Hi everyone I'm Removing all the rust from my trans am I found two good rust spots one spot is on the rocker panel an foot board just to the left of the brake pedal I can fit about 4 fingers in the hole an it looks like it's gonna get bigger. The second rust spot is in the passenger floor pan just in front of the rear seat it's a really big giant hole. The third spot is in the trunk well at the bottom of it from underneath the car when I push up on it it feels like the metal is just gonna crumble up an fall out. Now I'm looking to replace all of this wit new metal what would I have to do to install the new metal an fix it up

 

Theres a world of information on this site. do a search on rust repair and im sure youll get all the info u need. sorry i couldnt be of more help and good luck with your repair.

 

are you gonna replace all the pans on just patch the holes?

 

Well my main plan was to replace all the pans but a buddy of mine came over an told that it is mostly surface rust on the floor pans so we are goin to sand the rust down an patch up the rust holes an then paint over it with herculiner an a weather proof sealant

 

thats basicly what i did with my floor

 

yea i got most of all the interior out today mostly the front an rear seats the carpet and i found more rot holes lol i found one in the front toe board also on the passenger side where the floor pan meets into the firewall sheet metal im just taking a small break before i go back out to remove the rear carpet an the rear plastic pieces as well

 

how large is the hole in the pass rear floorboard?

 

Sorry but you can't stick fingers thru surface rust, if you are unsure of what you are doing post up some pics. Don't let a buddy who is not a proffesional steer you in the wrong direction, or you will end up doing the repairs all over again in a year or so.

 

Your car, from the sound of it, is in worse shape than mine is and I am REPLACING both my pans:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...27-post27.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...28-post28.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...31-post29.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...32-post30.html

My pans, with shipping, were $750 all told.

 

89_RS where did u get your pans?

 

Hawks Thirdgen. You can also find them at Classic Industries.

 

if i like my carwhen it goes on the road i may correctly replace the floor

 

camaro rs ur can is nearly aint that bad compared to my trans am i want to get pics up here to show all of u guys how bad it is but dont know how to upload them from my iphone

 

ok so i just decided that im gonna replace the pans an the rocker panels as one whole unit but here is the thing the rear end is outta the car along with the fuel tanks an the whole rear suspension is there a way to support the car when i cut out the floor pans an rocker panels i know jackstands on the control arms will hold up in the front but how will i hold up the rear of the car i dont want to see it split right in the middle where the t top roofing is if someone could so me the exact spots on where to put it that would be awesome

 

Use the stock rear lower control arm mounting points, back end of the front sub frame, and front lower control arm mounting points at the basis of making a jig to bolt or weld the chassis to during this process. Also, tack in some tubes in place of the doors to maintain rigidity. You'll only get one chance to do this right and if you drop the ball, you can expect the bare minimum of $2000 to pay a shop to fix a mess up.

I'd personally use 1.5" x 3.5" x .1875" A36 rectangular tubing for the frame of the jig and .250" A36 plate for mounting tabs. Run a tube between each lca mount and tubes from the rear of the front subframe to the rear LCA mounts. This will connect all the critical points and triangulate your jig at the same time. Also, weld tubes in on the bottom of the jig to tie it together. Benefit of making your own jig from scratch is that you can make it to your most comfortable working size.

Make ABSOLUTELY SURE that each measurement you make is exact. The car WILL MIRROR the jig and any imperfection in the jig will be reflected in the final product in the chassis. Make sure any measurement you make on the chassis is exact and true to factory specs.

 

errrrr what have i got myself into i can barely weld an fabricate things like someone else is going to have to do this cause i cant ill def mess it up for sure

 

This is not a project for a novice, you are cutting into the support of your car, do not attempt if you are not able. This is a huge project even for a person with experience, you may want to rethink your idea.

 

The difference between the home shop & pro shop is tools. The home shop has the most commonly used tools and skills to get most jobs done well (on average). The pro shop is there to make money and their single largest capital investment is tools & skilled tradesmen. They don't make a jig for each build, they have a fully adjustable rack that can be set to the proper chassis specs for ANY car on the road. If they needed to build jigs for each car repair, no one would go to a body shop.

