I am replacing my front pan. I have all of the needed parts and I am prepping them now. I am looking for the best threads and pictures from those who have done this before. Opinions on techniques and cut places appreciated, I am going to butt weld as much as I can and I want to keep the repair as transparent as possible.

All pointers and feedback welcomed!

Larouex

If you don't need the cut off sidepieces from the fenders, you can spotweld the whole thing except where it meets the firewall to the tank area.

But, you can cut it there in a way that you can run a nice but-weld bead without any overlap.

This really depends on what needs replacing. If you could post a picture of the current pan, then we could possibly help more.

In my case, a PO had cut out large rectangles for A/C, and another PO had 'glassed them over. Sean Molloy did an EXCELLENT job with the welding - he cut the metal so there was about 1/2 inch overlap and then welded it nice and neat. Grinding brought the high points down and then painting so it looked original.

Cheers!
Peter

I did this in the IMSA thread in my signature.

I turned the car upside down to do it and built a framework to locate the suspension points.

You want to make sure you put it on straight and oriented right (obviously) so some kind of jig is important.

I would replace the minimal size piece you can while trying to do it along spot welded joints like Sir Andy suggests. This makes it easier to line things up right.

John

John, Excellent, I had read your build thread before and missed that awesome detail you put in for the front pan and the jig. I have a plan (clue ) now. I am going to build the jig, knowing that I have the passenger side front torsion mount off anyway (that was the main reason for the whole repair, a poorly done fix to some passenger side damage) and...

• Replace the inner fender skirt stuff that has rusted. Get that lined up nice.
• Take the pan from the donor and build the pan for spot welding (I have no lips on the drain portion front of the pan)
• Cut along the bend right after the front firewall and butt weld that.
• All lined with the jig and weld up

I will post lots of details.

Larouex

Hi Peter! I have the same issue as you did with the rectangular hole in the front trunk floor from an a/c unit. I have that big box still bolted to the floor. I just bought this car a couple of weeks ago. I have a parts car with a solid floor to cut the patch out. Do you have any pictures of the before during and after of this when it was done on your car? If so, those pics would be really helpful to me.

I had a bent up front end and used a jig to straighten it out. Different but both of our repairs require the need to locate the suspension pickup points.

Unless you need to do the whole pan, I'd stay away from the suspension pickups, it'll be more work if you remove all of that.

Thats an easy one. just cut the donor a tad bigger than what you need. Lay it in place, mark around it, and cut to fit for a nice butt joint. Or, just lay it in and weld it. I (my welder buddy) butt welded mine

Just went thru this with my car. I bought the complete front trunk bottom, including the suspension fastening points. The welder used only the central part so I don't have to worry about a jig to reposition the suspension. We did drop the suspension to finish the seams on the patch, so I'll need an alignment.

Here are pictures