Floor patch won't fit?

[muddpile]

I am just getting ready to install my drivers side front floor patch panel, but it seems too wide. I was going to lay it overtop of the rusty one and trace around it, cut the old one out and weld the new one back in, but I can't because it looks to be an inch too wide. Can I trim the tranny hump side off it, as its not rusty there, or am I going about this all wrong?

[cdowns]

cut and fit

[kaycee]

AS cdowns said cut to fit,your cab mount recess will more than likely be off to.Nothing a Hammer wont correct

[4tiresngas]

I'm definitely not a body man. I took my truck to a body shop. It appeared to me, they cut the floor pan out and used the bad piece to cut the replacement.

[northcountry67]

Just cut out the rusty area and then cut the same patch from your new panel. There is no need to replace good steel, besides I have found that the repair panels are normally much thinner material than original. The smaller the patch the better.

[muddpile]

So just cut the old rusty piece out and trace it out onto the new shiny piece? That's so simple even a guy like me could handle it. Thanks!

[Rollie396]

what I did muddpile was cut out the old floor and set the new one in roughly.From there I used and awl to mark the new pan from underneath and cut it out leaving 1" or so outside that line.After that I just kept slowly trimming,marking,and fitting til it worked out.The cab mount recess was way out on mine as well and the pic shows what I decided to do about it.
BTW I bought ebfabman's vids and they helped a lot!Well worth the money.

[rkarr]

Originally Posted by muddpile

So just cut the old rusty piece out and trace it out onto the new shiny piece? That's so simple even a guy like me could handle it. Thanks!

Mudd, post pics when done please.
Thanks!

[muddpile]

Thanks for the advice Rollie! Was the cab mount recess actually stamped into the metal in the wrong place on the patch panel? Mine looks right when I compare it to stock, but I'm not too sure as I can't get the panel to sit on top of the old one.

[Rollie396]

I guess it's kinda hard to say for sure if it was stamped wrong or if my cab is a bit different.
I'm learnin that this is a "make it fit" type of deal .
Glad to hear you're getting started on the project BTW!

[muddpile]

I'm glad to see it started too. Over the past year I've seen progress thread after progress thread, tips and tricks to save time/money, and lots of pictures. Basically I just planned it all out while driving it, and figuring out things I liked/disliked. The day I decided it was time to fix it was the day I went to the auto wrecker 70 miles away. It was sunny here, pouring rain there. It was a cool October day, and my heater quit about 2 miles out of town. The wipers quit half way there, and the holes in the floor didn't help anything. I was picking up a differential, and by the time I was done crawling under a bunch of cars trying to find the right one, I was covered in grease and mud, and soaked right up to my neck. I bought the biggest coffee that the gas station sold for the drive home, only to finish it 15 minutes down the road. Oh yeah, my exhaust broke off on the drive home too. The way I see it no matter what I do, I'm improving on it.

I got started cutting the drivers side floor out today. What do you reccommend to grind the spot welds off where the floor it tacked to the front/back running cab support? I bent the floor up a bit and used a sawzall sideways to cut two of them, but that's a lot of work, and it takes a lot of blades with the hard weld.

[71cadc10]

If you have an air hammer w/ chisel attachment it'll peel the spot welds pretty good. Makes a lot of noise.

I use a spot weld drill bit you can get from places like Eastwood...1/2" cutter that cuts the top panel and weld, while leaving the bottom. They're like $20 though.

[pharcydekm]

Thanks for the pics and info. I have a 67 that is under severe constructruction or reconst I should say. My question is how do you guys determin what you are going to cut. My floors have a couple holes but also alot of surface rust. I'm having a hard time if I should cut the surface areas out too or if I should just grind the surface rust off and patch the holes.

[muddpile]

I just took a screwdriver and a wire brush and started on the surface rust on mine. In my opinion, if it starts flaking off, replace it. Also, if you have small holes, once you start grinding the rust from around them, you will have bigger holes.

[Rollie396]

Pics mudd we need pics!
for my spot welds on the floor I think i started to drill them out.After two I said to hey with this and just used a grinder on edge wherever there was a spotweld.Just gotta make sure and stop before you grind into the brace is all.
As far as how much of the floor to replace?I've been told to keep as much original metal as possible.I took this to mean that if there's no hole or it isn't pitted,then leave it.
I didn't take that advice on the LS floor pan,that may change for the other side though .

BTW if you don't have a plasma torch,get some zipcuts!They are slick and will get that floor out in no time.I also used a dremel in tighter spots.Course that sawzall prolly worked pretty good too huh?