Replacing the floor

[Roysneon]

So I knew my early model project car needed rust repair, but after pulling the wet, mouldy carpet I'm devastated at what I've found.

Basically, I need to cut all the sheet metal from the floor and replace it. I'm not going to start again with a cleaner car, so just keep that suggestion to yourself.

My only question is: is there somewhere that I can order weld in replacement floor pans or do I make my own from sheet metal? I know the floor was made as 1 piece from the factory but I figured someone would be producing replacement weld in panels.

[JGood]

BMW doesn't make any replacement floor panels, and there are no aftermarket panels available (to my knowledge). You're best bet would be to find a shell with minimal rust to cut the floor pan out of. What area do you need? Most seem to rust near the very front outer area, and grow from there.

Here's a thread from the work I did, (which sounds minor compared to what you might need to do):

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=103528

[Roysneon]

Thanks for the link. That's similar to what I'll end up doing. I don't know if I really want to post pctures of the gory mess I have to deal with. This is a car that was given to me by my father and has been in the family for a few years now so I'm not gonna let it go out like this but it will be a hell of a lot of work fixing this.

[jrobie79]

I just replaced mine with stock sheet metal from a supply company, its held up fine

[jrobie79]

granted my patch was only a 5"x4" rectangle...

[RickSloan]

Just pulled my carpets up and ran into the same issue...

Im short on time and cash honestly, i just bought a house a week ago.

I have holes, each at least 6 inches across in all 4 parts of the pan, some right on seams... My heater core went and the is why i pulled the carpet.. .only to find this mess. supposed to go to summit point in November...

This is how i see my options -

1. Buy a shell and swap everything (m30, 5 lug etc)
2. Find a rust free car in the yard and cut and weld the pans into my car
3. try to patch with reg sheet metal.. not what i want to do
4. clean the carpet and put it back in for now until i can source a shell and some time...

Does any one have a shell, i mean a shell. (preferably an early model so i can keep my bumpers and high arches, 2 door or 4 door don't care) I dont need interior, drive line, suspension, anything, all i need is a body with a floor. I can even swap my harnesses if there are none in the car. I honestly don't even care if there is a title or not. As long as there is no rust. I need a solution asap otherwise I am DD my excursion 80 miles a day...

[nrubenstein]

Post some pics, but regular sheet metal is no problem. Just form it to shape.

[RickSloan]

i have one on my phone right now i will upload it

[RickSloan]

doesn't look terrible in the picture cause you can't see all the holes by the seams :(

[Roysneon]

You're lucky

['e30love']

holy fuck!!!! i know you dont want to hear it but ill whisper in your ear..... find a shell... best of luck to you, if ypu save that e30 godbless you

[Mr. Burns]

hack it up to useable metal, weld in new sheets and POR 15 the t*ts out of it.

easier than you think, just labour intensive and POR 15 is extra messy.

[Roysneon]

holy fuck!!!! i know you dont want to hear it but ill whisper in your ear..... find a shell... best of luck to you, if ypu save that e30 godbless you

Yep, that'd be the smart thing to do, but I never claimed to be too smart ;)

Car was my dad's, it's gonna take more than that to make me give up. I've already found a west-coast car being parted that I'm going to cut up so everything is just cut+weld, no forming anything.

The car already needs paint, suspension, brakes, engine, diff, wheels/tires, bumpers and interior so what's one more thing? :)

['e30love']

Yep, that'd be the smart thing to do, but I never claimed to be too smart ;)

Car was my dad's, it's gonna take more than that to make me give up. I've already found a west-coast car being parted that I'm going to cut up so everything is just cut+weld, no forming anything.

The car already needs paint, suspension, brakes, engine, diff, wheels/tires, bumpers and interior so what's one more thing? :)

awesome, quitters never win

[ttrousdell]

wow roysneon that is prob the worst I have ever seen. I cant imagine what the rear wheel arches, rocker pannels and battery box looks like. Thats going to be a LOT of work.
Im sure you saw my build on rust repair

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=191125&page=5

Good news is most of that rusted metal is the same gauge as body pannels. Spare hood has been my source of sheet metal. Best of luck to you.