Floor pan replacement

[Steve73K5]

I’m diving into a little resto work in my 73. I am replacing the front floor pans and have been looking at options. When looking at floor pans for a 73 none of the pictures are correct but when I view 72 floor pans the look spot on. Does anyone know if some 73’s would have an earlier floor pan design?

 

[Conner]

I can't speak to the '73 specifically, but I will say the replacement floor pans for my truck ('85) were pretty far off from the originals. I had to significantly modify them to make them work. Partly because of this, I opted to patch my floors rather than try to replace them completely.

Whichever part you go with, I'd plan on having to adjust them (cut, bend, add/remove material, weld back together) a decent amount to do it "right".

Hopefully someone else can answer your question for which part will work better, good luck!

 

[Mdjunior]

x2

 

[Blue85]

Does anyone know if some 73’s would have an earlier floor pan design?

72 and 73 are completely different bodies. If it looks like a 73+ on the outside, I would say the odds of having a first-gen floor are pretty slim. GM did a lot of weird things over the years, but I would consider misleading parts diagrams more likely. Maybe bust out the tape measure and contact some of the sheet metal suppliers.

 

[Steve73K5]

Thanks for the feed back. Just waiting on a site to get back to me with some information.

 

[jimmyleetn]

You'll have to use a 73-91 floor pan. Do it a side at a time some so you can use what's left of one side as a reference. It will never look like it did from the factory. The pans you get today are not drop in and go. They are more for patches than anything. Replace what is bad but keep what isn't so you have something to reference from. Good luck, it's a lot of work and you'll be doing some shaping for sure since you have the 73-77 styled floor. I've seen pictures where people have fully redone the floor in 73-75 blazers, nothings possible but boy they spent a lot of time getting it right and modifying the reproduction pans.

 

[fastazz81]

The repo floor pans are close but not perfect , I did mine a few years ago , with enough cutting and welding it will look close , I have some pics in my build thread.

 

[swartlkk]

With a '74 myself that is in need of new floors, I am interested in this information as well.

I believe that the 73-77 floors are quite different from the 78+. The 78+ had the floor under the front seats extend back further to give the rear seat passengers a footwell. Before that, the rear cargo floor was basically right up against the front seats.

 

[imiceman44]

I can't speak to the '73 specifically, but I will say the replacement floor pans for my truck ('85) were pretty far off from the originals. I had to significantly modify them to make them work. Partly because of this, I opted to patch my floors rather than try to replace them completely.

Whichever part you go with, I'd plan on having to adjust them (cut, bend, add/remove material, weld back together) a decent amount to do it "right".

Hopefully someone else can answer your question for which part will work better, good luck!

When I did my 74, there wasn't much left to keep, and I had no access to reproduction floors, I just put a thicker flat sheet, and just bent the edge at the doodoor to match the original.
It was much stronger and bolting the seat in didn't need an reinforced patches.

 

[Conner]

When I did my 74, there wasn't much left to keep, and I had no access to reproduction floors, I just put a thicker flat sheet, and just bent the edge at the doodoor to match the original.
It was much stronger and bolting the seat in didn't need an reinforced patches.

That's a good point, if you choose to use factory-style replacement panels, while you're there it makes sense to reinforce those sections of the floor somehow. I plan on this, but haven't gotten to it yet. Just something to keep in mind so you don't wish you had done it later.