Convertible vs coupe - floors the same?

[miketyler]

My rust-free convertible turns out to have some holes in the rear floor. Also some damage in the seat well where it underlaps. Are floor panels the same between coupes and convertibles? Also if anyone bought a passenger floor pan and only used the forward section I'd be interested in buying the aft section (seat well area)

[6bblgt]

1970 is different than 1971
Challenger is different than Barracuda
but
convertible IS the same as hardtop/coupe

[mk]

Something to think about....... the rear footwells were made of a much stronger steel than the rest of the floor pans  and the reproductions are made of a soft metal.
Being a convertible it may be better to keep your originals if they only have a couple bad spots and the welded seams are solid........ a good metal guy should be able to weld in patches and make them look like they haven't been repaired.

[anlauto]

Something to think about....... the rear footwells were made of a much stronger steel than the rest of the floor pans  and the reproductions are made of a soft metal.
Being a convertible it may be better to keep your originals if they only have a couple bad spots and the welded seams are solid........ a good metal guy should be able to weld in patches and make them look like they haven't been repaired.

Interesting, I have never heard that before, what would the purpose be of stronger floors only in the rear ?

[mk]

[/quote]
Interesting, I have never heard that before, what would the purpose be of stronger floors only in the rear ?
[/quote]

It's true....... ask your metal guy.
Cut a strip out of an old rear footwell and a front floor pan and try to bend them........ same thickness but the rear footwell metal is waaaay tougher to bend.
I wouldn't want anything with less strength in a convertible.

[anlauto]

Same gauge steel, but tougher to bend.....I'll have to give that a try 

[miketyler]

Ive not heard that before either. Like the rear metal is harder than the front? I still want to replace the panel bu to know some of the repop panels out there feel like they're still in an annealed state and never went thru heat treating LOL

[mk]

Ive not heard that before either. Like the rear metal is harder than the front? I still want to replace the panel bu to know some of the repop panels out there feel like they're still in an annealed state and never went thru heat treating LOL

Yes the repop panels are quite soft.
If you replace your rear footwell check it out for yourself and keep us posted.
I have found the original rear footwells are waaaay  stronger metal.

[miketyler]

Will do. Leaning towards panel change as water has sat in the recesses and think there are other thin spots. I have plans to do a Hellcat conversion and dont want to patch anything unless I'm sure the rest is good to go.

[Cuda_mark]

Will do. Leaning towards panel change as water has sat in the recesses and think there are other thin spots. I have plans to do a Hellcat conversion and dont want to patch anything unless I'm sure the rest is good to go.

Are you going to add any under body stiffeners? I decided not to do that on my vert because I wanted it to look mostly original but I could see where they would be of great benefit.

[miketyler]

Yes, I absolutely plan to just not sure what kit I'm going with. A little curious how some of those guys slide in 2x4 steel channel into the rocker. I thought verts had additional structure in the rockers already.

[miketyler]

Ordered the rear pan from APD today. Will advise on metal quality when it arrives. Does anyone sell just the seat pan? The forward portion of the pan is fine but the mid section where the floor sits has a few spots that would be hard to patch. Anyone know? Hoping to avoid buying complete floor and only using back 1/3 of it.   

[Filthy Filbert]

I don't think anyone makes partial panels like that.  If you're set on patching, you'll have to buy a full pan and cut it up. 

[Burdar]

My rust-free convertible turns out to have some holes in the rear floor. Also some damage in the seat well where it underlaps. Are floor panels the same between coupes and convertibles?

Look at your picture closely.  You'll notice that the floor pan has 2 sets of seat bottom brackets attached to it.  That is because the floor pans were delivered to the factory with the seat bottom brackets already installed.  They were installed in the correct location for a standard hardtop seat. The convertible seat bottom required those brackets to be in a different location.  Instead of removing the hardtop brackets, they were just left in place and new brackets were welded in for the convertible seat.  That tells you that the hardtop and convertible use the same floor pans.

[soundcontrol]

I don't think anyone makes partial panels like that.  If you're set on patching, you'll have to buy a full pan and cut it up.

AMD makes just the rear pans, I have a pair.
All e-body convertibles needs subframe connectors IMO.