Depending on what you want and can afford,aftermarket gauges are very nice,but they get expensive quick.You can probably find a set of factory gauges on ebay pretty cheap.As for the sheetmetal,there are several companies to choose from,rockauto.com,national parts depot,classic industries,and a few others all sell the sheetmetal parts.I have heard rock auto has about the nicest quality parts and just about the best price,but i have not used any of it from them so i cant say that for sure.

 

The patch panels are available everywhere, so finding them cheaply is not an issue ffor your floorpan. As for replacing them, that's not hard either if you can run a wire feed welder, and cut sheetmetal. How much you replace is up to you. You can cut the patch panel down to fit the hole, or cut the hole to fit the patch panel. Most people remove the bad part of the floor, and then cut the patch panel to fit the hole, retaining whatever is good and original.
Gauges are all over the place from around $150 for a full set of Equus, to $500-$600 for high end gauges. That would include speedo, fuel, oil pressure, volts, and water temp. I went with Equus on my OT gasser and purchased them through the local auto parts store, and they were $140 for all gauges. They are old school black face with white letters, but I could have gotten newer white face gauges for the same price.
There are several places selling dash insert panels to mount all the gauges in for around $150, or you can try and build your own panel from some 16ga-18ga aluminum once you get to the school shop and a bender to do the angles. Building a panel is much cheaper and pretty easy too.

 

Wow, thanks everybody. I appreciate all the help. I'm pretty new to welding these pans, so let me make sure I've got this right. All I have to do is buy a patch, cut the bad metal out, cut the patch to fit and weld it in? This sounds too simple, I've always read about this being an expensive and time consuming process, and this makes it sound easy. As for the gauges, if I did go aftermarket, do they usually fit right in, or am I going to need to do some extra wiring? I really don't need more than a speedometer, temp, oil, and volt meter, but my car isn't even hooked up for half of that. It's got a speedometer, but no tach, and the other items are just lights that come on if there is a problem, no actual gauge. Also, I noticed a check engine light, and what looks like an obd port. Did these cars have obd 1 installed, or some other primitive version? Again, thanks for all your help!

 

i was planning on starting the repair work on the space between the windshield and the t tops, but i've run into an issue. there is chrome trim around the windshield. so, my question is, how do i remove it without damaging it? and then how will i get it back on? the other problem is, i need to replace the windshield, so what should i do first? windshield, or body work? thanks guys!

 

There is a bit more involved in patching the floor,but not to bad.When you cut out any old metal,make sure you dont cut through any of the braces that run under the floor.Also make sure not to cut any brake,emergency brake,or fuel lines.Other than that you pretty much proceed just as mentioned,it is very important to not cut through those braces though.As for aftermarket gauges,yes there is new wiring involved,but it is not to bad of a job,if you go that route,just let me know and i can get you all the info you need to tackle the new wiring,i never did any electrical work before doing mine and it came out perfect.As for the check engine light and port,yes 81 was the first year that they added all that stuff as that year they started installing a computer controlled type system,it had the computer,the check light,an oxygen sensor,computer controlled distributor,as well as the computer controlled the air/fuel mixture on the carb,and the lock up of the torque converter.Depending on what has been done to your car through the years,that port may not even work anymore,as most people swapped out the carb and distributor through the years and put in the regular non controlled type.A good way to tell if it's still hooked up is to see if there are wires running to the carb,and the distributor will not have a vacum advance can on the side of it.

 

You wont be able to just bolt the new gauges into the old dash panel, that's why I suggested a new insert. The new insert will allow you to mount the gaues easily, and even do much of the pre wiring on the back side prior to putting it in the dash.
I think you're shorting yourself you don't run a full set of gauges. Can't imagine not having oil pressure, water temp, volts, fuel, and speedo. Plus most inserts will have openings for all these, so you'd need fillers for whatever you didn't use.
You'll also need to wire in three indicator lights for R/L turnsignals, and hi beam indicators.

When I do patch panel I mark it out on the floor and then drill holes in the corners with a unibit. Then climb under the car and look at what my cuts might encounter between the holes. I use a sawzall to cut the opening, and just scribe the pan where it crosses a support so I don't cut through them. Then the bad piece can be bent and pried out. There may be spot welds on braces that need to be drilled out to get the old piece out, and the new piece needs small holes drilled over the braces to tack weld back to the brace in a few spots, or it will rattle. I position the panel and mark it underneath with a felt pen, then drill the holes to make my tacks.

 

Oh please tell me where the shock towers are on a second gen. Then show me a rusty one. Here is THE how to on buying a second gen. Maybe the mods could grace us with a sticky?

 

With "and" being the connecting word making both points related to the back of the car, I'd have to say he meant upper shock mounts, not towers.
That, or he made a grammatical and auto term error in the same sentence.

 

I guess so. Or its the new Camaro 69 mod

 

Shhhhhh..... I haven't released that one yet! lol