 

yea i also saw that if u keep one of the doors closed at all time that this will help out keeping the car not from flexing ill also have to keep the t top on as well will this way work or is this a bad way to do it

 

Doing the floor and rockers at the same time is a huge and difficult job. Props for trying it, but if you have not done a lot of this kind of work before it may end up being a nightmare. Is it beyond patching? If you are just starting off on this kind of stuff and you screw up a patch, at least you can redo it. If you weld in a new floor and rockers and it does not end up in the right spot it is toast.

 

Yea it is way beyond patching it up I found more when I removed the dash there is rot along the toe board just where it meets the bottom of the firewall also the floor an rocker kinda caved in I think this what caused it to some exstant

 

Take a look at some of mine https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ml#post5117339. My advice to you would be if you car is as bad or worse then mine and you don't have an emotional attachment to it then get a new car one or at least a new body and transfer your parts over. I have seen a couple decent shape GTA's going for $2000. You will probbaly end up spending that on repairs. Or you can do what it did. Problem is the more you get into it the more rust you find.

 

I do have a emotional attachment to my car I've had this car for almost 6 years now I've put alot of time an money into it an I just don't want to get rid of it an get a rolling chassis I want to learn how to repair rust an rot I see alot of you guys on here fixing ur floors an rockers panels an I would like to do the same on my car, I'm just like my father when I start on a project I don't want to give up on it or just get rid of it cause it's a lost cause nothing is a lost cause in my book

 

your car is repairable just dont go at it all at once take it piece by peice the way you describe the floor my floor was in worse shape and i managed to repair it.

 

Every thing that can rust/break on any car is fixable. The $3200 dollar question here that he needs to ask himself is can he do it by himself (with a helper of course) with the tools he has at hand in a time frame he deems reasonable. For me the answer is no. I'm buying the parts and sending my car to a shop for two weeks worth of structural chassis work done. Kinda had to as I don't have the tools, place, or time to do it myself without causing more problems than I solve.

 

Yea I seen all ur pics it was ridiculos no where near the way my floors are I haven't a decent size hole on the rear passenger floor board where u Put ur feet also at the top of the toe board it's pretty much a solid line across the passenger floor pan at the top an also my rocker panels got bent from all the rot an using it as a lifting point I really wanna get pics up here but I don't know how to from my iPhone since I don't have comPuter access

 

send them to photobucket then post a link here

 

Alright I'll try doing this in the morning an see if I can upload the damage of the rust to show all of u guys how bad it is

 

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_1633.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_7862.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_1257.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_5601.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0351.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_8677.jpg
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_7862.jpg

All of these photos are of the toe board, floor pan front drivers an rear passenger, rocker panel

 

I don't know what to say.



Is this area the rocker or somewhere else? Those beads there are someone's previous attempt at fixing the problem. Seeing how the bead is rolling up from the metal and looks as if its lying on the surface, that tells me whoever did it didn't have enough heat. Also, all that white crap around the beads is indicative of poor weld prep. Personally, I'd scrap my car if I found that under there. I'm not willing to spend the time & money to fix someone else's ****ed up hack job repair. If you're seeing that now, you will more than likely find something else thats far worse to fix.



That hole there doesn't worry me too much. My pan under my seat was ruptured all the way to the tunnel with cracks, but no hole. So this pic to me is a wash and typical of rust repairs. Then again, it looks to me like it may have been patched once before (semi square holes like that don't just happen on there own) with either metal or fiberglass.



Is this the front or rear of the rocker? Not really that bad, I can stick my hand into a gap that has formed between my pan and rocker. However; the gap is in the middle, not near either end. Also, that seam of metal hasn't began to rust on mine and that is key. The ends are important as they are what join to the subframes. The seam of metal being bent isn't too worry some, just break out the BFH & bang it back into place.



What area is this? No rust and nothing of real concern here that can't be fixed with a hammer and some new steel.



The drivers side foot well. That much rust/rot in that area would tell me that you'll be finding rust under that in the subframe area when you cut it out. But, you may luck out too. So, IMO this too is a wash.



Passenger side foot well. Same as above.

Overall, I'm left scratching my head. This doesn't look as bad as my car, then again, its not better. I'd say your rust issues are typical, but those **** beads of weld have me very concerned. It looks to me that someone else knew there was rust problems and began to fix it but never carried on through with it. Unless you know the cars history beyond the point there is reasonable doubt for someone else taking a hack at fixing the rust, I'd be very wary of doing this myself. Its one thing to fix rust on a car's history you know fairly certain, its another entirely to fix rust on a car you just bought used from someone. I was fortunate enough to have spent time talking to my cars original owner and get every service record for anything that had happened to that car in its lifetime so I know very well what has or has not been done to my car and by who.

