A Question!

[Enigma]

Work Continues!

Well , I've collected all the materials that I have read on this Forum. Por-15, New Carpets, Insulation material, Welder and started my restoration project yesterday,

Tore all the old carpet up. Took all the old insulation out and almost passed out what I saw.

I've had a small leak behind the firewall for the past 3 years when it rains. I thought that most of the water would drain out the drain hole that GM had put in. It seems that the water pooled behind the drain hole with disasterous results.

Thats why the welder is in my new parts list. I have a hole that my fist can pass through. Well it wasn't that bad until I started poking around. Or should I say Poking through.

All I can say to anyone else, Do NOT ignore water leaking into your vette!

Anyway with that shock a side, the job at hand was cleaning up the floor pan.

I will post pictures in this thread if anyone is interested in my progress through this job.

I almost forgot my first question:

Have any of you guys filled in that drain hole???

Thanks For listening.

Enigma460

 

[69MyWay]

Yikes!

 

[CS72Roadster]

Drainhole! Was that what that was? :duh

 

[Enigma]

Ah! Humour.

:booty

Enigma

 

[Enigma]

Here is a Pic of the drivers side.

Enigma

 

[Enigma]

And Here is a Pic of the passenger side.

 

[Thumper]

I had the same problem in my 76, except the big hole was on the passenger side. I patched my floors with fiberglass mat soaked with POR-15. I also used a metal patch on the big hole before I matted over it. I used quite a few layers and it is super strong. I let the POR-15 get tacky before I would put another layer on. It all cured in 24 hours and the floors feel really solid and are weatherproof. I also painted the entire interior floor with POR-15 after scraping off and grinding off all of the old insulation and coatings. After that, a couple of layers of Dynamat for sound insulation, fresh carpet and new bolts, screws, etc.

 

[Enigma]

Thanks thumper.

That's why the welder is in my list. The larger hole needs a new piece of metal for a proper job.

I was talking to the distributor of POR-15 here and he says it would be a good idea to coat the bottom side of the pan also.

Maybe he's trying to sell me more of this stuff which we all know is expensive.

Enigma

 

[Thumper]

It's not only expensive, it's a mess. If you get any on your skin, you can't wash it off, it has to wear off. I painted the underside of my pan as well. I worried about it's heat tolerance, but that was before I decided to go with Hooker sidepipes. I'm fabricating heat shields like 69myway did to his '69.

 

[Enigma]

I thought welding would be easy since I used to do it......like 30 years ago. Getting the hang of wire feed and correct voltage is only problematic. The main problem is that the metal is rusted and it's hard to maintain the arc and not get burn through.

The metal looks like it's 20- 18 gauge.

I tried welding 2 x clean 18 gauge pieces together and there was no problem.

Any suggestions or tips would be helpful.

 

[Thumper]

I would cut the rust out completely to insure a good weld. It shouldn't be hard to make a patch that you can weld in. Keep in mind that fiberglass burns pretty easy, and I've seen first hand a nice Vette burn to the ground from welding spatter that caught the car on fire.

 

[Enigma]

Thanks Thumper

I've constructed a metal shield around around the welding area to reduce spatter carry over.

I was working on it today again. Same problem with burn through because some of the pan areas are very thin.

Found a trick to help fill in the holes. Took an 8" piece of 1/2" copper tube. Put a wooden dowel at one end and flattened the other end. Now you hold the flattened side against the opening
and start to fill the hole in. This prevents the weld filler from falling through the hole and it doesn't stick to the copper.

Just have to dunk the copper in water to cool it off from time to time.

Tomorrow is another day.

Enigma

 

[Enigma]

Well I'm Finished welding.

It was like welding tin foil.

After grinding, I sprayed "Metal Ready" on all the metal parts to prime it for POR-15.

What doesn't show in the photo are all the pin holes in the pan.

Hopefully POR-15 will fill them in.

In hind sight it may have been better to have taken the beast in and had the floor pan replaced.

For those that applied POR-15, How many coats did you apply??

Enigma

 

[Thumper]

Wow, that picture looks familiar. If you still have pinholes, then be sure to use some fiberglass mat along with the POR-15. The fiberglass will seal those holes and the POR-15 will make it super strong and waterproof. You did a great job. Having someone else replace the pan is big, big bucks. I believe that the replacement pan is something like $300, and the labor to have it installed would be at least equal to the cost of the pan, and most likely even more.

The metal prep should kill off the remaining rust, but it will turn it into a black oxide (not sure if that's the right term). I soaked a rag in metal prep and let it sit on top of the rust that my grinding would not remove. It turned it all to a black color. It looks like you've got things well in hand.

 

[Enigma]

Thanks Thumper.

I can imagine what this would cost if a body shop was doing the work.

What type of fiberglass did you use? There are different styles.

Enigma

 

[Thumper]

I can't think of what it's called. My brain fades late in the day. It's not the woven mat, it's the other one.

 

[Enigma]

Thumper,

There is the woven mat, Fibreglass mat (random mat),
Fiberglass screen (looks like mosquito screen material).

Any of those ring a bell.

Did you put a coat down first and then the fiberglass or did you lay the fiberglass directly on the metal and paint over it?????

Enigma

 

[Thumper]

It's the fiberglass mat (the random one). I put a coat of POR-15 down first, let it get tacky, then began to lay down the fiberglass. You can put the fiberglass on dry and the paint over it, as it will soak up the POR-15 really fast. When that got tacky, I put another coat on. I did this five times. I don't know if your really need to do it that many times, but I was on a roll. :gap

 

[Enigma]

I couldn't wait so I guessed on the random type.

Great minds think a like!

I put a coat down and waited about 15 minutes and then applied the fiberglass. Really fun to work with, Not.

Here is a picture of the first coat. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to apply the second coat.

Thanks for you assistance so far.

Enigma

 

[Enigma]

Here's the passenger side.

Enigma