How much to cut when doing rust repair?
 

I am FAR from doing any major body work or panel replacement on my truck but I'm starting to think down that road.

On my floor boards the inner and outer rockers are obviously going to need to be replaced but I am torn on what to do in the floor. It is bad in the kick panel area to about six inches in and about ten inches back. I know you can purchase the floor panel that goes all the way to the hump but I am thinking I would cut out only what is necessary to get back to solid metal and keep as much of the original steel as possible.

Thoughts and experiences? How many of you have abandoned your interior fresh air vents due to rust? Mine don't look so hot, particularly around the bottom, curved area around the damper hole.

Re: How much to cut when doing rust repair?
 

I'm not familiar with your truck ,but is the floor pan spot welded in?... , if so youd be better off just replacing it as a whole instead of trying to piece it together.. ...will depend alot on what you have to work with though

Re: How much to cut when doing rust repair?
 

Mongo,
Mine is a 67 c10 so the floor is solid to the center hump. If it was a spot welded panel I'd probably agree. Overall, it's not as bad as some I have seen but not nearly as good as I wish it were.

Re: How much to cut when doing rust repair?
 

It all comes down to picking a spot where there is good metal, but not so much that you have miles of seams to weld. Lots of repop panels do not match OEM, so there is always some massaging that needs doing. I replaced rockers both sides, plus some of the floor pan and toe kick area, but not so much that I started to have to deal with bracing.