is this normal? (just checking to see how stupid i am)

[DukeGnarley]

hey guys,

when i took the carpet up in my convertible, the floors appeared to be pretty rusty.

the part of the pan forward of the seat support seems to be solid and it probably just covered in surface rust, however the part of the pan behind the seat support might be more.

Is it normal for the rear part of the floorpan to flex when you stand on it (i'm 225 lbs)? I'm thinking not. i've already got the replacement sections and i have my door braces installed, but i figured i'd check before i cut them out.

 

[krash kendall]

I thought they came from the factory like that.



Seriously though, I would say that for a 40 year old convertable that is to be expected.

 

[danny clemens]

I've been in coupes that would flex but don't know about a vert. They have more support under there. A previous collision could also put things in a bind. Pitted rust would probably weaken them some but if it's not all they way through and the bottom looks OK I'd just clean them up good and paint them.

 

[bsedwebt70-5.0]

pans will flex - I am 200lbs and they always have on every one over the past 20+ years of working on them - if they support you and have no holes just clean them up, coat them with POR15 or something like that and re-seal...

 

[DukeGnarley]

thought i'd add a video so you could see the ammount of flex i'm talking about without having to explain it. one of the sections likes to "pop" when i put my weight on it :-(. from what you guys are saying though, the flexing is normal and i probably don't need to cut these pans out. the one in the video is by far the worse of the two, and i'm thinking i might have to do something with it to keep it from popping.

 

[Gailahan]

I think you should probably fix it before it gets worse. It was pretty bad in that video, and it's only going to spread unless you do something about it. It looks pretty weak to me....I would cut the pans out and put new ones in.

 

[Sicarius428]

Wow looks like you are stepping on a sponge. I would say they got to go.
Kevin

 

[Sicarius428]

sorry double post
Kevin

 

[DukeGnarley]

ok, looks like i'm going to start replacing at least that one side tomorrow. thanks guys.

 

[02MGGT]

Duke - could you post some pics of your door braces? I could be heading down the same road sometime next year. Thx...

 

[DukeGnarley]

sure!

They are made of 1x1x0.188 angle iron, and the cross pieces were made out of some scrap 0.75 square tubing i had. i just bolted some angle iron to the factory mounting points for the door and the door catch, then tacked the diagonal pieces on. took it off, welded it up, put it back on. I was originally going to use some square tubing, but the angle iron was a bit cheaper and it turned out pretty strong. If i stand in the middle of the brace (while it's on the car) it will only flex about 1/16".

 

[thehueypilot]

I would take a heavy duty wire wheel and clean off all the surface rust first than re-evaluate it again. You might discover a whole lot of pin holes that you don't see now. As far as the flexing goes......most people don't stand up onto the floor pans when driving down the road (at least in this area of the country)so the pans are not real heavy duty. They are considered a structural member as far as a crash sequence is concerned.

 

[BullittStangV8]

I was able to put a screw driver through mine...thats how I knew they needed to be replaced...

I would replace them in your car if they flex a ton, and are really rusted..You dont want that rust to spread and consume the whole floor. I say cut it out and stop it before it gets worse.

 

[DukeGnarley]

I started to cut it out, but then decided that to fix it properly i'm going to need to remove the seat support. so that's what i'm doing right now. just got the spot welds drilled out on the passenger side, and i think i'm going to just cut the seat support near the transmission tunnel instead of removing the whole thing at once. I was planning on lowering the seat support anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. Hopefully in a bit i'll have some pictures to post.