Body work help needed

[pigseye]

All,
This might not be the right forum but I'm looking for some suggestions on dealing with rusted floorboard and inside rocker panel.

To make a long story short, i found out my 1990 F250 diesel leaks due to the metal around the visor bolts rusting away. During a hard rain, the water really drips (pours) in. Not surprisingly, I discovered significant rust holes in the floor and they are in the transition area between the floorboards and rocker panel. This makes for a more difficult repair. Obviously I also have to fix the leaks in the roof.

I also have a 1989 F150 (gas) parts truck that I have owned since new. Much of the metal on this truck I'm going to swap out to the 1990. My rocker panel and floor boards are in pretty good shape in this truck.

My questions:
Is it reasonable to assume that I can cut out sections of floorboard and rocker panel from the '89 and weld them in as replacements for the '90?

Since I don't know how to weld, could I use panel adhesive and rivets to avoid welding labor charges?

Or maybe forget about metal and just use fiberglass?

Do any of you have other suggestions? I really want to keep my repairs cheap. Not sure how long this truck will last anyway.

Thanks,
Pigseye

 

[Agnem]

You've come to the right place. Gotta wait maybe until Ron gets back from his vacation though.

 

[pigseye]

Hi Mel,
Great! thanks for letting me know

Pigseye

 

[dbensen]

I have a no weld suggestion that I used at work on our '86 F150. I only has about 20,000 miles on it but it never goes more that a mile or two at a time. countless exhaust systems and the old 300 cu. in. six raps until the oil pressure comes up. Anyway, it still moves but it had the Fred Flintstone Barney Rubble floor problem. The rubber mat was pretty much the only thing between you and the pavement. They were going to junk it because of the floor rust but they would still need a truck. Mattos is a local body supply place, I'm sure everyone has something like them. Anyway, I thing Dupont made the two part epoxy panel adhesive. I ordered all the sheet metal from LMC, cut out what I didn't want to play with on old the floor and basically glued it all together. If you believe the propaganda that came with the stuff, they say it is as strong as a weld and is approved for all panel replacements. Well, I put it together late in the day and the next morning the old beast was back in business. The stuff worked great. Sure beats messing with fire. At least for our purposes it was the perfect solution. It has been in use for another three years and the floors are still holding up great. Just one more suggestion. Hope it helps, Doug

'86 F-250 4x4
'89 E-250 Ats turbo and getting new paint

 

[93turbo_animal]

well the best thing no matter how you put the metal back in is cut all the rusted metal out but I see no reason you can't use seam sealer and pop rivots espeacially on the floor board

 

[pigseye]

Hi Dbenson,
Was your rust in the middle of the floor pan or on the edge like mine. I'll need to have the metal cover part of the floor and aprt of the rocker panel. Do you think your method work in this area?

I presume you used rivets with the epoxy. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hi 93TA,
Yup I agree, no sense doing anywork unless you're going to cut out all the rust.

Thanks,
Pigseye

 

[Dieselguy123]

hey, I had the same problem with my 91 and I cut the rocker/cab corner and the floorboard section you are reffering to and replaced them with metal from a 92 f150 and to make a long story short it worked great...I have found that using metal from another truck is alot eisier than using fiberglass(in the long run that is) Good luck....I will try to help anyway that I can.

Brad T.C. MI

 

[dbensen]

I did use a couple of rivets just to hold things in place but that was on the floor section. The rocker panel area was actually easier, I didn't use any rivets. I held things together with vise grips on the lips that the weather strip would press on to. Thinking back I could have loaded the floor with lead bricks to hold things down and that way I wouldn't have made any new holes. Then again, it is just a work truck. I wish I could remember the name of the body epoxy but it excapes me. Keep us posted. Doug

 

[pigseye]

Guys,
This is great. I really appreciate the responses and insight.

I was going to use the Eastwood no weld panel repair kit. It comes with blind hole holders, adhesive (obviously), flangers, dimplers, etc. But I figured I wouldn't need the flangers and dimplers for the floorboard work since this was all under carpet.

Here's the kit:
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1668&itemType=PRODUCT

So I'll purchase this kit and practice on my floorboards/rockers and then move on to my cab corners. They are shot too.

What do you think?

Pigseye