 

Ok so here's what a buddy of mine an I thought of I found donor car that was banged in pretty good it's a company called camaro heaven I talked to a rep an he told me that he has a whole really good floor an rockers the company told me that they are will to cut out the floor, rOckers from the bottom of the fire wall to the front of the rear seat. This is cutting where the hood release latch all the way across the car to the other side an for the back they are going to cut from where the door striker is all the way across the price that the company has giving me is $375 dollars plus 100 to ship would this be worth it

 

To tell you truth, as mentioned earlier, if you don't have the welding or fabrication experience, this is not a project to try.

My advice is to find another shell (but please be consistent and don't make a clone).

 

That's the thing I don't have the space an money to find a donor car for cheap I'm seeing most rolling chassis run for 2 grand these days which is nuts plus up here in new England alot of them already have rot an surface rust I would like to find a rolling chassis in a budget of 700 bucks at least like the old days but I know that ain't gonna happen so looks like I'm putting this project on hold for the time being

 

I don't think you appreciate how expensive this is going to be to do it yourself, irregardless of whether or not you have the tools & experience.

First off, you need a jig that matches factory chassis measurements. Auto body shop frame racks are several tens of thousands of dollars, so you can't just find those anywhere even for cheap. That means you're building yourself a jig from thick wall A36 tubes. I'd say at least $100 worth of material and more likely you'd need $200-$300 in material if you're like most of us and overbuild your jigs to begin with.

Next, you'll need replacement parts. The saying you get what you pay for exists for a reason. I'd be vary wary of buying an entire floor system (pans, rockers, and front of the rear pans) for $300 all together. Now, thats not to say that parts like that are bad, but I'm fairly certain Thirdgen Ranch (a very reputable supplier here) would sell that much steel that cheap. My pans are $300 each, rockers are another $150 each, throw in about $100 worth of sheet steel for splice fabbing and you've just spent between $500-$1000 on parts.

See where this is going. There is no way that you can do this on the budget you have. The cheapest built jig and replacement steel would cost you $500. A good homebuilt jig and good replacement parts would run about $1100-$1400. And thats before you spend money on tool rentals. Welders run about $50/day and you need to supply the wire and gas for them as well so figure on about another $15/day in consumables for the welder. You'll also need an air compressor @ $100/day, hoses & air tools all told would be about another $25-$50/day and then you'll need to include consumables such as cut off wheels/air tool oil/shields/blades/tips and thats another $5-$10/day, then you need a generator to run it all and those go for $100/day bare minimum. All these rates are the cheapest rates possible for a rental place (ie your a construction company that rents 100+ pieces of heavy equipment and pay your bills in full on time each year for the last 5+yrs) so I can guarantee your out the door rental rates are going to be more than what I just quoted. That means your cheapest tool rental for ONE day is $300 for all the bare essentials, but rental rates change based on time.

Figure it'll take at least 1 month to do in your garage. 3 days on rent is one week in the rental business, and 3 weeks is a month. So your 4-5wk garage project might very well end up costing you 2 months worth of tool rental. And don't do the whole rent on Friday and return on Monday thing as the account manager will charge you out the rear with handling/service/maintenance/account maintenance/accounting fees for them having to jostle their rental fleet about. I would know, I have a subscription to Equipment Watch and deal with my fleet manager daily so I have an very good sense of the costs of rental tools.

So to sum it up:

Cheapest materials & replacement parts: $500

Good materials & replacement parts: $1100-$1400

Tool Rentals: $300/day, $2700/month

All told: Anywhere from $3200-$4100 and thats assuming you can get it done in one month. And if you don't need to rent tools, you still have to cover consumables and that means you're looking at $700 bare minimum and around $1700 to be sure you covered all the bases. And on top of it all, you need a work space where you can work on the car and not have it disturbed in any way, shape, or form for the length of the repair.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but there is a ton to this that you need to think out & price out before you go buying materials & parts. You also need tons of experience in order to rationally approach this kind of work. I've built 3 tube chassis FSAE cars from scratch before and unless I took a month to build a jig, had a 2 car garage to spare, and had all the tools on hand and a helper I wouldn't even think of doing this my self. Which is why I'm biting the bullet and sending my car to a shop to have it done.