It takes a lot of welding and grinding to weld those long seams.

Jester67 · May 15, 2006

If I where to do it over I would go with the two full-length floor pans. You can get a very good look with the patch and replace method that thehueypilot mentioned but there is a lot of welding and welds to clean up. One of the problems I had was because the pans are so thin it was hard to clean all the rust away in the area you are welding. This makes it hard to get a clean weld with minimum burn through. I also had a case where I welded one section and as that metal contracted it tore another section that was thin from rust it had no holes it was just thin and that was enough and thin I had to fix that problem. Again I think I would have gotten a better result if I had gone the other way.

lauras70mach1 · May 15, 2006

I did mine, both halves, one rear extension, both torque boxes and toe boards. I would have preferred to do the full pan because it would make for a much cleaner final result, but either way works good.

The full pan is way more expensive so personally I would take the labor over the $$$.

jerry S · May 15, 2006

lauras70mach1 said:
The full pan is way more expensive so personally I would take the labor over the $$$.

I think the shipping to get it here to Eurabia would cost as much as the pan itself. I think I will go the two halves route.

pwm74 · May 16, 2006

full floor

hey, new here. restoring a 1965 fastback. i am in the process of welding in my torque boxes and upper/front floor pan.

I got the the 1 piece pan, it had to be shipped freight. I did a trial fit already and it looks really good. the seatbelt mounts are more heavy duty and the seat pans are already welded in. i had to put it through the windshield and still had fold it a bit. coupes i believe could fit throught the door because of the half window. one thing i do not like about it is the bumped tunnel the parking brakes go through are not there. i dont know if this will be a problem.

i will post pics of my resto soon.

you guys here are helping me out alot,

dennis112 · May 17, 2006

pwm74 said:
one thing i do not like about it is the bumped tunnel the parking brakes go through are not there. i dont know if this will be a problem.

i will post pics of my resto soon.

you guys here are helping me out alot,

Your floor must be based on the 66' style. The parking brake tunnel was used in 65' only. In 66' they ran the cable under the frame.

Once solution (that I have used) is to convert to the 1 piece 66' parking brake cable. About the only thing that I can think of that is different is a couple of brackets at the rear under the seat pan and that the 66' cable has a "horseshoe" at the front adjustment bolt instead of a bar. It might be included with a new one. Otherwise it is a direct replacement.

replacing floor pans. Any benefit to the 1 piece units?

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