Found some floorpan rust

This is the place to discuss restoration problems, post questions or projects-complete or partial.
mamsterla
Posts: 69
Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:10 pm
Your car is a: 1969 Fiat 124 Spider AS

Found some floorpan rust

Postby mamsterla » Sun Feb 18, 2018 2:16 am

I am plugging along in my restoration of the 1969 Fiat Spider and today I removed the carpet and some of the tar and other covering. I saw there was some rust at the meeting of the firewall and floorboard. There are also some smaller holes closer to the door sill. Overall the floorboard seems really solid in all of the other sections. I think I may just cut the bad areas out and make some metal patches to weld in. I could also go the route of a new floorboard from Wolf Steel, but I am not sure how high up it goes on the firewall.

If anyone has advice on the better way to go, please let me know. Picture of the work follow.

First shot with carpet removed:
Image

Rear seat area is very clean:
Image

Front passenger footwell shows signs of trapped moisture:
Image

Driver side does not look bad at all:
Image

So after a wire wheel cleaning, you can see the holes:
Image
1969 Fiat 124 Spider AS0012768

baltobernie
Patron 2020
Patron 2020
Posts: 3466
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:00 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider [sold]
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Found some floorpan rust

Postby baltobernie » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:04 am

The corner of the floorboard, sill and firewall is structural, so I agree that area should be welded. Smaller holes elsewhere can be patched like this: http://dcfiats.org/tech/POR-15-2.pdf
OTOH, if you know how to weld, there's nothing wrong with using metal everywhere. It's particularly easy on the floors, where appearance or a flush fit is unimportant.

kmoses
Posts: 366
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:28 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 2000

Re: Found some floorpan rust

Postby kmoses » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:30 pm

You might want to get under your car and poke around with a ice pick to check for thin metal. Be sure to check the metal under the seat supports, the rear cross member that supports the front of the back seat and around the brackets where the lower trailing arms attach. I would also remove all the tar material just to confirm the metal was good then paint it with MasterSeries Silver Primer/Sealer and cover it with a modern sound deadening material (the Stinger Expert Roadkill works great). I became a much better welder than I ever wanted to be when I bought my Fiat Spider! Good luck.

DRUMMOND
Patron 2018
Patron 2018
Posts: 443
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:11 pm
Your car is a: Fiat Spyder 2000 1980 Pininfarina

Re: Found some floorpan rust

Postby DRUMMOND » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:47 pm

You also might want to check under your wiper cowl just to make sure there is no rotting metal that rainwater gets through. you seem to have a lot of rust in the passenger side.

mamsterla
Posts: 69
Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:10 pm
Your car is a: 1969 Fiat 124 Spider AS

Re: Found some floorpan rust

Postby mamsterla » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:56 am

I already cleaned and treated the area under the cowl with POR-15. It had only surface rust whereas the floor is eaten away in a few places. There will be some patching.
1969 Fiat 124 Spider AS0012768


Return to “Restoration Projects”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 48 guests