Ok so I was working on the trans am once again an came to realize I got another rust spot building up errrrrrr why cant I just have one third gen that's not rotting away, I been doing a lot of work to this car so far to get it ready for the summer time an now looks like its gonna Not be out on hold once again. I'm in the process of buying new floor pans I want to replace them with nice thick steel not that thin crap steel gm used did any aftermarket companies make them yet also do theY have all the brackets an holes for the seats to bolt on to an for the seatbelts or do I have to use the ones off my existing floors

 

Come to California and buy a rust free model, We don't know what rust is out here

 

rust who?

 

Mikey, I love the stance on that GTA of yours

 

New England's not kind to cars, Pontiac or otherwise. This is my 3rd 3rd gen and the only reason why its almost completely rust free (a couple little spots in rear) is because it was tucked in a garage the last 12 years before I bought it. The other two were not as lucky....

 

suprisingly, my firebird has less rust than my camaro considering my firebird is 6 years older... but my dodge is a different story, (just bed rust)

 

hey thanks dude! much appreciated..

 

I'm seriously thinking about moving outta new England lol this is my 5th third gen that rust has ruined but this is gonna be my last one I wanna actually repair all of it an save for it for my kids when I'm older. But back to topic why is it that 2nd gen floors are so cheap but 3rd gen are so expensive for one floor it's almost 300 bucks :-/ I'm looking hard to find new floors for somewhat price range of 300 bucks for both sides I want nice thick steel as well are there any companies out there that anyone know of ???? I have the skills to cut out the old floors an I got good buddies that are master welders/auto body techs that will be able to help install them for me just gotta find a cheap set in my price range

 

I think Pontiacs were the more expensive GM performance cars of the day...

Things rust man. Previous owners weren't good to our cars and a lot of the things that have happened to them that make you scratch your head. As far as rust goes, the way these cars were made, they are actually pretty resilient to rust in my experience. It does all depend on where you are though.

 

I guess I've been lucky. I bought mine new in Honolulu where it was constantly exposed to salt air. Then it spent about half it's life in the DC area where it was exposed to snow, ice, and road salt. Then, for the last seven years, it's been back in Hawaii with more salt air. No rust whatsoever, except for the trim around the hatch glass, and a small spot of surface rust where the paint got dinged. Gotta fix that before it grows. Never had a garage, so the car has only been in driveways and carports. It did have one repaint about 10 years ago, but that's about it. She's held up very well for 22 years!

 

U sure are a lucky one im been looking for cheap floors an found one company down south of me 150 for each side not to bad i guess

 

After you get the floor pans in you might want to coat them with the bedliner coating. Have any of you done that? Works good here in the rain forest.

 

The thickness of the metal isn't the problem. If it gets wet, it will rust. If it gets salty and wet, the process will speed up by 100 times. If your planning on keeping one for your kids, get a non-rusted one and keep it dry.

 

Coat it really well and it shouldn't get wet.

 

Its more to do with states that use rock salt in the winter, places that use sand don't rot cars either.

 

Yes the salt is bad just like driving along our beaches here in the rain forest. And yes it is raining outside pretty wet and cooler today.

 

Buy a WINTER RAT !
No more rust problems after that..............................

I just scored a nice grandmas Buick for winter duty so my Z and GTO can sleep
warm and rust free all winter!

 

Yea i plan on coating the new floors with the bed liner when i get the floors also thats when ill get the sfc's done ill add plenty of coats to both the top side an the bottom side of the floors im gonna finish up my 355 swap an register it next week i havent even drivne the car yet im in the army part time so when i go to annual training in the summer thats when ill order my new floors an get them put in when it comes off the road in late september

 

I have a dd car now a little 86 fastback fiero gt with only 76000 miles an only one rot spot in the battery tray other im actually trying to sell it to do a s10 350 t-5 swap to it i have the whole kit just waiting down in my basement sucks that its just sitting there collecting dust

 

My 84 camaro has very little rust on it I had to weld a few small patches in the floor and there's a botch repair job by the gas cap and very light clearcoat problems nothing a new paintjob won't fix I'm in Canada where it snow's 5-6 months out of the year mind you my car doesn't see snow but I'm sure the previous owner did

 

Yea thats the thing the previous owner that owned it before use to drive it everyday through every season in rhode island he put the car through 2 winterss while he had it i dont even know how the owner before him was with driving it in all season i guarantee they drove it also through snow, rain, salt so it is expected to happen

 

we got bad rust here too. every car in the scrapyard is rusted out so cutting out steel from other cars in the area is close to impossible. I found a car that was rust free at local salvage and couldn't bare to cut it up cause i never seen one so nice and rust free. I ended up buying the whole car for 300 and i have it sitting behind my house covered up. It has no title but car like that in this area. I couldn't let it be crushed

I ended up getting some flat stock a little thicker than stock to make my own patch panels for my floorpans. replacements are way to $$$. If you go that route don't get to thick cause its hard to weld sheetmetal that is different thickness. you end up burning through the thinner metal and the thicker doesn't even stick.

 

For that bedliner thing... how did you apply it? I think a rotisserie would work best... but im not sure? I want the bottom blasted so it would probably be on a rotisserie anyways...? I'd just ask if they could roll it on for me or if they could "accidentally" roll the car out of the shop for a bit for me to apply it myself :P

 

Here in the South the roof and hood will rust before the floors ever do (due to bad paint). The only rusty part of my GTA is the battery tray, apparently caused by a leaky battery at some point.