we where in his garage last night and i went in the house to take a wizz and get more tools when i came out to the garage he put a hole in the bottom of my car about the size of an apple. He put the jack on the underbody and not on the frame. when i drive i can see the pavement and my carpet is hanging down. is there anything i can do to close the hole. i need some suggestion. thanks

 

Cheaper and faster wayL pull back the carpet and put a couple layers of fiberglass mat over the hole.

Slower, better way: square-off the hole and weld in a patch.

In either case, have your friend compensate you. That sucks.

 

wow he better learn a bit more about working on cars
before he dies under a car only supported by jack..

sux for u, make him compensate but in meantime i hope u dont lose friendship either.. good luck.

 

The unibody is the "frame", he just didn't put it under a jack point

 

he said underbody.. im guessing he just jacked it up when it was on some part of the floorboard or something.. in any case the car must have been already old and rusted to leave a hole in it like that... either way id be getting him to pay me to get it fixed properly

 

I know he said underbody but he also said "frame". The "frame" is actually the whole body of the car, hence unibody. On a unibody there are jack points, you can't simply just put it "under the frame". blah nit picky sob I am sometimes

 

If the carpet is hanging out, I'd say he just put the jack under the floor pan. I'd pull the carpet back, straighten out the sheet metal, make a patch out of some scrap metal. and put it in with JB Weld. Outlast the car and should be plenty strong. Everybody makes mistakes.

 

well I am going to make a patch out of some metel. He did put the jack on the floorboard right under were the driver legs would be. he is now avoiding me and not picking up the phone. maybe i should do the same thing to his stupid focus and we be ok. But it a stupid focus and not a thirdgen.

 

Well, cut him some slack, he's a Ford owner so he can't be too bright.

 

Chances are the car was pretty well rusted. I have never seen a jack put a hole in a floorboard that was not rusted out, usually all it does is buckle the heck out of it.

My advice:
1) get a new friend - one that cares about YOUR stuff.
2) I would suggest some new floor boards OR another car. (Rust Sucks the money from your wallet... if you listen closely you can actually hear a HUGE sucking sound.

John

 

I gotta agree that the floor was probably done anyway.
You might want to have a look at the passenger side
floor to make sure its not "tender" as well.
You were borrowing tools, at the time,
keep 'em in compensation for the aggravation.

 

everyday just drive by and throw rock salt on his car. in about two years it will be rusted more then yours. i am an evil sadistic bastard

 

thats a long time to stretch out revenge I think him driving a focus is torture enough

 

Of course you can just hold it over his head to get some free help...

"Of course you do remember when you put the big hole in my floorboard???"

John

 

def. make your friend pay for it. but all that really needs to be done is make a patch out of some sheet metal and weld it in. dont use fiberglass, dont use JB weld, use a welder and do it right.

 

that sucks dude. i remember the time my friend spilled a can of grape pop on my cars carpet. i was ready to kill him. Just make him fix his own mistake and pay for the damage

 

A sheet of cardboard and some duct tape should work until you can weld it back together.

 

I taped it up with duct tape until i can weld it up. Look at my garage in my aveator its a good looking car. I think i will go to the junk yard and look for some good metal to cutom make the patch with. Well he has is focus sooup up body kit his spoiler WHY do people do this to an ecomny car with 4 cyl. I think that hole he put in my car was no accident and he will pay for the damage he's done

 

My advise would be to find a good junkyard car with some solid floorboards and cut it out and then put it in your car... it would definately save you some hassle of fabricating, AND if done correctly no one would ever know.

John

 

ha except for the blatant welds....

 

you've never welded or done any kind of body work have you? If so you would definately know better.


But yeah I'd say you'd be better off getting a replacement floor pan as they've got to be rotten. Had a stand fail on me one time and the floorpan dropped on to the jack near the rear seat. It just gave a huge dent that i beat back out.

 

want revenge? simple Thermite on the hood, and it burns down through the block tto the ground. Simple as hell to make, and CHEAP! and since you own a third gen I guarantee you have darn near all 6 items neede to make it.

Dont know if I can post how to do it here with out the mods beating with the "forum-User be good stick" so PM for more info if wanted.

 

I know most of you are kidding, but since when does everyone seek revenge on their friends? Simple mistake, simple fix. He should offer to pay, you shouldn't accept payment- atleast that's what'd happen with my friends. Odds are your floor pans were rusted- he's doing you a favor by pointing that out! Seriously, a small patch like that takes 5 minutes to weld up.

 

What youre you talking about? IF you remove the sheet metal at places where there are already seams when you weld in the new parts and cut at the seams the job looks seamless... you can do it, I have seen it, not on a 3rd gen but on other cars and no one that did not know would be the wiser.

Basically remove more material from the donor than you need, and on the project car take up to what you need to remove and then remove the excess from the donor parts once you set the parts together and they match then weld them together...

I am not saying its EASY, I am saying its possible.

John

 

COme on, cut your friend a break! Don't break a friend. Take OKFOZ's advice, and just get yourself some new floorboards from a donor. Pull out the center console, seats, and carpet. Pull the wires out of the way, cut out the rusty floors, and get it done.

Sheesh, I have a jack mark on MY floorboards from MY own mistake and I'm generally pretty fastidious about how I treat my car. It happens, sometimes. That's why we all stay out from under our cars when jacking and we only use jack stands that have been installed correctly.

 

I had a buddy do this to his car. It is now sold, but thats not the point. I know how to weld, and I had some random sheet metal in my garadge. Took me 20 minutes, to bend/cut square/cut sheet metal to shape/tack weld/check/fully weld/ and silicone seal the entire thing. Really no big deal with about 5 minutes of thinking and not being scared to friggin fix it. As NIKE allways says, JUST DO IT