7/3/08
Due to my crazy schedule, which has juggled my father’s surgery and also taking the GMAT, and Jon’s schedule with his new job we couldn’t get together for him to help me finish the pans. So I decided to take the plunge and embrace the unknown. I sat down and looked at the pans, scratched my head. I thought to myself that I could weld in these pans. I turned the MIG welder on and went to it. After some hammering, cursing, and beating the pans into submission, I spot welded the two rear pans myself!
I have three new floor pans now! Jon was very helpful in this process. I am so grateful for his assistance and his expertise. He showed me how to weld and helped me get these floor pans in correctly. Instead of just cutting out everything and putting in the new pans we took the time to cut out the rusty areas and insert the new pans that were cut to fit. It took more time but I think it was well worth the effort. This way I was able to keep the original seat tracks which are more robust and have a better integrity than the new replicated products. I have to go back and put a few two inch beads around each rear pan. This way I know the spot welds won’t come undone in any event. I’m just thinking ahead and I don’t want the car to be back together and find that the spot welds came apart.
The next step will be to turn over the floor pan grind down the lip where the edges of the pans meet. Then I’ll sand down the pan and begin the POR-15 process. I’ll have to order about $250 worth of parts to get the front beam and the rear transaxle put back together so I’ll probably order those parts soon. I finally feel that this project is moving in an upward direction.
