Question about patching a floor in my jeep.

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I need to put a 20" x 20" plate down in the floor of my jeep to cover the original rusted out floor. If any of you fellas know where the tool box, ( or should I say rust box) is on the old cj's, this is where it's rusted through. I took the tool box out and will be able to salvage it, but the floor is shot. I need to place a seat bracket on top of it and I'm not sure on what thickness of diamond plate to patch this spot.Considering I do have one brace under the rusted floor that's holding, and considering I'll have all the weight of the passenger seat and the passenger on this 20" x 20" section, I'm guessing 3/16" thick diamond plate.  Any suggestions would be appreciated before I order. Stuff is so expensive, I can't afford to bring it home and it be to thin, and I obviously don't want to pay extra for more than I need.
Reply:Personally, I'd go with the same gauge as the original floor unless you think heavier will be easier to weld.Thicker material can cause fitup problems on an old vehicle.  It won't bend as easily to fit countours or whoop dee doos.Sounds like fun"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Farmer, that's my conundrum. 18 gauge hot rolled steel would be perfect, but I don't think I'd be able to weld it with my stick welder.
Reply:You could always oxy-acetylene weld it. I did that to a Ford Pinto about 25 years ago. Used a piece of a steel shelf for the patch, and coat hangar for the filler! Actually turned out excellent, and lasted as long as I owned the car.Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC (Sold)Miller Dialarc 250HFMiller MM251Miller MM200 (Sold)Miller MM130Miller Spot WelderVictor O/A rigMiller Spoolmatic 1 (Sold)
Reply:Originally Posted by bratkid63You could always oxy-acetylene weld it. I did that to a Ford Pinto about 25 years ago. Used a piece of a steel shelf for the patch, and coat hangar for the filler! Actually turned out excellent, and lasted as long as I owned the car.
Reply:That was funny! Didn't see that one coming.I'm almost embarassed to admit I owned 7 Pinto's at different times from the late '70's through the late '80's. You couldn't kill those 2.3 liter 4 bangers. I had one that I put a cam, dual Webers and headers on. Turned high 14's in the .25 mile. I used to win beer betting friends I could go 100 mph in 3rd gear. (I think the rpm's were at something like 8000!) It lasted for about a year of abuse before 3 of the 4 cast pistons gave out one night.Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC (Sold)Miller Dialarc 250HFMiller MM251Miller MM200 (Sold)Miller MM130Miller Spot WelderVictor O/A rigMiller Spoolmatic 1 (Sold)
Reply:7 Pintos in 10 years?  Doesn't sound like they were that hard to kill! lol.Why not get a small mig and patch it with that?  Then you could go with the thinner material.Last edited by yammyman; 07-16-2009 at 09:23 PM.
Reply:You couldn't kill the engines. The body and chassis on the other hand.............Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC (Sold)Miller Dialarc 250HFMiller MM251Miller MM200 (Sold)Miller MM130Miller Spot WelderVictor O/A rigMiller Spoolmatic 1 (Sold)
Reply:Uh.... and wasn't there something about the gas tanks????Zippo on wheels, so they saySAme with the older Chevy pickups with the outboard saddle tankThe Chevy should have been redesigned, and the lawyers were right on that one.But a lot of crap about cars, specially American cars (prior to the foreign invasion) was just a way for lawyer dudes to make tons of money.  And the fallout was scaring folks off.  They rushed out and bought little Honda breadboxes.So instead of worrying about gasoline explosions, which may or may not happen, they were shredded into little bits when the crappy little cars hit anything larger than a soda can.  Hirohito's revenge.I miss the 1970 Plymouth Fury III.  THAT WAS A CAR!!!!!!!  (and you know, that little 318 mill, with AC going full blast, car doing 75, would still get comparable mileage to todays little crappy SUV's)  It was comfortable, roomy, quiet, and if you hit something.....you had a good chance of walking away.And it was just a plain ol' good lookin' car."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Ma had a 66 fury lll with factory air. Beautiful burgundy car, but no resale cause 4 door.
Reply:Samm I've got a '71 4 door Fury III 318, in the garage that I hope to one day put back on the road. Had the chance to get a 71 Fury Va state police car with the 440 and passed, wish I hadn't now. Had 2 different 74 Darts with 318's as well. There's a kid in my neighborhood with a 72-73 Valiant in very nice condition. Figure it had to be the grandparents car. If I ever see him in a parking lot I'm going to ask what he wants for it before he destroys it. I'm sure he'll jump at the chance to dump the "clunker" and get some POS rice burner instead.
Reply:So Dave, are you trying to replace the floor of the "tool box" or the passenger side floorboard skin itself?  If you use some 18 gauge and some creative cutting and bending, you should almost be able to make that thing look like the factory.....if you've got the right welder!  I've always done that with a small wire feed and then ground it down and sprayed it with that bedliner paint you can get at NAPA.  I don't know about that stick welder, maybe you've got a friend you can borrow a wire feed from?  I've seen a lot of crappy repairs done with thick chunks of diamond plate.  If it's just a beater that you're thrashing on, no big deal, but if it's something you're trying to make nice, take the time and do that floor right!
