Floor Pans

[Guest Kinmann]

I'm getting ready to purchase both front floor pans for my '63. Who seems to carry the best pans out there in respect to quality and fitting?

I went back and reviewed past posts and thread, most were from several years ago and I'd imagine the quality and fitting should of and could of advanced over the years.

I appreciate your responses and time!

Thanks,

Kevin

[Guest REX STALLION]

CARS has good handmade floors. I have also used ones available on E-bay. Be prepared to do some tweaking as none were a drop in fit. If the floors are gone, there is a good chance that the braces will need some attention. I believe they are called a hat section . The most difficult braces for me were the ones that go under the rear seat next to the wheel well . I made a wooden buck and formed it to match the old ones. Good luck.

[Guest 1963 Riviera]

Thanks for that thread I think I will be searching soon as I have detected a small hole behind the drivers seat.

[petelempert]

I found a vendor named Classic Fabrication...in Florida I think...in the back for the Riview. They sent me two front pans that were quite good. Heavier than stock gauge and well formed. I think a pro should install them because they will need some tweaking. If done right, they look stock from underneath. From inside, they don't exactly match the stock look, but the Dynamat and carpet keep the secret well. PRL

[Guest Rob J]

Just received a Classic 2 Current front drivers side pan. Seems to be decent, and heavier gauge than the original. Only thing is, it doesn't have the hole in it for the metal floor plug. Don't think that really matters though.

[steelman]

Just received a Classic 2 Current front drivers side pan. Seems to be decent, and heavier gauge than the original. Only thing is, it doesn't have the hole in it for the metal floor plug. Don't think that really matters though.

Unless you plan to redip the body for corrosion protection like the factory did, the plug isn't an issue. Mostly these plugs served as drains when the bodies were dipped before paint. If you are looking to do an nth degree restoration, may have to cut the drain/plug structure out and weld into the new floor pan.

[Guest Kinmann]

You guys gave great leads...I'll let you know what I go with. Thanks

[mhnova65]

Hi Kevin.

I'm in the middle of replacing my drivers side front floor pan with C2C's pan as we speak. I bought it from Rock Auto (the cheapest source at $52) and it was shipped direct from C2C and at my front door in 2 or 3 days. I was planning on doing a write up on it along with pics after I was finished but here's where it stands right now.

It's a great pan but I think there is a pretty big distinction in what people expect from aftermarket sheetmetal. The cars that are restored in greater numbers (Camaro's, Mustangs, Bel Air's, etc) have a nicer selection in sheet metal since most of it is stamped and is more of a drop in replacement. As for the rest of us, it's too expensive to have a stamp made for cars that don't command as much volume in terms of units sold so they are mostly hand made. this process works fine and can produce a great product (as the C2C pan) however, you don't get the molded inside and outside corners that you would get with a stamped product.

In the case of the C2C pan, the corners are sheared in such a configuration that it allows you to form the corner, trim the excess sheetmetal, and weld the seams shut to form the corner. Out of the box, this pan definitely requires some bending and tweaking to sit right in the car. I've had to massage the left side of the pan a bit to get it to fit the right contour of the rocker panel as it seems to be bent at almost a 90 degree angle out of the box. Also, I have some hammer and dolly time invested in the right side to curl the edge up in order to meet the curve of the transmission tunnel.

Again, all in all it's a great pan however, it takes much more fitting, trimming and time to install. If you are looking for more of an OEM look and a drop in replacement, your best bet would be to find a solid donor car, drill out the spot welds and cut the rest of the pan out for a donor pan. Here's a close up of the pan from C2C as well as where I'm at currently. The pan is about 85% fitted with a bit more finess to go, then i can start welding it into place.

Mark

[Guest Rob J]

Mark, nice write up on the C2C pan. I too, bought mine from Rock Auto.

I'm wondering how the under front seat pans are, as a couple of days ago, I removed my seats and discovered that there is a nasty section under the passenger front seat right hand rear mount.

[Guest Kinmann]

Great review...Sounds like the pan is designed to fit several applications. I may go with that and do the tweaking, bending, messaging, trimming, complaining, etc!

Has anyone tried or inquired on OPG's or CARS out of New Jersey?

OPG's of course is double the price but may be a better fit? Trimming is always involved, no issues there, Im not too concerned about the hole for dipping. So C2C's maybe the winner!

But would like to compare to the other's and description's from the suppliers are vague.

Thanks,

Kevin

[RivNut]

Having the idea in mind that OPGI uses other GM parts and hopes they'll be close to fitting a Riviera would lead me to believe that you'd be better off going with what someone has already had experience with and doing some tweaking.

Ed

[mhnova65]

The floor pan is definitely made for the Rivi (not Universal) but it just requires some finess to make it fit the contours properly. Just keep in mind that this is not a stamped piece of sheet metal so there is a limit to how much the piece can be formed to it's true shape outside of a metal brake and general forming tools.

If I was a betting man (and I'm not), I think CARS and OPGI source there pans from C2C......I can't see them making their own. Also, if you check the pics on their websites, you will see it is the same hand formed part (not a stamped steel piece).

As for the rear section under the seats, I haven't had to replace that. Their was a response from CTX-SLPR on the "What parts would you like to see made...." thread which he states this section is worthless. Maybe if he see's this thread he can offer some furthe insight or post some pics of the piece he received and why it didn't work for him.

[Guest Kinmann]

Thanks again for all the replies....I do agree, Any more time spent researching and looking for pans that most likely come from the same source is pointless.

