89 floor damage repair / or Flintstone driver?
 

I have a request to repair a floor damaged by running over a truck tire on I-95. The tire smashed the fiberglass floor pan hard enough to knock out a 1 foot square section of the floor under the drivers heels (not the toeboard section). The underlayment's hanging and there's a hole through the carpet. The hole in the carpet is in the low corner on the rocker side front (presumably rotted and not from the truck tire hit).

I haven't had the car up in the air yet and never worked on glass floors so I have a couple questions you folks might be able to answer. Car is a daily driver, and far from show quality with a cheap respray, worn interior, cracked/rotted rubber door gaskets, etc. Not really up to the standard of cars I normally work on, but it's a neighbors.... sooooo LOL

How big is the section of the floor and what's it attached to?

Are repair/replacement floor panels available and if so any recommendations about where to purchase?

Anything in particular to watch out for if I pull the seat, carpet etc to get at that area of the floorpan from the inside?

How much structural strength does the floor pan contribute? It seems very thin but ya never know.

Any special jacking instructions? I don't have a lift, just floor jacks. No jacking/lifting experience with Corvettes, just metal cars LOL and even my 911 can only be jacked up a certain way so I want to be carefull.

I do have experience working with fiberglass and building/working on cars in general. Just being cautious so I don't end up with a can of worms.

Any help, tips, or advise would be appreciated. Even if that is telling me to walk away from the job.

I've had to do it to my 84. I've never tried jacking on the fiberglass as it doesn't seem like a bright idea, but on the metal frame or suspension parts is always a safe bet.

I patched my hole and called it a day, been going for... 5 years now?... no problems. It's been a while since I did it, but I don't recall there being any structural fiberglass down there. Bet bet would be to jack it up, or better yet get it on a lift, and check for yourself. I'm pretty sure that everything important bolts to the frame itself and not the fiberglass floor.

If I'm wrong here, I'm sure that somebody with more experience will chime in.:thumbsup:

Only the front part of the floor pan is glass!!:thumbsup:
From the front of the seats back to the bulkhead are steel!!
Use SMC compatible Resin or SMC bonding adhesive,Conventional polyester resins won't stick to SMC!! (Sheet Molded Composite)
I use Fusor 127 EZ!:thumbsup:

STRONG STUFF!:thumbsup:

Well I ended up using the polyester based resin. I can see where there would be a problem attaching something to the SMC if it wasn't damaged because the smooth surface of the SMC doesn't provide much to grip to.

I kept the car even while using 2 jacks on the frame to tip the car them set the tires on blocks to hold it up while working on it. Safety first, I try to keep anything from having a way to fall. I've had a couple buds get crushed. Yes the wheels were also chocked on the other side.

The resin seemed to stick very well to the roughed up surface and I had no problems making a solid floor. The floor on the other side of the car is rotted out in the same area where this one failed when the tire hit it. Car has gasket issues and carpet was rotted out in the lower outside corner. Maybe someday someone will fix the other side? Here's a couple pics of the job in case someone else finds this thread searching for a floor fix.

Tip it up and lets get this party started!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/010.jpg

The damage

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...TATA/006-1.jpg

Door striker section plastic piece, sill carpet piece, and plastic piece by gas pedal have to come out. If you're limber the seat can stay. Peel back carpet sections and tuck out of the way.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...TATA/005-1.jpg

Cut away broken section and ground SMC to give the new resin something to grip. Also helps prevent a "lump" transitioning from original SMC when overlapping with new fiberglass matting. Along the tunnel where the crack was I opened the crack wider with a hacksaw blade so resin could fill the inside of the crack and adhere to matting above and below.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/007.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/008.jpg

Made a cardboard form below to catch any drips. I haven't powerwashed the driveway since I finally finished moving in but I don't want to make the job any harder!! Resin is a pain if it gets a good hold!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...TATA/004-3.jpg

Laid up and ready for some rough contour sanding.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...TATA/008-1.jpg

A little paint to make it pretty. Wet in pic, dries flatter and with a couple drives on rainy days it'll blend right in.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/011.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/012.jpg

Straightened out the mangled shield and pop riveted it back where it was originally.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/013.jpg

Cleaned and reinstalled carpet and interior pieces. DONE! Slowly lower car evenly.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/NOTATA/014.jpg