The grinder used to smooth the weld.The weld ground smooth and ready for a coat of filler.The floor pan replacement finishing method that follows is not just for
Mustangs, but nearly every vehicle with a steel floor. The work shown
here was undertaken by Kevin Dombrowski of Townsend Auto Body. We
caught up with Dombrowski after he butt-welded new front and rear
floor pans between the Mustang’s original transmission and driveshaft
tunnel and inner rocker panels.
To eliminate the roughness of the butt weld, a handheld die grinder
with a 36-grit sanding disc was used to smooth the butt weld on the top
and bottom of the floor pans. The die grinder sanded over the welds
carefully to avoid burning through the weld or surrounding metal. Once
the welds were as smooth as possible without jeopardizing their
integrity, the areas of the floor that remained original were also blasted
to eliminate any paint and surface rust until the entire floor pan was
exposed in bare metal. At this point, epoxy sealer was applied to protect
the bare metal.
Many shops stop the body work when the welds are ground and then
primer the area, following with paint. For a show finish, the steps to
finishing floors match the steps to finishing the exterior body panels,