I'm going to go thru Rock Auto to purchase the C2C flor pans.

Thank-you

[CTX-SLPR]

I've been following along but since the main focus was up on the front and those C2C pans actually look decent I wasn't going to chime in.

I have most of the outer pair of seat mounts rotted out on both sides of my '64 and I got excited by remebering that someone (Classic Fabrication at the time) made them. When I called to order I was told that the gentleman who ran Classic Fab was getting out of the business slowly and had shifted the production to his son who runs C2C if I'm remembering this correctly. Anyway, I paid my money and all I got was 2 pieces of metal bent on a box brake with some holes drilled in it. Looking at C2C's website, this:

is an identical piece. I find this piece unacceptable. I thought of just trying to pop rivet it to the floor to plug the holes but it's not even really well formed enough for that!

I know they can make good stuff, I DO plan on getting one of thier trunk pans at some point, I just don't know why they don't make THOSE peices well.

[mhnova65]

Just finished the pan today and i'm super happy with the results. The pan looks great and fit well over-all but again, needs a decent amount of love to complete the task. It took between 16 and 18 hours to complete the install but I had some other repairs that needed to be made to the floor along the way which accounts for some of that time. Here's the long story.....

I bought my Rivi after looking it over to death. Checked every nook and cranny to make sure it had minimal rust.......but it's the stuff you can't see that get's you. After I took apart the front end, I discovered the first bit of rust on the cowl. No doubt due to that fiberglass insulation in the kick panels that falls off and sits in the bottom like a sponge. The more rust I cut out the more I found. This all started on the passenger side and led to multiple patches/ repairs on the cowl, rocker and ultimately the floor and outrigers (that's what I call the support that comes out from the rocker and supports the floor). That took some time, but I much prefer to patch than cut and replace panels.

After I finished the passenger side floor, something told me to just give the driver sides a glance. So I pulled up the carpet and Viola!! .....the previous owner did a number on me! He had two thin rubber floor mats under the carpet covering a rusted hole between the floor and the outrigger and went as far as painting black under the car to blend it all in.....never saw anything like it before. This led to the replacement of the drivers side floor with the C2C pan.

The lip coming off the toeboard where the floor panel gets spot welded was so rusted that i couldn't drill the spot welds out. I ended up cutting the floor right at the lip and taking the lip off with it. I replaced the lip first as well as the rear edge of the outrigger (where the hole was) This was rusted through and needed to be cut out and replaced in order for the floor to sit flat and be able to spot weld to it again. In addition, the bulge in the floor that mount the ball-studs for the gaspedal also needed repairing so i cut that out and replaced it at the same time..

The floor was then trimmed and after having the pan in and out of the car a bazillion times, it was finally fitted and ready for final placement. Spot welds hold it in along the rocker panel, toeboard lip and along the entire edge of the outrigger and the rest is butt-welded to the existing floor. As I said before, great pan but be prepared for lots of work to trim, fit and install.

..............now off to chase more un-expected rust.

[Guest carlbraun]

My 65 Riviera is currently sitting in a shop where the front drivers floor pan was repaired this past week. I supplied my sheetmetal guy with a reproduction drivers side floor pan from Original Parts Group. After looking at the pan and the orignal floor contour he decided against using the repro pan for a couple of reasons. First, the ribs are quite different than the originals in that they are not as deep and second, there is no factory hole plug in the repro sheet metal (like there is for the big boy cars like GTO, Chevelle and Camaro). He said if he used the sheetmetal from OPG that it would stick out like a sore thumb as compared to the original passenger side floor pan and be easily detected by anyone looking at the floorboards in the future.

So, I got lucky. My sheetmetal guy actually replaced the small rusty floor section to the right of the oval plug with a correct guage steel blank, rolled the correct ribs into the sheetmetal and retained the orignal oval body plug as well.

Here are some pics after surgery...sorry but I have no shots of the metal before the oxide primer. I'll shoot a photo of the underside bare metal when I get it back from the shop.

[Guest Rob J]

Looks good Carl. Seems like you have been making good progress on your car lately.

Post more pics when you can. We love to see pics, and lots of them. I just recently received a boat load of parts, awaiting their new home. Progress lately has been a bit slow for me. Need to get my wife to work more, so I can work less, and work more in the garage.

[Guest Kinmann]

Ordered my front pans thru CARS, Inc. $59.95 each side. $15.00 to ship....should recieve them within a week. I asked the guy at CARS if they order their pans from C2C, he said no, they order them from a place out of Michigan. I dont know where C2C is out of? I'll post my review once I recieve them and try to fit them.

[mhnova65]

Kevin, C2C is out of Michigan. Either way, I feel you are getting a good product based on my experience regardless which source you get it from so long as you are prepared for the work (which isn't easy reagardless of which way you do it).

As for which way you go, that's personal choice. I'm not building a concours car for Pebble beach, just a nice weekend cruiser for taking the family out for ice cream. I'm not worried about what the pan looks like from under the car so long as it is solid and we are not riding in Flinstone style.

If you are going for original and can salvage your floor by patching it, all the more better (and easier). If you do have to replace the floor and don't care for originality, the C2C pan fits the bill. No, it doesn't have the drain plug but do you need it? Just another seam to collect water and a future site of rust development. As for the grooves, they are only their to reinforce the long span of sheet metal, prevent flex and provide rigidity to the structure. What's on the C2C pan is sufficient to take care of all that.

Great thread, guys. Good info here filling that void on rusty floor replacement.