Gibson

so i dont own a welder, but the bird im looking at has a 'soft' drivers side floor. i was thinking of chopping out the rot and use panel adhesive to 'glue' in a new floor. would this be a good long term (5-10 year) fix?

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

I personally would not do that.

Do it once, and do it right. Weld it.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

no, not at all. If anything it will attract more rust and make things worse.

this is a car you are looking at? stop looking at it, its rotted and there is going to be more rot than just that one spot.
Move on, good rust free cars are still out there and not very expensive

Gibson

find me a good rust free v8 firebird in pittsburgh for 1500 bucks. i pull half the carpet up, and thats the only rust i found. every other place is solid. it pasted the knife test in every place i pulled up hte carpet.

radical82

I would offer the same suggestion to you I did to a young guy in town awhile back..he didn't have a welder either. Had him cut out the bad metal, trim and fit the new panels and hold them in place with Cleco's(I let him borrow my flanger, cleco's, and cleco pliars). When he had everything in place he trailered the car over to my garage and I welded the pieces in for him. Once the nasties are done and everything fits good the actual welding goes easy, think I spent about an hour total shop time welding things up then he took it home and did the grinding and put on the seam sealer...

Gibson

what about riveting it in and driving it to the place to get it welded in and just have them drill out the rivets?

radical82

That would work fine, too! Might want to find a shop or buddy to weld it first and see if they have a preference on how things are prepped.... It would certainly be a whole lot better plan then gluing them in!

92z28camarokid

iTrader: (4)

I dont see why panel bond wouldnt work. It's made to be just as strong as welding. Newer vehicles have in their repair books how to use panel bond on their parts rather then welding. All you have to do is make sure that you grind it all down to bare metal and leave 1-2" overhang on the metal. Than make sure you put it on and spread it out evenly. Use selftapping screws to hold it on until it is dry. After it is dry and u remove the screws put some more panel bond over the top to make sure its all sealed up.

Gibson

my thing is this will be my DD as im selling my jeep, so i cant afford down time.

radical82

Well, do what you want, it's your car...But IMO a 1" or 2" overlap for a glued seam would be unacceptable as compared to a stepped flange seam, welded, ground, and seam sealed on both sides...

Gibson

my buddy has a flux core welder, but it burns sheet metal like its paper. thats why i wanted to use fuzer as its called.

92z28camarokid

iTrader: (4)

Check with your local shops, most of them are using panel bond now days. Atleast they are down here at the lake. It's still a newer kind of method that a lot of people dont approve of but its also a method that is growing pretty rapidly and I havnt seen anything but good results out of it.

92z28camarokid

iTrader: (4)

I personaly recommend 3M Panel Bond

Gibson

thats what i was gonna use.

92z28camarokid

iTrader: (4)

Also to make sure that you dont have anymore rust on the bottom go ahead and use some spray on undercoating on your floorpans inside and out. Helps with road noise too. You could probably use roll on on the inside since you'll have the carpets out.

Gibson

POR15. if hte floor isnt rotted all though, i could hit it with rust bullet in both sides then POR15 on both sides, and itll be good as new.

juanillox8

iTrader: (7)

I PERSONALLY wouldn't even ask or think about it

Gibson

http://www.eastwood.com/autobody/pan...epair-kit.html
if eastwood has it, it must be a good way to do it.

JackRs

iTrader: (2)

Hey, while you glue it in if it doesnt hold you could scotch tape it in too.
Wrap a couple rubber bands, some duct tape and a couple ounces of crazy glue and you'll be set.
Do it once, do it right. Idk if the sticker panel holds its still not correct to do, why not just pay a shop for the hour it'll take and do the prep yourself on a weekend.

Also, think long term. 10+ years from now when, (hopefully) third gens are rarer and thus more valuable, when you go to sell. What is a sticker panel floor gonna do to the resale? Its like a big middle finger to whoever you sell it to.

Gibson

i called a shop, and for a buck twenty they will weld in the floor for me. now i just gotta find a car in hte junk yard with good floors and cut it out.

JackRs

iTrader: (2)

Good, doing it the right way