New to body work- need some guidance

[The_Tomato]

Guys, when it comes to bodywork I'm like a lost kid on a city street. Don't even know where to start. In terms of tools, I have a cheap flux core welder, a cutoff wheel, and an angle grinder. How would I go about repairing this? Trying to put down some dynamat and the sill plates and not have holes in my floor.

I'll probably be using this thread for all sorts of questions, and others are welcome to do so as well.

 

[The_Tomato]

Also- I know there was a similar post recently, but the thread seemed to die and patching in a panel doesnt seem as applicable here. I don't know what to do

 

[ryoken]

i'll post some chit tonight when I get home....

 

[flatland]

You'll get good technical advice here.
Patience and perseverance help, and keep in mind that it can always be trimmed out and redone if the first attempt isn't satisfactory.

 

[ryoken]

my apologies for being kind of late.... psycho season for me...


as with most things, it kind of depends on what you want out of it..... obviously pulling seats, grinding, sanding, even blasting, will help evaluating... the old screwdriver stab test will help figuring out the size of patch you need.. you could cut that out of an old hood, etc, or it would more than likely be included in on one of the various floor pans offered... from the looks, you should be inspecting the inner rocker, rest of floor, etc too... any time rust is in sandwiches/seams, you need to evaluate where it's going to go and other spots it's visiting...

fluxcore can be rough for welding sheetmetal.. it burns deep and likes to blow thru.. but can be done with patience.. but gas is recommended highly. .023 is great, but .030 will work too...generally with noobie body guys i suggest they do a stepped overlap patch and plug weld them.. vastly easier than a butt weld, and stronger on floor repairs.... bit of seam sealer and they are righteous..

 

[The_Tomato]

my apologies for being kind of late.... psycho season for me...


as with most things, it kind of depends on what you want out of it..... obviously pulling seats, grinding, sanding, even blasting, will help evaluating... the old screwdriver stab test will help figuring out the size of patch you need.. you could cut that out of an old hood, etc, or it would more than likely be included in on one of the various floor pans offered... from the looks, you should be inspecting the inner rocker, rest of floor, etc too... any time rust is in sandwiches/seams, you need to evaluate where it's going to go and other spots it's visiting...

fluxcore can be rough for welding sheetmetal.. it burns deep and likes to blow thru.. but can be done with patience.. but gas is recommended highly. .023 is great, but .030 will work too...generally with noobie body guys i suggest they do a stepped overlap patch and plug weld them.. vastly easier than a butt weld, and stronger on floor repairs.... bit of seam sealer and they are righteous..

There's no rush whatsoever, so I appreciate you showing up at all!

That rust hole is actually a result of the screwdriver test. The source of the rust was a half inch of gunk sitting in there holding water. That's one of only 3 rust spots on the entire truck excluding the inner fenders behind the front tires, which is an easy fix. The inner rockers and the rest of the floor look pretty solid.

The overlap and plug weld method sounds like a good plan. I just have no idea how to shape a patch panel to fit such an odd shape.

 

[ryoken]

There's no rush whatsoever, so I appreciate you showing up at all!

That rust hole is actually a result of the screwdriver test. The source of the rust was a half inch of gunk sitting in there holding water. That's one of only 3 rust spots on the entire truck excluding the inner fenders behind the front tires, which is an easy fix. The inner rockers and the rest of the floor look pretty solid.

The overlap and plug weld method sounds like a good plan. I just have no idea how to shape a patch panel to fit such an odd shape.

that more than likely is included in a decent front floor section... granted, you'd be buying a panel at $50 to 75 prolly, for a small side section of it.. but it may be easier to just cut what you need off that.. as opposed to a custom patch... most of the time, a patch like that can be made pretty simply with a vise, hammer, clamps, etc... no compound curves or anything fancy to that one... i could walk ya thru that...

i would start by determining how bad it actually is by sanding/grinding, or blasting preferably, the surrounding area.. and trim the hole to a rectangle, etc.. no point in fixing it if you leave rust in the surrounding metal...

can your machine run gas? worthwhile investment if it does...

 

[CharlieC]

Replacing sheet metal in that area is usually a lot more than you think. Floor, outer rocker, inner rocker all are probably involved to some degree. Before you tear into it, be certain you’re ready for the time and energy commitment to do the repair.

If it’s out of sight and not so much on your mind, you can do remediation to stop it from getting worse and patch with something until you’re ready for the job.

I ran around for 30 years with some pop riveted and silicone repairs. Out of sight, out of mind, looked just like it did when originally done. Getting around to doing it correctly now.

Good luck!
Charlie

 

[The_Tomato]

Replacing sheet metal in that area is usually a lot more than you think. Floor, outer rocker, inner rocker all are probably involved to some degree. Before you tear into it, be certain you’re ready for the time and energy commitment to do the repair.

If it’s out of sight and not so much on your mind, you can do remediation to stop it from getting worse and patch with something until you’re ready for the job.

I ran around for 30 years with some pop riveted and silicone repairs. Out of sight, out of mind, looked just like it did when originally done. Getting around to doing it correctly now.

Good luck!
Charlie

I think this is the answer i needed. I'll take some remedial steps and stop the spread, and put in a semi-permanent patch of some kind.