What would RickF do?

[homerguy]

This mutt is very solid everywhere except for a 4" strip on the drivers side panel and a 4x6" section of the drivers floor panel. Would it be better to graft in a section of floor rather than replace the entire pan?
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w78/ ... sside2.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w78/ ... /floor.jpg

[halftracknut]

yes....

[rickf]

That is a tough call. Where your rust is you have three areas involved. You have the floor, the side panel and the underbody channel. I guess it depends what you want to do with it. Are you going to show it or just run around town with it? If you are planning on doing an underbody kit down the road then just patch it and when you put in the kit then put in a new floor. I tend to be a perfectionist once I get started and I look at it this way, If I am going to do it then I am going to do it right.


Rick

[rickf]

I KNEW HTN would chime in. I type too slow.

[homerguy]

The channel is solid. The vast majority of the floor is solid. You cannot see any rust from underneath. All channels are exc. condition so I dont intend on using an underbody kit. If I could find a good welder I believe the floor and side panel can be patched without removing much metal. I dont intend to show it but I do want it to look as original as possible.

[ida34]

I say replace as little as possible. Keep all the original metal you can. Take a body hammer with a pointed tip and start probing around so you really know what is bad and how far it goes. No matter what get rid of all questionable metal. At some point you end up with more patches then original panel. If this is the case then I say replace the whole panel.