1983 944 Rusted Floor pans

[dakotabenge]

The floor pans on my 944 are rusted where the seats bolt to the floor. I have been looking online to try to find new molded pans, but I have not had any luck. Does anyone have any suggestions or resolved this problem. Thanks

[Jrboulder]

These cars are galvinized so something is going wrong. I don't think you can get new pans. did you clean it up to see how bad it its? are we talking about surface rust or rot? pictures would be nice...

[matthewb]

Originally Posted by Jrboulder

These cars are galvinized so something is going wrong. I don't think you can get new pans. did you clean it up to see how bad it its? are we talking about surface rust or rot? pictures would be nice...

Being galvanized does not mean they cannot rust. Galvanization is a coating process so any scratches or wear through the coating will allow for rust to get started. Clearly something is going wrong in his case... his floor pans are rusted.

I have some rust where my accelerator pedal bolts to the floor. Its getting fairly flimsy and I need to figure out what to do with it. My car is an 83. Based on the rocker rust that I see on early cars as compared to later cars, I think they must have modified some of their processes to improve the rust resistance. I understand that the newer cars are just that, newer, but I don't recall ever seeing a later car with rotten rockers but I have definately seen the early cars with them.

[962porsche]

there are no after market pans for the 944's . the owners of the 944's are in no way like the 911 /912 /930 and 935 owners . you can take a rusted out 944 and spend 30k plus to restore it and in the end you still have a car that is not worth that much were a 911 body car will be . that is the one big reason no one makes after market body panels for the 944 . PLEASE don't get me wrong about the 944 i love the 944 body cars . i have a crap load of porsches 7 running a driving 944's 5 944 parts cars ,1 968 ,1 928GTS , 1 930 and a 962 . i like the 944's the best out of all the porsches i own . the 962 is just work to drive ! the 930 is fun but my 948 aka 944 V8 is much faster and better handling than the tail happy 930 .the 968 is not as good looking as the 944 body cars . the 928 is an over weight tub . but lets face it 944 owners don't spend the same amount of money to restore there cars as the 911 body car owners do . so you will most likely never see any after market body panels for the 944 . so you will have to find a good floor from a bone yard or make the panel your self .

[dakotabenge]

[porsche4life]

WHOA! Has that thing been holding water for a while?

[962porsche]

not seeing the hole spot striped to bare metal . but i would opt for patching the area . all the bends are ez the make even with out a metal brake and from what i'm looking at there are no bead rolls that you would have to make . total about 6 hours of labor . then 2 hours to refinish .

[bobe]

I had the same problem with my interior floor. I measured everything out ,even the creases on the floor. I had a thick gauge galvanized metal bent and shaped by a hand brake. Then caulked and riveted it in place. It is now extremely solid and rigid. Good cheap fix.

[wild man]

When I saw the title of the thread, my first thought was: Man, he must have some pretty rough roads where he lives, bottoming out and scraping all of the time!

[petrolhead611]

Well rivetting such an important area just wouldn't be legal in the UK. You would fail annual inspection, they might even mark up the paperwork and computer record as dangerous.

[wild man]

Originally Posted by petrolhead611

well rivetting such an important area just wouldn't be legal in the uk. You would fail annual inspection, they might even mark up the paperwork and computer record as dangerous.

wow!

[944 Ecology]

Fortunately, in the good ole USA, you can drive any rusted POS.

[Slam]

My 83 had this problem - it's been round the world about a thousand times. I ground/wire-wheeled all the rust off, sanded, prepped with Permatex rust killer, fiber-glassed the holes, then drilled through the floor to mount the seat. Don't forget to undercoat the bottom of the car again, and the carpet covers the repair in the cabin.

Less work than welding in a floor pan cut from a wreck.

HTH

[J1NX3D]

that rust and riveting solution would both fail here too, but our tests are 6 monthly! (1 yr for newer cars though, i think at 7 yrs they change to 6 mthly)

[romad]

I can't even imagine living under the restriction of California let alone the UK or others....just amazing. Move to Michigan people no restrictions no inspections, no limits to what you want to drive , modifiy or race. Poor bastards

[Gordon Rankin]

Originally Posted by romad

I can't even imagine living under the restriction of California let alone the UK or others....just amazing. Move to Michigan people no restrictions no inspections, no limits to what you want to drive , modifiy or race. Poor bastards

Smog inspections (only inspections) are once every two years. so not so bad! And usually gets no colder than 70 degrees here year round. Again, not so bad...IMHO!!

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by mAd924

that rust and riveting solution would both fail here too, but our tests are 6 monthly! (1 yr for newer cars though, i think at 7 yrs they change to 6 mthly)

Guess if I ever move there, I will just have to make sure my 911TT is less than 7yrs old.....

[2Tight]

Seeing that makes me so glad I live in Cali. That is some serious corrosion that has probably effected the integrity of the entire floor area. Even though these bodies are galvanized it isn't a magic cure for water pooling on the floorboards from unaddressed leaks over the years. Your best bet if you want to keep the car is to cut out the floor from a solid car and do some creative welding. Even then, I would guess that the rockers and fenders are next to go but haven't shown their cards yet. I am a corrosion engineer by profession and would suggest a complete bailout at this point.

[dakotabenge]

Thanks for your suggestions. I live by a Porsche junk yard and I was going to see how much it would be for the pans there. Thanks for the advice. I bought the car from an older guy and the car had been sitting for two years. For 750 dollars, if that is the only rust I'm golden. Thanks again.

[Capt Squid]

The seat mounts on the early cars are a poor design. That coupled with thinner metal than the later cars make the mounts subject to cracking and in your case, rusting out.

Your Porsche junkyard should sell you the floor pans cheap. The 944 bodies are worth next to nothing. If they try to stick it to you, have some new mounts made of thicker gauge steel with a nut welded on. Cut out the rusted mounts, fit the new ones and have a welding shop weld them in.

On our race cars, we drill through the floor pan and bolt through a back up plate or giant washer under the pan. In my early car, I drilled out the threaded inserts, stacked washers under the mounting holes, MIG welded them in between mounts and pan and bolted the seat rail through the floor and backing plate.

You do not want the seat to come loose during an impact.