Looking for any suggestions. I sanded them down to expose the metal which increased the size of the holes (expected). Any suggestions on next step?
One guy told me to treat it and then weld 18 gauge steel over them. That does not sound right but just wanted some other options.
Don’t do that it won’t solve the problem. Where are you located I know a guy in my area northern Illinois.
Fix itthe right way. I am not any kind of an expert but I can tell you that won’t work.
fix it the right way by replacing the section with a floor pan with this, Short Extended Front Floor Pan - Driver Side - Repro ~ 1967 - 1973 Mercury Cougar - 1967 - 1973 Ford Mustang ( 1967 Mercury Cougar, 1968 Mercury Cougar, 1969 Mercury Cougar, 1970 Mercury Cougar, 1971 Mercury Cougar, 1972 Mercury Cougar, 1973 Mercury Cougar, 1967 Ford Mustang, 1968 Ford Mustang, 1969 Ford Mustang, 1970 Ford Mustang, 1971 Ford Mustang, 1972 Ford Mustang, 1973 Ford Mustang ) at West Coast Classic Cougar :: The Definitive 1967 - 1973 Mercury Cougar Parts Source
I did not think so. I am located in north Houston. What about cutting it out and welding in a new 18 gauge steel plate?
if your doing it your self and trying to save money, weld small slits of metal in. or small triangles. the pieces will melt into the weld
You might want to take an awl and probe the inner rocker panels on the bottom. They’re prone to rust on a convertible (nature of the beast) If they’re rusted out, you should address that at the same time.
What does it look like from the bottom? With rust the more you dig the worse it gets. With a unibody car the metal is all structural so you need to replace pieces. It is a lot of work. You Tube has plenty of videos to review on floor pan, torque box and rocker replacements. Pieces are available for those with metal and fabrication skills. Time consuming job.
You need to check the underside of the inner rockers for rot. They are a critical structural component of a convertible. The floor was welded to the bottom of the inner rocker, which make sit a prime area for corrosion.
Thanks for all the suggestions and information. I will inspect the inner rocker panels also. Has anyone used fiber glass sheets to repair these smaller holes? Worth the time or just a waist of time?
If you can you should avoid using fiberglass patching. It will not last and may make doing metal repairs more difficult later on. If your rockers are solid it should not be to expensive to get new floor patches(or panels) done. I have done floor patches and a full floor replacement. It’s not easy, but doable.
Start with taking a wire wheel to the area to get all the rust identified- you’ll need to strip the paint to weld anyway.
Check Lowe’s or HD for metal- cheapest place I found for patches… although I had to do the entire floor- used 1/4 pans at a time.
Your pictures show a great deal of rust remaining. You have to remove enough that the remaining panel has zero rust. The answer may be a replacement floor because that is easier to weld in place than a thousand individual patches. Fiberglass is a non way to repair metal.
Thank you for all the advice and dialogue regarding the floor pan, welding, fiberglass, etc. This is all new to me, so it great you guys are so willing to help and share your knowledge. I know I will have tons more question and really appreciate all the support.
You will spend way too much time and money trying to fill in each little hole separately. I used patch panels made by Goodmark. They are easy to find and reasonably priced. Do not try and make your own out of steel from Home Depot. It is much cheaper to buy the preformed part. It was easy to weld in and fit just like the original. The trick is to make a lot of small tack welds around the part and changing the welding location to prevent heat build up and associated distortion. Once the panel is fixed in place then you can finish filling in the unwelded areas. I am not a great welder but replacing the old floor pan was much easier than I thought it would be. There are a lot of YouTube videos that will give you a good idea of the process.
Thank you mlat3 for the suggestions. I am looking at patch panels tonight. I appreciate the help
