Author |
Message |
extremebuggy Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2009 Posts: 176 Location: Cleveland, TN
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:18 am Post subject: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
As you can see more floor pans have a few rust holes. Not as bad as some other floor pans I have seen, but nonetheless a solution is warranted. Any thoughts on a repair to get me by for a while. This is for a fiberglass buggy and plan on carpeting the floor, looks should not matter much. What about JB Weld or something? Any ideas? Or should I just cut it all out and weld in new pans?
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
jspbtown Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2004 Posts: 5157
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:59 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
You will be bolting seats to them right? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
extremebuggy Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2009 Posts: 176 Location: Cleveland, TN
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:14 pm Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
jspbtown wrote: |
You will be bolting seats to them right? |
Yes. Where the seat tracks bolt is pretty solid. It is just the battery area, passenger side up front and passenger side where the pan was shortened and re-welded that has rusted though. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Q-Dog Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2010 Posts: 8700 Location: Sunset, Louisiana
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
joemama Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2006 Posts: 1636 Location: La Crescenta, California
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 2:07 pm Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
A pretty easy, old school fix, that works, would be to wire brush with a grinder, use rust converter, brush laminating resin over the area, and apply fiberglass matting, not cloth. You can apply a couple of layers, with a couple of coats of resin. When the matting is wet,, you can use a brush to stipple it into shape.. This used to be a pretty acceptable fix. I did this on several cars over the years. Not just junk cars. Makes a rust proof seal. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
oprn Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016 Posts: 12737 Location: Western Canada
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 2:28 pm Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
Mine is a bit like that but not nearly that bad. For the present it stays that way because if caught out in the rain it drains. I also am sticking with rubber mats for the same reason. They can be easily pulled out and hung on the fence to dry.
Another fellow showed me what he did for pan drainage. He cut four 2" slots perpendicular to the shift tunnel at the lowest points in the floor pan. Then he beat the front edge down 3/8" to create rear facing louvers for drainage.
A wet pan will be a rusty pan! _________________ We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
joemama Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2006 Posts: 1636 Location: La Crescenta, California
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 5:04 pm Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
Yeah. I'm not big on carpet, just something to hold water and dirt. A good layer of bedliner, and maybe rubber mats is perfect for a buggy that sees some trails. If street only, maybe. First buggy my buddy and I built, we went to great lengths to make it waterproof/sealed. We towed it to Florence, Oregon, and then the last day there, and on the way home, it rained nonstop. We stopped at a garage, and borrowed a drill to make drain holes. You could actually feel the rain sloshing around in the pan. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
extremebuggy Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2009 Posts: 176 Location: Cleveland, TN
|
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 7:58 pm Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
joemama wrote: |
A pretty easy, old school fix, that works, would be to wire brush with a grinder, use rust converter, brush laminating resin over the area, and apply fiberglass matting, not cloth. You can apply a couple of layers, with a couple of coats of resin. When the matting is wet,, you can use a brush to stipple it into shape.. This used to be a pretty acceptable fix. I did this on several cars over the years. Not just junk cars. Makes a rust proof seal. |
Interesting! Why would you choose fiberglass matte over a standard body filler? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
oprn Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016 Posts: 12737 Location: Western Canada
|
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:11 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
Standard body filler has very little strength. It is only intended to fill imperfections. In larger amounts and thicknesses it will crack, leak water and eventually fall off.
The same is true for patching rust with fiberglass cloth or mat. While it is structurally stronger and doesn't crack it has a different expansion rate than steel so eventually it too will delaminate from the base metal, leak moisture and fail.
Both are temporary repairs with the fiberglass being the longest lasting of the two. _________________ We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
sailtexas186548 Samba Member
Joined: December 01, 2014 Posts: 423 Location: Kemah, Tx
|
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:21 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
Wire wheel, rust converter, wire wheel again, paint (or not depends o. The seam sealer u buy), 3m seam sealer, overcoat with more paint or Bedliner.
Otherwise I would do the full pan. That existing pan is so thin welded in a patch is gonna be more work than the whole pan _________________ it's more fun loud and dirty |
|
Back to top |
|
|
joemama Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2006 Posts: 1636 Location: La Crescenta, California
|
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:33 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
I mentioned fiberglass because it will add structural integrity, specially if you go a couple of inches beyond the bad area. It is temporary. Eventually the edges will lift up and allow water to get in. Using a rust converter first will help seal against moisture. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
extremebuggy Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2009 Posts: 176 Location: Cleveland, TN
|
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 9:56 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
Yea I agree this would only be a temporary fix. Once I get everything else working well, I will likely jerk the body back off and do a full pan replacement. Thanks for all the great advice! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
extremebuggy Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2009 Posts: 176 Location: Cleveland, TN
|
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:16 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
joemama wrote: |
I mentioned fiberglass because it will add structural integrity, specially if you go a couple of inches beyond the bad area. It is temporary. Eventually the edges will lift up and allow water to get in. Using a rust converter first will help seal against moisture. |
Will the fiberglass adhere to a surface that has been brushed with either a rust converter or encapsulator. I would think you would need to sand to bare metal for the resin and matte to bond correctly. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
MrGoodtunes Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2012 Posts: 852 Location: South Florida
|
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
extremebuggy wrote: |
... Will the fiberglass adhere to a surface that has been brushed with either a rust converter or encapsulator ... |
Yes, but as time goes on temperatures will go up and down causing different expansion and contraction rates between metal and fiberglass. So it can come loose. On the other hand, I have had success reparing my buggy's driver side floor pan with fiberglass. Did it over 2 decades ago, and it's still holding today. But it was so badly rusted as to have holes thru it in several places; I glass'd over both sides of the rusted metal, used "fiber hash" around the holes, and did several layers (after having only wire brush'd the rust away).
Last edited by MrGoodtunes on Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
|
EVfun Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2012 Posts: 5481 Location: Seattle
|
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:15 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
I would start with a good cleaning up of old paint and rust so you can see what you are working with. From there you can choose what to do. If none of the holes are very large, and the floor is solid enough that there is no concern about falling through, you could just repaint them. You could just do some spot repairs as required before painting them if needed. It's a beach buggy, everything doesn't have to be like new! If you find that you mostly have rust held together with paint (like the old MV Quinault ferry ) then you will have to rebuild or replace them. _________________
Wildthings wrote: |
As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Q-Dog Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2010 Posts: 8700 Location: Sunset, Louisiana
|
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:29 am Post subject: Re: Floor pan repair or replace. |
|
|
I would get a rear quarter patch panel and chop it up to patch the rear battery area. Use the leftovers to patch the worst of the front damage.
The area around the foot pedals looks bad but you will never put any weight there so it isn't structurally unsafe. But, someone could stand up on the rear floors so I would fix that. _________________ Brian
'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|