Unfortunately, I have already glued the pad and carpet down. I hate the
feeling of the carpet sliding under my feet, so I thought this was the
better route to go. On a good note, what I did was: Wire brush the entire
floor pan, both to remove any loose surface rust and also to make it easier
for the POR15 to bond to. I then coated the entire floor pan, and the
firewall with POR15. After this cured for a day, I coated all surfaces with
a heavy coating of Truck Bed Liner. I did this to my 1979 280zx when I
restored it, and it really cut down on vibration, and I felt like it
protected the floor from spills better. After another 12 hours, I glued the
pad down with spray carpet adhesive, and then at the end of the day
(yesterday) I glued down the carpet. This car won't be out in the rain, but
hopefully I've done enough to avoid any problems with rust. I plan on doing
the underside of the car next, again with POR15, and then probably an
undercoating, altough I really like the bed liner material.
Bob
1966 1600
http://www.mysportscar.net/Galleries/Default.asp?sView=T&iGalleryUnq=13
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Marc Sayer
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 10:50 PM
To: Bob Wright
Cc: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Carpet in my Roadster
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
>
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> oc=0&iGalleryUnq=13
--
Marc Sayer
82 280ZXT
71 510 2.5 Trans Am vintage racer
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