replacing floor pans

nali,
I've tried some of those stop rust products, most of the time, the results have been the same. The rusty stuff keeps rusting away. Some might slow down the rust a little, but most are just expensive cover ups.

You don't necessarily have to replace the entire length of a rocker, but you do have to remove the rusty thin areas. The reality of welding is, if the metal is too thin, the welding wire will just blow through anyway.

The old guys used coat hangers because everyone had a bunch of them hanging in the closet. Any place then had uniforms got the uniforms delivered on good steel wire coat hangers, so many shops had a bunch laying around and were thrilled to use them for anything constructive. These days, the wire used in hangers is really crap steel with a lot of impurities, if you can even find steel wire hangers in the first place. Gas welding (with clean steel wire) is still an acceptable way of welding patches on a car body, you just have to watch your heat. Back in the old days, street signs were made from steel too. These days, most signs are made from aluminum. Gene

 

Thanks for your quick answer .
Of course I plan to remove any rusted area , welding rust is a waste of time according to me ... And a pain to do because metal is too thin .

In fact , I suppose that if a rocker ( or any part ) is rusted , it s because there moisture , or even water . I ve seen plain water in a OT car I fixed for a neighbor last week ....
The one I ve seen are rusted from inside .
So , even if we fix the rust , we don t remove the reason WHY it is rusted . It will come back , it s just a question of time .
Worst, welding remove the galvanization , if any . And sealing inside a rocker with epoxy is a hard task
Maybe this is just fatality , and nothing can be done ...

 

One thing to keep in mind, we may not be able to stop the water from entering boxed sections of auto body structure. What is as important, or even more important, is that we can get the water to leave the structure after it gets in. Its the water that can't get out of the enclosed area that causes most of the damage. All the rockers I've seen have a way for water to drain out of them, but the drains are usually plugged up with dirt and other stuff. Critter (mice) urine can destroy metal real fast, they like to get inside rockers of cars that have sat a while and build nests. Then you have the material the nests were build from holding moisture and the urine work together to rot the steel away. When you rebuild your rockers, make sure you have drain holes for water can get out of your new rockers. I usually drill 3/16" holes at both ends and at least one in the middle of the bottom of the inner rocker. Have drain holes in door bottoms and any other enclosed area as well. Gene