Before buying this car out of PA, an AACA member went to take a look and verified a rust free car. I'm not blaming him for what I found, as it would be very difficult to see what had been done ( I still haven't seen it from beneath the car). I pulled up the rubber floor mat and found this: Clearly, at some point in the past, the PO bought a floor pan and bolted it over the existing situation (unknown). The pan was clearly made for this car and it was done fairly well. So, I could just toss some carpet over it and move on. I'm really pushing to get this one ready for roundup though I may be in the 53. I KNOW the RIGHT THING to do is to remove the screwed in floor pan, remove the bad sections below and weld in the pan. I also know it's my car and I should do what I want, but then there wouldn't be anything to talk about, now would there. As I've said previously, I'm a perfectionist and removing the pan may be a six month endeavor. I tried to remove screws and they ain't movin'. I'm tempted to toss the carpet over it and drive it but as is human nature, it may never get fixed. What would you do?? (This is for discussion purposes, I'm not asking you to make my decision for me...that will come as it comes)
Get that ****er in the air, get your body on a creeper, pull your halogen light along with you and go have an underside look. Take an old screwdriver and large sharp punch and poke and prod to see what good and what ain't.
Alot of mopars had pans that big, that looks great compared to most I,ve seen, including my own.. get under it.
I own a 40 Plymouth and I am not sure what you are asking just for cleaification... under that carpet is a removable floor board makes easy repairs when needed ... there is a guy that reproduces them. easy to find in hemmings. the pan was never welded in place
I'm going to get under it...just messing around...though I do hate spiders...specially big *** texas spiders (ex and two kids got recluse bit). Plymouth...do I understand that you are saying that the manner that pan is installed is normal and was never welded in place?
Are you going to rod this or keep it original? there is a club called Plymouth Owners Club .. just google it..if you are going to keep it stock.... I belong to... YOu can pick up some ideas there and parts .. Just like this site! I like belonging to both....
Yep- the toe pan is removable and very convenient. Part of mine was gone ('38 Chrysler) so I re-used what I could, and made the rest (Though not pretty like yours). I now have a 3-piece removable toe pan which is great when I have work to do in that area.
seems like the situation's under control...I'm sure it'd freak most folks out to see something like that...I was planning on making an aluminum replacement for my '40 Plymouth g***er if it doesn't sell...I always thought it was kinda a neat feature...that car looks damned nice and solid...wait a minute, is that a Mopar Model 36 under dash heater? you lucky dog, I love those things...my '40 came with some boxy piece of **** that was all rusted out...I have a Model 36 I got from a swap meet and it's going into my '31 Plymouth...those heaters rock...
That floor pan look great to me. Usually they rust out around the bolt holes. Standard speedshop, I have one of those heaters in my 39. Apperantly I don't know how to opperate the dumb thing, it has a new heater core and a new 12 volt fan motor using the original two blade fan, but I get very little heat from the thing. What comes out is warm, but it sure doesn't warm the car very well. Takes the chill off running on full blast when the outside temp nears 40 degrees. The car itself is realitively tight, needs new vent window seals, but everything else is sound. Gene
If that is the worst thing to happen, you are blessed. Now you know what you have, drive it. Throw a M-80 under there to take care of the spiders.
My heater will blast me out. Is it getting its full flow of coolant? Fed from the rear of the head near the firewall. Make sure the valve is flowing good. Doesn't matter which way it flows through the core. I hope you are opening the flaps on the bottom to direct the air. Also you gotta run at least a 160 degree stat. My take on the floor pans is as long as it is bolted into solid metal as the seams don't leak, and you don't tell anybody else and nobodyelse see this post, leave it alone. Put the carpet back down and drive it.
Thanks to all...I would have pulled it up, cut out more floor and welded the damn thing in (spiders or no) and have screwed the pooch. Ain't the HAMB wonderful and informative!
One other interesting thing about those is a lot of the holes and reliefs in the pan and firewall stampings are mirror images on the left and right sides. So they could use the same parts in right and left-hand drive builds,
Wish mine looked like that....LOL. .Plymouthdoctor (www.plymouthdoctor.com) makes replacements, and I've verified with him that they do in fact bolt in. It is a nice feature considereing it definitley eases access to the Master Cylinder and brake and clutch pedal linkage. I think I'm going to end up fabbin something similar to the stock pan for my 40 coupe to replace the pieces the prior owner cobbled together.
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