One of the best ways to rot out your floorpans is to glue carpet and padding to
the pans. Make sure that the carpet and padding is affixed either by velcro or
snaps, so that when it gets wet, it can be removed and hung out to dry. This
will also allow the sheetmetal floors to dry out and prevent the aforementioned
rot. If you *must* glue some or all of the floor carpet in, be sure you treat
any existing rot with Ospho or Rustmort, then seal it with POR or Hammerite
paint. (yes both *can* be applied over rust, but they will work better if you
treat the rust first). If you really want the best, do the rust treatment and
paint thing, then glue velcro strips down and use them to affix the carpet and
padding. This way you get the best of both approaches.
Carpet and padding glued down directly to the floors is a sure recipe for rust.
Even floors with good quality normal paint *will* rust out if you do this. The
reason is that the carpet and padding hold moisture and dirt against the floors,
causing the paint to bubble and the floors to rust. The rust treatment and
special paints I listed above will help resist this for years, but even then it
may eventually cause problems because the moisture may get up under the paints
at seams and around bolt holes, etc. I've never used POR myself as I prefer to
pretreat the rust and the Hammerite is so tough it is beyond belief. With the
Hammerite you can apply it extra thick around seams and bolts/nuts etc., and ti
will act as a sort of seam sealer. I don't know if the POR will work the same.
If you do use Hammerite for this purpose, I suggest the brush-on rather than the
spray on as it is easier to get a good heavy coat. Follow the directions
carefully as this is not like any paint you have ever used before. And remember
there is a limited window for recoating with Hammerite and then you must wait
for the paint to fully cure, which takes a long, long time.
I did the pretreat-the-rust-and-coat-it-thick-with-Hammerite routine with a 510
trunk that was starting to rust out a number of years ago. Unfortunately I had
to put my project aside and the car sat outside in Oregon (lots of rain) without
a trunk lid for 3 or 4 years. When I sold the car the trunk still had NO rust
despite the spare tire well and other areas having standing water in them.
Hammerite really works!
Bob Wright wrote:
>
> The PO had installed about half of a new carpet kit, but didn't have the
> other half. So I decided to do it myself. It was just the floor boards
> under each seat, and the foot area. I think it turned out pretty good, and
> I'll be putting the new seats in soon. I think the carpet pad will make for
> a little less "boomy" floor pan, now when I thump it with my fist it's
> quieter than the plane metal I've been driving with.
>
> Bob
> 1967 1600
> http://www.mysportscar.net/Galleries/Default.asp?sView=T&sShow=&sEdit=T&iDBL
> oc=0&iGalleryUnq=13
--
Marc Sayer
82 280ZXT
71 510 2.5 Trans Am vintage racer
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