Hello all!

Firstly, Im absolutely in love with my 96. I had it now over 2 months After rolling my 98 .
There's absolutely no rust anywhere with beutiful original Pant...EXCEPT ... yea floors lol
Only other thing it needs yet is shocks but Thats something I highly doubt I can do myself. I want also have a 1/2 inch lift. But The floors come first.
I've read that the 96 xj was the last year before they started to change things up and to find one in a 5 speed manual is kinda rare these days. So I consider myself a luck Gal and plan to be buried with her when Im dead lol.
After careful consideration, I decided I need to replace my flooring in my 96 all by yours truly.
I found one guy that was going to do it for me . I gave him $300 and he ordered me front/back passenger side floor pans. Well that was over 2 months ago and he still hasn't given me a time frame on when he and his welder buddy can do it. He said he would need 3 days. I then shopped around and either knowbody in a 50 mile radius of me wouldn't even consider doing it. and some would charge me my soul .
I watched a ton of YouTube videos of others doing this and as long as I have all the right tools and some good advice and guidance, I can do this myself a bit at a time through the summer. In 2005, I restored my 80 honda motorcycle all on my own with help from a guy online through email lol. back then we didnt have the YouTube like we have now.
My step dad can also help guide me a bit since he has some knowledge . Ge has poor health and physically can't help but better then nothing.
I have some money saved for this and rather buy tools then pay some stranger to do it.
And this dude that I paid $300 isnt responding to my requests to give me my floor pans or my money back.
going to have to camp out at his house i guess.

So, Obviously I can't weld so I would have to tack/rivit?
Can someone help give me a list of what All i need including what paint / treatment for the steel and under coating to get . I wanna under coat what I can while I have access to it. The unibody s in awesome condition thankfully.

Lastly, This isn't as complicated as some people think.
Maybe in the old days but these days
Floor pans come pre fitted and are cheap. It's a shame some people would scrap an xj because of floor pans.
These are the most reliable vehicles ever made! They are everywhere still since 2001 was last year they were made. Name some vehicles still out consistently on the road after 2 decades. My 98 had 350k original milew and ran purfect.


Thanks
Justine

A Quick patch till It can be done right.

this is what the dude did temporarily because water was getting my carpets wet

 

The old floor pans need to be cut out and the new ones welded in . any other way would be wrong and only cause problems .

 

Well , Im retired and so is this jeep. Its never going off road and only places I go is to the store 60 seconds away and doctor appointments, 5 miles away.
And I just said..' in REPLACING" , I know the old ones need to be cut out thats why Im asking for a list of tools I need, example, a grinder... I can decide later to get them welded but for now, ,It absolutely doesnt need to be welded. Ive researched this a ton. Thats another reason why im posting about what tools I need and the best kind to get. I dont have much knowledge on tools. I have all the basics atm.

thanks

 

Also, to anyone that would consider replying, Don't treat me like Im a dummie because Im a woman. Im 46 years old and worked on cars since I was 12. This is something Ive never done and Im excicted to do a project like this. My health isn't good so its going to take me awhile to do.
I joined this forum and some others to get as much advice I can get, not a lecture. I do my own research also. All I ask is to read my post fully and if you have something to add to aid me in this project, I highly appreciate it. But I find allot of times that people don't fully read or read my post at all and end up ststeing the obvious and or ask me questions that were already addressed in the post.

 

Well, a 4" angle grinder will be your main tool., Buy cheap cutting wheels from Harbor Freight. They work, and they're cheap.


Might not hurt to have a smaller grinder for some spots. Something like a 1/4" die grinder with an assortment of small wheels and burrs would clean up the details nicely. Air or electric, either way.

You probably won't need much more than that. Maybe a pry bar or two.

And oh, yeah, a face shield. You definitely want a face shield. Cutting wheels can do some serious damage if they break, and they do break.

