floor pans and foot well replacment

[dhamilton62]

So im in the process of going through, step by step to getting my truck to be a good daily driver. It's never going to be a show truck by any means, but just want it sealed up in the cab to eventually throw down some carpet without worrying about leaking or more rust. My floor pans are in nice shape besides two small rust holes, the rest is just surface rust that I can clean up. Should I replace the whole floor pan, or just cut some pieces of my own to fix these holes? Also the foot well on the passenger side is rusted and I wanted to fix that. What's the best way to cut that part out and replace with a new replacement part? Do I need to cut out the entire floorpan area to get to it? Thanks so much!

Drivers side:[IMG][/IMG]

Passenger side with damaged foot well:
[IMG][/IMG]

[VonDog]

Keep what's good and cut out the bad - you'll never get panels of original quality. I'm in the process of doing the same but mine are worse off. You'll need to cut enough out that you are on good steel. Check your cab mounts and make sure they're not rotted. You'll need to pull some panels to check the pillars ant this will give you a better idea on what you're up against. Also, search the forum at the top of the page (Google) but make sure you click the "67-72 chevytrucks.com" button and it will take you to numerous threads of doing the same thing you're looking to do. I've learned sooooo much using it and also asking questions when I can't find what I'm looking for. The guys here are great and have a pletheran of knowledge but sometimes it takes awhile to get a response because not everyone reading at the time has done this sort of work so be patient. Good luck and give us updates!

[dhamilton62]

Thanks so much for the reply and all the advice! I've learned so much from the help of everyone on this site and basically the only reason my truck is actually running down the road is because of the awesome helpful members of this site. You guys all rule! I'll start my photo taking and keep you updated as progress goes on! Thanks again!

Originally Posted by VonDog

Keep what's good and cut out the bad - you'll never get panels of original quality. I'm in the process of doing the same but mine are worse off. You'll need to cut enough out that you are on good steel. Check your cab mounts and make sure they're not rotted. You'll need to pull some panels to check the pillars ant this will give you a better idea on what you're up against. Also, search the forum at the top of the page (Google) but make sure you click the "67-72 chevytrucks.com" button and it will take you to numerous threads of doing the same thing you're looking to do. I've learned sooooo much using it and also asking questions when I can't find what I'm looking for. The guys here are great and have a pletheran of knowledge but sometimes it takes awhile to get a response because not everyone reading at the time has done this sort of work so be patient. Good luck and give us updates!

[jonzcustomshop]

I agree.
Just cut out the little bit that is rusted, and then weld in a patch
if you have a cup wire brush that you can run on a 4.5 inch grinder, you can run that over the floor pan where it is rusted, and bust all the scale loose, then you can see what /where the pinholes are. in my experience a 1 inch rust through hole results in about a 5 inch patch, once you get away from rust and back to good solid metal.

if you can use it in ca. , por15, or some other paint over rust material might save the metal that is mostly solid but has some pinholes.

the foot well is kind of a problem: from the factory they started with the floor pan, which also includes the inner rocker. underneath they welded on the cab brace, then they welded on the inner roof post/inner cowl/foot well (all one piece of metal) . after that the door hinge pillar was welded to the inner cowl piece, and finally the rocker was welded to the inner rocker ,floor pan, and over the bottom of the hinge pillar.

usually water leaks in the cab , puddles in the foot well, and rusts it out -in the spot that you can see- also, water and dirt get in the floor brace and rust through the inner rocker and then start on the foot well, and the bottom of the hinge pillar.

so, to do the foot well correctly, you would have to pull the rocker, then -depending on the condition , separate or replace the bottom of the hinge pillar, and then replace the foot well, and maybe a piece of the inner rocker.

-that would be the correct way, I am guessing though that you could probably just cut the rusted part out, and then just weld a patch over it, since this is more a driver than a correct restoration.

I won't admit to this ( ) but on my wife's 63 I bent up some sheet metal and screwed it to the floor, and covered it with the floor mat, it doesn't splash water in the cab anymore and is drivable.. I will replace the floor pans later

[dhamilton62]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

I agree.
Just cut out the little bit that is rusted, and then weld in a patch
if you have a cup wire brush that you can run on a 4.5 inch grinder, you can run that over the floor pan where it is rusted, and bust all the scale loose, then you can see what /where the pinholes are. in my experience a 1 inch rust through hole results in about a 5 inch patch, once you get away from rust and back to good solid metal.

if you can use it in ca. , por15, or some other paint over rust material might save the metal that is mostly solid but has some pinholes.

the foot well is kind of a problem: from the factory they started with the floor pan, which also includes the inner rocker. underneath they welded on the cab brace, then they welded on the inner roof post/inner cowl/foot well (all one piece of metal) . after that the door hinge pillar was welded to the inner cowl piece, and finally the rocker was welded to the inner rocker ,floor pan, and over the bottom of the hinge pillar.

usually water leaks in the cab , puddles in the foot well, and rusts it out -in the spot that you can see- also, water and dirt get in the floor brace and rust through the inner rocker and then start on the foot well, and the bottom of the hinge pillar.

so, to do the foot well correctly, you would have to pull the rocker, then -depending on the condition , separate or replace the bottom of the hinge pillar, and then replace the foot well, and maybe a piece of the inner rocker.

-that would be the correct way, I am guessing though that you could probably just cut the rusted part out, and then just weld a patch over it, since this is more a driver than a correct restoration.

I won't admit to this ( ) but on my wife's 63 I bent up some sheet metal and screwed it to the floor, and covered it with the floor mat, it doesn't splash water in the cab anymore and is drivable.. I will replace the floor pans later

Thank you so much for all that information as well. I think today ( after I tear apart this 84 c10 front end and rear end haha) I'm going to clean up that surface rust and see what I have going on. As for the foot wells, I'll take your advice and just make some patches since this isn't going to be a show truck at all, just something that I feel is safe and keeps the cab clean and dry. Is there a common spot that these trucks were known leak a lot in the cab? I had some small pinholes in the roof gutters but addressed those hopefully and notice there is always some moisture on the upper lip of the outer rocker from the doors. Just trying to figure out where the water likes to sneak in as it's pretty much just in those foot wells from what I can tell.

Thanks again for all your help, it gives me a ton of hope and documenting as I go to hopefully start a build thread soon!

[Joe Pass]

Lets see some pictures...I'm in suspense

[Joe Pass]

My cab had similar rust....here is my repair

[evan396]

These are some pics of the one we are doing now. Hope they help. Evan

[earl84]

I had never done anything even remotely close to fixing the metal in this area, and I got it done. Started on the passenger side, and replaced a good chunk of the floor pan, the kick panel, and the rocker. Then moved to driver side, and replaced all that plus the A pillar and the cab corner. By far, the hardest part was the kick panel to get it all correct. Plan on at least a couple days for a first timer. It wasn't hard, but took a lot of patience, install and remove many times, take lots of measurements, and a little head scratching. Stop working when you start saying "It's good enough," because it's not and you will always know it's there. If I can do it, you can do it. Especially with the awesome help of people on this forum. Very gratifying when it's all buttoned up.