got major rust in the floor pans needs repaired would like just get rip of the carpet all together and just have a metal floor. any insight?
I guess that depends on what you are building. If you are looking for a rugged Jeep type vehicle then just finish the metal with a bedliner material. I jsut saw a 84 Jeep on auction with red bedliner material on the floor to match the body color, You can even have it professionally sprayed in many colors. The car won't be as quiet inside but then again some of those products are pretty thick. Anything goes on this site as long as you are saving an Eagle from the heap.
sounds like what Ill probably do makes for easier clean up after muddin
You could go with a vinyl floor, like many cars had when carpet was "optional". I'm not sure if any Eagles came with vinyl flooring instead of carpeting, but a lot of cars in the 60s had them and even many newer pick-ups still use vinyl mats instead of carpet.
No Eagles had vinyl but plenty of Ramblers and early AMC models did.
I know it's a bit fancy and expensive. but a friend of mine knows a website that sells chrome diamond plated floor pans for various vehicles. and a universal(I think) kit for any vehicles not covered. It's very thin stuff though so you have to put it over the existing floor. my friend said something like $100 for each side.
If wanted I could probably get the wedsite.
This is what we (eaglegirl and I) have decided to do to the SX4. A friend of mine did this to his cherokee (my cherokee now) right before he wrecked it. He used the cheap duplicolor roll on bed liner from walmart. It has held up very well considering the amount of abuse it gets (flaked a little). It is really not that noisey in the jeep, a little more road noise, but not obnoxious. An added bonus to this, my jeep leaks water like nobody's business (it has been wrecked from front to rear, lol), so having no carpet has keep the "wet dog" smell away, and also helps keep the floors from rotting out, being that I can remove the floor mats, and let it dry out.
duplicolor makes colored roll on bedliner matches most factory colors and is rugged as heck
If you think you're gonna take a hose to the interior to clean out the mud think again. Unless you're changing out the seats and waterproofing all the electricals in the kick panels and under thae dash you're going to mess up the electricals and get moisture under the seats. Moisture can lead to rust and mold. Don't forget, the Eagle is not a Jeep.
I plan to replace the carpet in my eagle with a Herculiner (I think that's the name of it). It's a roll on bed liner, about $70 for the kit (easy to find online). I think it will make for easier cleanup, and maybe drill a hole and install plugs on either side to let the water wash out. Obviously can't use too much water, but a little would be fine.
we pulled the what was left of the carpet out of both of our kammbacks. someday we will put new carpet in, but for now it makes it very easy to mop up any water leakage and spills (coffee. i refuse to put a new-fangled cup holder in my Eagle). However, our floor pans still have the sealant and paint on them. the road noise is noticable though.
Maybe it sounds a little funny, but put a thin butter of tar patch between some roofing felt to make sound deadener, being sure to fold the edges over to prevent tar leaks. I've used tar patch and tin to make some quick fixes in floors in the past, and it does a pretty good job of deadening sound for very cheap, and it's completely water-resistant!
(Put it under a riveted tin patch and it looks just like undercoating after it dries, and it fills in irregularities. The inspector doesn't suspect a thing.)
A little vinyl over top and no one would ever know.