Started on the floors today. Its a Northern Michigan Jeep, so the rust is really bad, but I am determined. My wife had also been getting on my case about how much money I am putting in to the Jeep, so I have to try and keep it cheap.

Its my DD so I have to take it in small sections, so I can be sure it all gets back together before I have to head to work each day.

Today was the front passenger side.

Here's the before picture. This was right after I pulled the carpet up for the first time.


Here it is after cutting out the rot and started cleaning it up with the grinder.



Since I have to keep it cheap, that means the replacement pans I was going to by from C2C are out of the question, so grabbed a Steelcase file cabinet we had lying around, and cut the side off of that. It probably about 22g or maybe a tad thicker. Pretty thin, but when its all you've got... you make it work.

Used the side of a box to make a template.


Then cut and drilled the steel. Used a BFH to round the edges and get the right curves. 10 minutes later, pretty dang good fit.


Then it was time for limited welding skills.... very limited.... almost non-existent... but lots of patience, and I was laying some halfway decent welds by the end. Here it is just before I ground down the welds and laid some primer on it.

Didn't get any pictures after I had the primer down. Once i get the rest of the floor done, I'll come back and use some under coating on the top and bottom. Just put the primer on to keep the rust off it until I get the rest of the floor done.

I fear that this was actually the easiest section of the floor... well, at least, the section with the least amount of rust, so it will only get more difficult from here. This section took 4 to 5 hours, so thinking the whole floor will probably wind up somewhere around 30 hours.

I'm satisfied with how it came out, but the real positive that I'm taking away, is that I'm getting lots of practice with the welder on thin sheet metal. Maybe by the time I'm done, I won't be so embarrassed of my welding abilities.

I'm keeping a video blog of this whole Cherokee project. No real how-to stuff... hell, you wouldn't me showing you how-to anyways... but here it is if you want to take a look.

 

Looks like fun. BTW-I'm not a moderator but this belongs in the BUILD part of the forum-OEM Tech is for asking questions.

Cheers.