Ghetto Rust Repair Part II: Fiberglassing the floor

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Anyone else ever do this with success? I have no actual large holes in the floor, just a few pinholes and the floors are solid. I don't have the money or time to do full pans right now. I have so far: ground out almost all of the rust with a grinder, wiz wheel and wire wheel. I then ground out all of the spots left over with a die grinder and Dremel-like tool. I now have it soaking for the second night with naval jelly covered in saran-wrap to get the last bits of rust out of the nooks and crannies. I got almost all of it the first night, and hope it is gone tomorrow. The car sat without door windows for a year ( interior removed) outside and this is the result. I drilled drain holes in the back seat floors, but it still rusted. The worst part is that the front seat mounts ( rear ones) rusted badly and I will have to remove them, grind out the rust beneath them and inside them, weld in fish plates to strengthen the floor and then weld the mounts back on followed by some extra steel to strengthen them as well. Of course, all layers of metal will be sprayed with zinc chromate before welding to further inhibit rust, and may even be covered in bed liner coating once done to further keep out moisture. Anyhow, the front driver's floor had a similar problem years ago and I fixed it with 'glass and mat but it seems fine. Anyone else have experience with this method or want to tell me I'm nuts?

 

[v8power]

i dont know about repairing the holes, but whatever you do, after you finish, spray that bed liner in there. that will keep any moisture out, and actually helps with interior sound.

 

[jerrycad472]

As long as the majority of the floor is sound and the support braces are solid, I don't see a problem with a little glass to fill some pin holes. No one will see it under the carpet.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The support braces are scary in places, but I do plan on reinforcing the floor in critical areas with steel, not fiberglass. The seat brackets are breaking through the floor on the driver's side.

 

[78Prix]

U could use POR-15 with fiberglass matt. It gets as hard as metal and you wont have to worry bout it rusting back out.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Yeah, but it's pricey. Besides, I just cut the mount off the floor and it's BAD under there! I expect to need to replace the whole pan because of how bad it is under the bracing within the next 5 years, even with the best mitigation strategy I can think of. As of today, I beat a piece of steel I cut out of a Nissan Sentra door into shape well enough to weld it tomorrow, and plan to do the same for the other side. I may add some more metal under the floor to tie the braces into the good sheet metal on either side of them. It's a butch kind of job, but I am in a hurry to finish it for a few reasons, and it HAS TO BE DONE and painted in 2 weeks. I just want to be sure the floor has no holes in it and that the car is water tight once it is painted and assembled. I plan to sit in the car during a rainstorm after assembly but before the interior is installed to be sure there are no leaks.

 

[ryanwitski]

glass is expensive with all the things you need and you a** will go through the floor if you do it wrong. Why do it twice? If you can't afford the pans then get some sheet a hammer and a make one. i made a whole inner wheel well out of sheet before and it worked great! It's a safety thing, it's like using a rope as a seat belt.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I am welding anything that is bad and cutting out the rust first before I fiberglass it. The Fiberglassing project has cost me about $12 to do plus about $20 worth of rust remover to eat all of the rust off the pans beforehand. I just welded up the floor under where the driver's seat mounts and will be replacing the mount with a junkyard salvaged piece. The thing is, I want to do full pans, but I work 30 hours a week delivering pizza and go to college, so I don't have a lot of money. My grandfather is paying for school and thinks I am not doing anything but maintenance to the car while in school. He comes down from New York for Thanksgiving, so I don't have a lot of time to take it from being in pieces to at least having the body together enough that he won't ask too many questions. The car has sat without weatherstripping outside for a few years since it has a tag and my other project car does not and it gets the garage. It's not a daily driver, nor will it be when done ( I hope). I have a truck I drive every day, and it has 271k miles on it, so I really need the backup car. For now I am trying to slow down the rust. I plan on putting full pans in it once I am out of college (in about 4 years) and just want it to last until then. Anyhow, here's a few pics of the floor repairs so far.

If anyone cares to see them, there is a picture diary of my rust repairs and welding on my Myspace page that I am editing as I go along.

 

[dan2286]

I was actually told by a body guy that fiberglassing floor pans is a very good repair, just make sure it is done right. The way you are going at it sounds like it will be fine.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I finally started fiberglassing the pans today!!! I finished the top side of the driver's pan, and am now moving on to the passenger's side. When I am done with that, I will do underneath and seal all of the patches together. I have pics taken, but they are not uploaded yet.