I am getting ready to restore my '79 F-250. I have a hole in my floor board straight doiwn from the front of the bench seat about 3" in from the edge of the door frame. If I want to fix this, am I able to replace the whole driver side floor pan or do I just cut that bad section out and put in a new section. Personally, I would like to replace the whole floor board for that side as I don't want to just pice in a patch job. What is the correct way to do this?

 

Well how big is the hole. If the hole is smaller than a quarter I would just use some fiberglass over it and make it smooth again. If its big yes a floorboard replacement is your best bet. I agree that patching up is not the best way to do it. A drivers side floorboard is not expensive it just entails some work.

 

I'm about to do the same to both sides of my 78 F100, I'm restoring;
Just wanted you to know that prolly the reason for your floor rot, is like mine as well of hunderds of others, its cause from the front windshiled leaking, during rain & washing.
I recommend check this out as well. Your quick fix on floor, might need some attention to your cause as well.
If your hole is say 4x 8 area, I would just cut it out & reweld in a piece of scrap metal, but if yours is like mine whole floor pan is the best option. Check the intergity of the whole floor to determine this comment.

Mitch

 

If the majority of the driverside floorboard is in sound condition I would suggest you just reair the bad area with a piece of sheet metal. Replacing floorboards is actually quite a bit of work due to the fat that the front cabmounts are welded to the floorboards so removeing the old floor can be a real hassle. If your front cab mounts are bad I would definately replace the whole floor board. Post a pic of your floorboard and see what people suggest.

 

I agree with 79F150, just replace what is needed and leave as much of the factory steel as you can.

Besides a 6" X 6" square is a lot easier to patch in than an entire floorboard.

Josh

 

I also agree, just replace what's needed, no sense in doing more work than needed, plus, whenever you do metal work you need to seal everything back up top and bottom. The less of a patch panel, the less work to seal it all up. Butt welding is best, because in case youre sealer would come off, then there are not two overlapping panels with in which to hold moisture and salt/ mud. DO NOT just cover it up with bondo, fiberglass or another peice of metal and NO POP RIVETS!!! This method will get you through a quicky state inspection, but in most cases will only cause more problems in the future. Think back to getting a filling in you're tooth, you have to get all the decay ground out to prevent farther decay under the filling. Metal works the same way. If the spot is on a double panel, and the bottom part is ok, you can take a grinder to the top of the spot welds to remove the bad section. I use a cut off wheel to cut, and you can be carefull and see when you have gone through just one layer of metel. And when cutting/ welding, cover up you're glass because those sparks will melt into it and pitt it all to hell. And don't catch youre firewall insulation on fire like I did!
Oh and guys, do you know for sure it is a leaky windsheild? Mine does it too but I thought it was the wiper cowl so I went and shaved the vents off and even made little funnels for under the wipers to redirect water through hoses, out to between the inner and outer wheel wells. Havent tested the theory yet...hoping I didn't do all that fab work for nothing. My lil bros '66 stang had a rusted out inner wiper cowl that leaked on his feet, and so does my '60 Falcon so thats why I went that way. I also had a new windsheild and rubber before and it still leaked.