 

Awesome Thanks for that.
I just was talking to my dad and his first words were " face sheild " lol
He still thinks im 16 lol

 

Oh and whats needed to rivit and or tack weld?
This is also what I don't know what to get to put the new pans in without welding and sealant

thanks

 

An air nibbler is a miracle tool for cutting sheet metal. I used one to cut out my rotten floorboards and trim new metal to fit. It's much easier to control, cuts cleanly, and way faster and safer than spraying hot sparks everywhere with a grinder or cutoff wheel and trying not to nick important things like the fuel lines underneath. A cheap grinder with a wire wheel is good for cleaning up surface rust and getting down to bare metal for welding or gluing in the sections.
https://www.harborfreight.com/16-gau...ler-96661.html

 

Ohhh! Thats really cool. I never seen something like that and it isn't expensive. Yea i am a dummy when it comes to tools. thanks much.
Question though, as far as the rust
umm is there any sanding I should do in certain places? I have a sander.. or does it all just needs to be cut out, im talking not the rusty rot floor pans but places like wheel wells an stuff. I havnt yet seen how bad it all is yet. Only the passenger side. But looking underneath, yea. then entire floors need replacing... Im.not doing anything untill im sure I know what im.doing with the right tools. when I take everything out and pull the carpets, ill post pictures

Cheers

 

An air nibbler in action.

 

I find this on a lot of forums regardless of who is posting. I'd say it is better here, but some people everywhere clearly just read the title and spew the first thing that comes to their mind. I find it works pretty well to take a deep breath and ignore them. That is a monster sentence. The wire wheel will take off the surface stuff. If you find it wasn't surface rust and you are eating down through the metal you'll have to cut and replace.

As to rust, any that is left will continue to rot. I expect you will quickly get a feel for using the wire wheel on rust and if it doesn't clean up right away and you are exposing pits that have a depth that is a significant fraction of the thickness of the metal you'll see it's time to cut and replace.

 

The very first step is to remove all the seats and all the carpet. Get everything off the floor so you can inspect everything and find all the rust. You might want to remove the headliner aswell. Sparks will be flying.

First tool to be used is a flat head screwdriver. Does it look rusty? Stab it hard. If it goes through then the floor needs replaced there. If its solid, it might be okay. Roll around underneath and check for areas rusting through from the outside in.

When you find rust/bad areas circle them with a marker or spray them with white paint. Something to make them stand out. When you locate all the bad areas crawl underneath and make sure you arent going to damage fuel lines, brake lines, or electrical wiring when you are cutting through from above.

After that it's time to cut out the bad metal, trim the new metal to fit, prep the surfaces, and install the new metal.

I strongly encourage you to either have everything welded, or to weld it yourself. If you prep everything right and the only thing that needs done is some welding then you might be able to find a mobile welding service to do the job. Or put a seat in and drive it to a welding or body shop. Alot of the cost for having someone else repair rust damage is all the time involved. If you do all the dirty work and just have them do the welding it would be alot cheaper.

After everything is done you can clean the surfaces/welds and cover everything with seam sealer. Then a coat of paint or something like Por15 or Chassis Saver(what I use).

The entire process is very simple. But it can be extremely time consuming

 

Thank you. Yea I was in a bad mood when I posted this around 1 am ish. I didnt mean to be an ***. I just get fusterated. I've been dealing with allot of people trying to rip me off and are just absolutely dishonest.
So I gotta do it myself.
I appreciate the help. Its raining now but gonna try post some pics.

 

Awesome! . yea I found a dude that said he would weld it for me. I just wanna get it all ready like you said.
I just texted the guy that has my passanger side floor pans. He has been ignoring me for 2 weeks. So I said , well I guess I'll have to pitch a tent nexr to your garage untill you give me my damn property.
He called me like 20 seconds after I sent that txt. So im going to get them now. I have no idea what they look like cus he ordered them for me.
I'll post pics of them.
Thanks!!

 

$300?
WTF.
I might as well use aluminum
He said he got all one peice.
I got a place that sells these $40 each
See thie is why I gotta do this myself.
There are no honest people out there anymore.