feeds the side of the new pan in place. Sometimes, a putty knife must be
placed between the new floor pan and the surrounding area of the floor
to line up these two areas. Dombrowski is also cautious to avoid heating
up the surrounding floor or new floor pan section to the point each part
warps during the butt weld process.
A two-part, catalyzed seam sealer is placed over the butt-weld
seams to add another layer of protection against water entering the
car.The process is repeated for the other three sides of the floor pan. The
process of laying the new floor pan section over the old floor allows the
new section to fall into place as Dombrowski is working, and also
prevents the pan from shifting out of place.
With the pan completely welded in place, Dombrowski goes over the
welds with a cut-off wheel to bring down the weld, then smooths the
weld with four stages of sanding using 36-grit sandpaper, then 80-, 180-
and finally 320-grit. The area is again sandblasted to eliminate any flash
rust and welding splatter, leaving a clean area to allow the primer and