floor pan rust
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Joined: Nov 2005
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floor pan rust
Hi im new to the forum and world of corvettes and have a few questions, I have a 1976 corvette and when i ripped up the carpet i found rust spots in the floor boards. Should i weld a metal plate over the holes( there are several) or should i just try to find a replacement floor board, and if so who sells the replacement floor boards?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 2,010
Likes: 3
From: Moon Twp. PA USA
Originally Posted by ryan92663
Hi im new to the forum and world of corvettes and have a few questions, I have a 1976 corvette and when i ripped up the carpet i found rust spots in the floor boards. Should i weld a metal plate over the holes( there are several) or should i just try to find a replacement floor board, and if so who sells the replacement floor boards?
Racer
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 281
Likes: 9
From: New England
I also have a 1976 and when I installed new carpeting I found my wells to have rust holes in them. I ground down the rust in both wells until the floor was all bare metal and I purchased a fiberglass repair kit that had a quart of resin and fiberglass mat and just fiberglassed both sides. That was 15 years ago and they are as good as new now. Just make sure that you find and repair the leak that caused it to rust in the first place.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 918
Likes: 5
From: Gainesville FL
Depends how extensive the rust is. On my 76, the entire wells for the seatbelt retractors were gone, and there were big holes in the section where you put your feet. Someone had done a lousy job of glassing over the holes and made an even worse mess of things, so I decided to cut out the entire floorboards and put in replacements. It's an expensive fix, but mine were so bad that it made sense. If your damage isn't so severe, and you can weld in replacement sheet metal, I would do that. A good fiberglass repair job is also a possibility.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 732
Likes: 15
From: Clarksburg NJ
Mine were pretty bad on my '76, and they did not yet make the repro's. In fact , I lost about 7 mo's on the project waiting for then to be made, die problems, etc. Ultimately, I found Dave's Auto Wrecking , in Placentia, Ca. - They have excellent rust free parts from Southern Ca. I would have to find the receipt, but not nearly as expensive. They cut out through the rocker channels, then down the middle into two sections. Allowed exact fit to factory weld points, with some patience, of course. I have also seen the repros at Carlisle since then - nothing like factory.... 
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,577
Likes: 2
From: Long Island New York
Originally Posted by dariopop
I also have a 1976 and when I installed new carpeting I found my wells to have rust holes in them. I ground down the rust in both wells until the floor was all bare metal and I purchased a fiberglass repair kit that had a quart of resin and fiberglass mat and just fiberglassed both sides. That was 15 years ago and they are as good as new now. Just make sure that you find and repair the leak that caused it to rust in the first place.
I had the same problem and repaired it the same way, worked like a charm.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 104
Likes: 0
From: Austin Texas
I have the same problem with mine, i went to a corvette junkyard and had the seat belt wells cut out of a clean floor, I'm going to cut out the rusty edges that are my current wells and weld in the new cut outs, then i'm going to shape some metal plates to weld in in place of my swiss cheese floor plates and rhino rubberize the whole she-bang top and bottom.
This should conceivably fix the problem for ... ever?
This is NOT how to fix this if you are attempting to maintain factory correctness.
This should conceivably fix the problem for ... ever?
This is NOT how to fix this if you are attempting to maintain factory correctness.
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Racer
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 268
Likes: 0
From: Mechanicsville VA
if it is not too bad, just cut out the cancer and weld in patches. Use something like POR-15 to paint both sides to help it stay that way. You may want to look at the birdcage (windshield/door support) as these take some repairs as well. (Or maybe you don't want to look at it- just more work!!!)
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 7,720
Likes: 12
From: Chattanooga TN
78 up pans are galvanized and held up much better. They can be made to fit 76 with a few mods. You can probably buy a whole cowl back body for a 78 up for $100 or less if you look around.
