Well, I did it! The new passenger side floor is now epoxied in place! I changed my mind on using the panel bond after reading their MSDS. It seemed just a bit too dangerous for my home use. So, I switched to JB Weld. Interestingly enough, the JB Weld advertises a greater tensile strength than the panel bond, so I don't think that I'm losing anything by making the switch. My thought in using the epoxy is that it will hold the 2 floor pans together, while the welds that I plan to make will provide the structural strength. I wanted to keep as much of the original floor pan as I could because it attached to the rear of the floor that I was keeping. The area where it went bad was around the battery hole and forward to the toe board. I didn't like the idea of buying a complete half of floor pan and cutting most of it out. Neither did I like the idea of ditching the original metal. So, in my mind, keeping as much of both as I could would be my solution. I know it is not normal, but what can I say. Call it a big experiment that we can all watch. If it fails, all I'm out is the cost of the replacement floor pan half. If it works, I'm that much closer to getting it back on the road.
Where I'm at now: the floor is epoxied and screwed in place. I've also got a bunch of clamps to help hold things in place while the epoxy cures. Because it is cold out in the garage and this coming week is Thanksgiving week, I plan to leave it like this until after the holiday. Once I'm ready to take the clamps off and the screws out, I'll start the welding process. My plan there is to take one screw out at a time, enlarge the screw hole with the spot weld cutter (leaves a 3/8" circular hole) and make the weld between the two parts. Then move onto the next screw and/or hole. Once all of the welding is done, the clamps can come off (earlier if they get in the way...we'll see).
The first pic show the underside of the new floor pan with the EDP coating removed and weld through primer in places where I'll make the plug welds. The second pic shows the original floor pan with weld through primer and epoxy. The third pic shows the floor pan in place with the screws and clamps.
Perhaps ignorance is bliss, but I feel as though I'm making progress. I understand it is unconventional, but I think it'll work. Since I won't be doing anything this week, I won't be making any new posts before the holiday. So...Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