Reply:Samm, Ma's still got her old '68 Fury III with the 318, and a trunk large enough to store three or four bodies in plus a picnic lunch.  (How long's it been since you heard THAT description of a car trunk?)  Instead of blue with the white stripe on the side, we flipped it to white with blue ... called it "Orca, The Great White Whale" ever after.  The engine and trans recently got rebuilt (well, within the past five years, so that's recent), and she's still chuggin' along just fine .... although I remember Dad used to get pissed if I ran more than 80 while we were out on the open road.  (This was back when the max speed limit was still double nickels on the freeway, guys!)  I'lll see if I can get the parents to send me a few shots of the car, and maybe some of our other classic wheels, too.A Ford Pinto wasn't a REAL Pinto without the de riguer rag stuffed in the tank after you lost the fuel cap.  Made it easier to light the fuse on your rolling Molotov cocktail ..... Okay, enough of the thread hijack.  Go for the 18 gauge - I've also seen a lot of "custom" repair work done with diamond plate, and couldn't believe how gawd-awful the "repair" came out.  Doing it right the first time costs less than doing it over .........
Reply:18 ga sounds good if you can weld it. Definately, no thicker than 14 ga. I used some 1/8" on my Scout floor and it was too thick and heavy. On the other hand, I don't think I will ever have any rustout issues with the rear floor.
Reply:Had the same problem...different vehicle, GMH (Holden) One Tonner. Anywho, went to a wreckers and cut out the floor pan adding a little bit extra. Went back to the car did the same and OA back into place.It passed over the 'pits'...err...thats our state vehicle licensing body here in Western Australia. Just thought I'd share that with you all.
Reply:This thread is entertaining with the pinto education I'm getting. lol.I'll go ahead and order the 18 gauge. You guys are right, do it right now and not have another eye sore staring up at me.I took the tool box out the other night. This jeep is my hunting rig and I don't plan on keeping a top on it unless I go with a bikini top later. I have to build a roll cage first. But with an open top, that tool box just collects water and collects mud, blood and beer.The floor under the tool box looks like swiss cheese, and I was able to remove the tool box and shear the spot welds with a chisel, although I did create a few holes in the floor due to it being about rusted through already.It's a rough looking jeep, but I just want to add some support for the time being and get my seat frame in. It's a 1974 CJ6 so it is something I hope to restore some day. The tool box I took out is in good shape and will go back in someday when I can to the frame up restore, as of right now, I'm just getting it ready for the up and coming hunting season.I take it I wouldn't need a very big mig for spot welds like this. Here we go. hmmmm, my heads thinking about the possibility of making a homemade metal break now to create a flanged edge on the piece I'm about to add. I love this stuff!Thanks fellas for the help and morning's entertainment! I'll get some pictures here after the weekend.By the way, I had an uncle who bought a pinto back in the 70s, but he was use to driving heavy iron like the old fleetwood cadillacs. For some reason he thought it was necessary add one of those orange bicycle flags to the back bumper that was on that 5 foot flexible pole. I suppose it felt so small to him, he wanted to make sure other drivers saw him coming. ...that was a memory out of the attic for sure.Last edited by Texas Dave; 07-17-2009 at 10:00 AM.
Reply:My first Pinto originally belonged to my parents. It was a '73, and they bought it in '76 after the Plymouth Duster they bought brand new in '71 rusted to the ground with only 40,000 miles on it. Shortly after they bought it, the news about the fuel tanks exploding broke. My dad's fix for the problem was to attach a large plywood sign to the rear of the car with hand painted letters that said "Don't tailgate, Pintos explode". I don't think I need to tell you what this did to my "popularity" at the junior high I went to when my mom pulled up driving that car. In 1980, my parents bought a brand new Pinto. (Dad was sold on the durability, and was convinced the recall fix Ford did solved the problem.) The dealer offered them $100 for the '73, so they decided it would make a good (cheap) 17th birthday present for yours truly. Unlike kids today who want brand new Honda Civics when they start driving, I was absolutely thrilled just to have my own car! It took me a month of fiberglass and bondo work just to get the car through PA inspection. This was BEFORE I knew how to weld!Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC (Sold)Miller Dialarc 250HFMiller MM251Miller MM200 (Sold)Miller MM130Miller Spot WelderVictor O/A rigMiller Spoolmatic 1 (Sold)
Reply:hey texas dave if u need any ideas for roll cages and patch panels take a look at rustys offroad.com there u would be able to figure out the thickness of the panel you would need and also you maybe figure out how much it would cost to resorect ur jeep and bring it back to new take it easy agwelderold skool idealarc welderEsab multi tool Milwauake 7inch angle grinder the best of all tho the oxyacceteline set up
Reply:I had the same problem in my 1979 Chevy truck 20 years ago.   What I did was found an old filing cabinet, and cut the back out of it and then riveted it over the hole.  Worked great, and was cheap and easy.