Cutting out the Pans

Oh, those rusty, dusty pans.  Here's what the replacements look like - fiberglass.

Really, it's fiberglass - they look like they've been weathercoated on the bottom.

Here you can see the interior side.  Yes, there are many Nay Sayers when it comes to fiberglass pans.  There are quite a few discussions where folks blast them to kingdom come.  Well, many of them DON'T live where it tends to rain a lot.  And besides, they are cheaper - especially when you add the cost of having to hire someone to weld metal pans in.  Did you know welders get $60 an hour?  Man, am I in the wrong line of work! (Just kidding, I like the Air Force)

Step one, put the entire car up on jack stands.  Step two, assess where you need to cut by holding the fiberglass pan underneath the chassis.  Step three, select your tool of choice.  Most folks recommend a Sawsall.  I used an angle grinder.  This worked very well and was smooth.  As with any use of a powertool make sure you take the right safety precautions.  This meant opening my garage door so the smoke wouldn't flood the area and I also wore a mask.  Safety glasses and gloves are necessary too.  This tool will blow hot sparks and fine pieces of metal everywhere.

One pan out and one to go.  At this point I took a break and actually enjoyed vacuuming the floor.  The way this rust builds up is so messy.

YeeHaw!  Both pans are history.  I had noticed earlier, on the driver's side, there was this bolt from the underside with a square nut.  No matter how hard I tried to get that off, it wouldn't budge.  So...I cut it out.  Much to my surprise, it wasn't attached to anything. You want to take a close look at the next slide.  I managed to cut out the driver's side with the pedals in place and just missed the brake line that travels from the hood area to the tunnel.  Lucky, lucky!!!

I kept the metal railing from the old pans as the new pans should fit right underneath. Normally you would cut those out as well.  It just seemed to me that this would make the pans even stronger.  We'll see whether or not they have to come out when I stall the new pans. Now, I'll go back over the edges with a grinding wheel to smooth out them out, then probably use the wire brush attachment to prep the main tunnel area underneath for a rustoleum coat.  Then, I'll start installing the new fiberglass pans.  WooHoo!!