Door Sill Floor Pan Metal

[RabbitHoleSS]

I definitely wouldn't buy those pans to replace that shoulder. Especially since the metal below it is probably rotted too.Just remember nobody will see this area. It doesn't need to look factory, just needs to function factory. If the lip that welds to the inner rocker is rusted, you can make an L shaped pc 1"×1" and spot weld that to the inner rocker, then weld your patch on top of that ledge. Your just building a bridge for the pan to sit on.The #3 body mounts are the critical, unchangeable parts. So try to keep it in place. I can't get your pics to load, so I don't know what yours looks like, but I will say if you have a grinder and welder you can fix this issue.
Edit: if the pic ck80 posted is your issue, I'd just cut that out, hand sandblast what's left and weld in scrap metal. It's gonna be 2 layers. Top layer will be the thinner Floorplan metal, then the thicker supports the floorpan sits on. This should give you an idea of what's down their.

you can see wher i patched it, once done nobody can really tell.

In my opinion save the 600 you'd spend on those floors and buy a welder(if you don't have one) or a tig welder. Then buy a pc of 18 gauge steel and dig in. And like mentioned, it's great to document the process for others who will face this exact issue down the road.

 

[Metzger82]

CopperNick and RabbitHoleSS you guys are amazing all this is really helping and as surprising as it may be to both of you this has actually rekindled that hope in me. I do have a welder, just a simple flux-core Lincoln Welder. I'll definitely in the next few weeks start peeling back the layers and taking pictures to ask for advice from you guys. If I wanted it to be pretty I would hack it together and take it into work where we have a nice MIG setup. Between you two and some advice that has been shared to me by my coworkers it seems manageable. I'm not a show worthy welder but I know my way around welding cracked excavator buckets.

I don't know if I've ever said anything on the forum but I'm a heavy equipment mechanic, it's fun to be the youngest at the shop that has a intense passion for a dead car brand and is hell bent on keeping the Cutlass. I usually stay pretty quiet on the forum until I need help and I know in most aspects it may seem better to just go buy a different car but (and I may have said it before) this car has a lot of meaning because this car was going to be a dream project of mine to learn from my Grandpa and enjoy time workingon it with him and my Dad. Back in September my Grandpa passed and I kind of lost interest in the car but it was hard for me to give up and thanks to my Dad he made me realize that though he may not be here I can we can still make memories and continue his love of Oldsmobiles through us.

I do greatly appreciate you guys!

 

[Hurricane77]

CopperNick and RabbitHoleSS you guys are amazing all this is really helping and as surprising as it may be to both of you this has actually rekindled that hope in me. I do have a welder, just a simple flux-core Lincoln Welder. I'll definitely in the next few weeks start peeling back the layers and taking pictures to ask for advice from you guys. If I wanted it to be pretty I would hack it together and take it into work where we have a nice MIG setup. Between you two and some advice that has been shared to me by my coworkers it seems manageable. I'm not a show worthy welder but I know my way around welding cracked excavator buckets.

I don't know if I've ever said anything on the forum but I'm a heavy equipment mechanic, it's fun to be the youngest at the shop that has a intense passion for a dead car brand and is hell bent on keeping the Cutlass. I usually stay pretty quiet on the forum until I need help and I know in most aspects it may seem better to just go buy a different car but (and I may have said it before) this car has a lot of meaning because this car was going to be a dream project of mine to learn from my Grandpa and enjoy time workingon it with him and my Dad. Back in September my Grandpa passed and I kind of lost interest in the car but it was hard for me to give up and thanks to my Dad he made me realize that though he may not be here I can we can still make memories and continue his love of Oldsmobiles through us.

I do greatly appreciate you guys!

If you guys are welding excavator buckets at work, you might want to make sure they have some 0.023 MIG wire and tips for that setup and go practice. Welding plate steel is one thing. Welding 20 ga sheet metal, especially if it's somewhat compromised due to rusting, is something completely different. It can be a very humbling experience.

Go take a look at RabbitHoleSS build thread. He's got a lot of detail in there and a lot of pictures. Gives you a good idea of the amount of work involved. It's not impossible, but it is a lot of work.

BUILD THREAD - Rustier then I thought!!!

So i started by taking out the interior to see how bad the floors were. From under the car it looks solidish. Well after half the floor came out with the carpet i knew i probably was gettin into a little more then i thought. So it was at this moment i decided to go the distance. Im no bodyman or...

gbodyforum.com

I've also got very similar work going on in my own build right now. Currently in the process of rebuilding a good portion of the sills, rockers and pretty much the entire floor.

CUTLASS - '87 Cutlass Salon

So I'm new here and have already found this to be a very good source of info. I used to have a 1986 Cutlass Supreme Brougham, White on Olive Green (including the Landau top), way back when I was in university (~20 years ago). It was my first 'real' car. I think I paid $2500 CAD for it back in...

gbodyforum.com

 

[joesregalproject]

RabbitHoleSS is an absolute badass with this stuff. Listen to him.

 

[Metzger82]

Well most of the bucket repairs are stick welding which is far from my favorite and even farther from my "expertise." I've done a lot of MIG welding and flux-core, mainly small projects or hacking together my exhaust from when I was always fixing something on my last car. If I got really lazy or in the case of my Oldsmobile LSS I had that spent it's 220k miles in snow and salt for 24 years I would just act like whatever rust was found during my project just didn't exist. Ignorance on that car was bliss. It was amazing though what that Series 2 Buick 3800 could do in stock form with a little stupid tweaks.

 

[john87442]

Rabbitholess love the advice and pics. I do have a mid/tic/stick welder and a plasma cutter to help cut the junk out. Love the pics of your car on the rotisserie, just had one delivered last week but I have to fix all this damage first and weld some braces before I can mount the body on it. As I have continued to dismantle the interior I continue to find more rust spots around t tops and this list of new body panels is growing. As soon as I can get things stripped down I’ll get some new pics of what I’m looking at and plan of attack. Great info thanks again for your insight along with everyone else who has shared.

 

[john87442]

Oh yeah as a side point I pulled down the headliner only to find a mouse had made a home… those things get everywhere!!

 

[86LK]

Don't know if it will help or you can use it, but this is what I have available after cutting off the cab of my salvage 82 El Camino. the straight line is where I cut the front of the cab off thru the floor boards, and then unbolted the body mounts in the front corner and under the sill plate. appears to have no rust.

 

[Metzger82]

To awake my dead thread because I'm bad with updating anything on here, this is the mostly final reason of 4 months of off and on work and A LOT of sheet metal getting hand bent. It's far from factory and even farther from factory but it's very structural safe and has eliminated the rust. View attachment 1000000741.jpg View attachment 1000000779.jpg View attachment 225238

 

[Hurricane77]

Looks good. It's all going to be under carpet anyway