We are working on bringing back to life an 87 Mustang SSP . Both sides of the floorpan need panels. And are not having any luck finding anyone in North Georgia to do this. So it may be time for some DYI. The Saker brand I see online -looks- like it could work. Any experience on this? Thank you.
I once took a car to a pro to weld in new pans. He installed them with adhesive.
I didn't like it, but they've survived nearly 20 years without issue.
Worth considering?
Interested in this thread.
I've never heard of Saker... are you referring to this thing?
Not sure if that actually works as intended, but if you want to weld on the cheap, I would at the very least go with a flux core welder. That looks like some sort of stick welder, and I could be wrong here, but it doesn't look like the tool for the job.
Welding floor pans is actually one of the best ways to learn. I am still terrible at welding, but having welded in floors in two of my vehicles, I have learned a lot. Watch a few videos and grab a cheap flux from Harbor Freight (or even better, a cheap used one), the proper safety gear (highly recommend an auto-darkening helmet) and practice on a piece of scrap sheet metal until you get the basics down. You'll be stitching metal in no time!
Most folks I know prefer panel adhesive to welding now... depends on what suspension structure would be affected being unibody.
When I put floors in my Dodge Ram the shop specifically said "DONT" weld them in, flange the old and the new, bond them in, seam sealer, undercoat.
This was driver/driveway quality not restoration quality of course.
Something over on the Classic Motorspors YouTube about bonding on a repair panel:
Well you folks have certainly opened a whole new angle on this for me
. ( I LOVE GRM) A Fox Mustang is a unitbody car. Which is my first concern about panel bond. But continuing down the rabbit hole, I do not need to replace entire pans. Just panels. maybe called toe boards? And the car will be getting quality subframe connectors.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Yes. Exactly. But it appears that there is no magic shortcut. Armed with some great info from this forum, I am leaning towards panel bond. Done properly it sounds like a great solution. Already bought the floorpans. So next up I reckon will be cutting out the bad panels and preparing the surrounding areas. my youngest is in engineering school so I guess we will end up with a welder at some point....
SPG123 said:In reply to Tony Sestito :
Yes. Exactly. But it appears that there is no magic shortcut. Armed with some great info from this forum, I am leaning towards panel bond. Done properly it sounds like a great solution. Already bought the floorpans. So next up I reckon will be cutting out the bad panels and preparing the surrounding areas. my youngest is in engineering school so I guess we will end up with a welder at some point....
If you decide to get a welder, get a name brand with available spare parts. Also get one capable of running with gasses.
I'm pretty sure a ton of people buy a cheaper welder (still not too inexpensive) and then end up buying a nicer unit anyway.
Buy once, cry once.
And we (well, the Classic Motorsports crew) has a video on welding in replacement floor pans:
I agree with getting a good Mig with gas, life (and car builds/repairs) is so much easier with the proper tools.
I don't think you need to buy a top of the line unit tho, I think the quality of even the somewhat off brands has improved significantly. I have a Clarke 100E that I bought in 1994, still works perfectly and lays down a good bead. The key to the cheaper units is duty cycle - how long you can weld without letting it stop and cool off a bit, but that's never been a problem for a home garage builder just tacking or welding in panels, as you spend as much time getting set up (or more actually) than you do making sparks.
A used Hobart on 240v for example would be a good buy on a major brand, you won't find a good lightly used Miller or Lincoln for short money tho. ......you might find a lightly used Lincoln 120V and that will weld sheet metal panels all day just fine.
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