while fixing some rust across my drivers floor pan i noticed some rust across my firewall right below the dash on the passenger side, i've always noticed a clunk between 1-2 shift but i always figured it was my shift kit, seeing this rust makes me realize my frame might be weak, im looking for opinions on how to fix this rust, or if its even fixable, just scrapping the car is not an option as i have too much money invested in other areas. need some input pls, by the way once i finish my floor pan rust i will add some alston subframes

 

That's not that bad...it can be cut out and fixed relatively easily. Can you get to the other side of that on the firewall? Either way, there is not that much there and it is along the seam...cut it out and weld in a piece there on the bend...reseal and paint it.

 

i figured that thanks, what type of sheet metal should i use i have 16 gauge now would the be enough, and no i cant acces from the engine bay, not unless i take off my heater/ac box

another question is what type of insulation should i use i scapped the old carpet and under carpet tearing everything off, i will use por 15 on the floor once its all done but need to look into some type of heat and noise barrier

 

thats a commoin rust area.

its fixable, but its a lot of work to do it right. Just make sure you get all the rot out before you weld it back up, then seal it really well. Removing the a/c box will really help.

 

anythings fixable ive seen worse but it clunking from first to second is not good.i would get that piece of floor out of a junkyard car and weld a new seam in then put new subframe connectors in.

 

Why is it that these cars have rust issues everywhere there's sealer? Is there a possible issue with the sealer used and the e coat? A typical area is the rear tire storage area, The seams with the filler have the rust, nothing else. Luckily for me, mine have only a little surface rust there but my 87 has little rust issues under the seam filler on the rear panel, just above where the bumper mounts and some light surface rust under the a pillars. Very typical that the issues would start there.

 

yes i do have rust along where the sealer is mainly, but i do plan on fixing it one thing at a time, and then eventually adding some sub frames.
this is what else im dealing with
drivers side


passenger side fixed


my drivers side floor

 

Yeah, weird huh especially since it seems the whole car is e coated/zinc dipped whatever. You'll quickly find out when welding, it's even visible in your pics, the yellow/white traces aroudn the welds are the edges of where the zinc burned off (which makes it a pita to weld in spots where you can't properly clean down to bare metal) The sealer GM used must have been acidic or something and compromised the zinc layer, or the sealant wasn't put on carefully and retains water.

 

Where was the car from??

 

originally a Wisconsin chp car, moved out to southern cali in august 08. now a sunny southern cali car(well not today its raining one of the few days)

 

I had a similar rust problem on my drivers side, however it wasn't quite as extensive. The repair turned out very nicely. I have a rust free titleless parts car I didn't feel bad cutting up to save my Z

 

The repaired section.