Howdy SOL'ers,
I'm trying to get my '74 Midget back on the road, and have a fairly good
case of tinworm infestation in the floors. The drivers side has a couple
of holes about the size of a dime, and the passenger side has about 15%
of the metal under the seat area rusted away. The passenger side
footwell has a couple of minor perforations also. Luckily the rust is
limited to the floors, the sills, and the rear kickup are clean. Most of the
rest of the body is clean too. So far I've ground away the surface rust, and
applied one of the rust eater solutions containing phosphoric acid which
supposedly passivates the metal.
I've been thinking about how to attack the situation from here,
and [donning my flameproof suit now] am leaning towards fiberglassing
the entire floor area on both sides. Before everyone starts lighting the
torches and organizing a posse, my main reason for not trying to weld in new
metal is that I've never tried MIG welding, don't know anyone to borrow one
from to practice, and can't afford the $55/day quoted rental.
I'd like someone to give me a good explanation of why I can or can't
use fiberglass for the floors. My reasoning is that its good enough
for structural surfaces in boats, it should be good enough to replace
sheetmetal. If I fiberglass it, I plan on conforming to the standard contours
of the flooring, not just creating a flat surface where there are holes. I
also plan on strengthening the entire floor, going up onto the sills, and the
transmission tunnel, etc.
BTW, I don't care about winning concourses, so staying
100% stock is not important - I just want it to be safe and
do-it-yourself-able.
Thanks for the help,
Geoff Bishel (bishel@lobby.ti.com) or therabouts....
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