I found why I got such a good deal on my 90 firebird! The carpet on the passenger side was soaked so I went investigating. It is not a t-top car and it was not the heater core leaking so those two easy fixes were out. After pulling this carpet this is what I found







Needless to say I am not happy right now. I have to figure out how to fix this quickly and cheaply until I can do it right this coming summer. Any thoughts?

 

POR-15, the stuff is great. not as good as a real fix but it should get you buy, I also have used rustmort. which is a conversion solution. that seemed to work for me to the rust from spreading.

I know the feeling, All i wanted to do was put a nice new carpet in and I found alot of rot where the floor and the rockers meet.

 

If you need it fixed so you can drive it, it's not right but will work.
Use sheet metal, rivets or screws whatever.
I would also sand at least the bad stuff down, and use something like por 15 on the rust. Then in summer you can take it apart and fix it right.

 

Oh boy, that sucks. That's not going to be a fun repair come summertime. I really like POR-15, I've used it a few times, BUT, I wouldn't use it there. It is a total pain to get off once its on, and you're going to need to do some metal work there, and the POR is going to make it tougher as it doesn't come off if applied right. If it were me, I'd firstly fix wherever the water is coming from, possibly the windshield??. Its been leaking a LONG time and it looks like you have damage into the kickpanel area and most likely into the rocker too. Next, get rid of all the loose scale that you can, just hit it with a wire brush or wheel (even just a hand held wooden job will do), and get all of the loose paint and rust off. The loose material holds water between it and the remaining metal, helping it rust faster by keeping it wet Once you've got it sorta cleaned up, I guess you have a couple options. I would probably just (gasp!) fiberglass it as a temporary fix. Why 'glass? Because it should seal the thing, and that's what you want. You could paint and then 'glass, but I'm worried about the adhesion of the resin/glass mat to a smooth painted surface. Its all about a rough surface and a good mechanical bond, and seeing as the resin is a petroleum product, it shouldn't allow water through. I hate 'glass and I hate riveted metal, but if you are in a bind, I'd go with the 'glass. Its faster, its still strong, its cheap, and it will help to preserve whatever metal is left because it will seal. This is my opinion, take it for what its worth. But get that leak fixed first...its killing your car.