So I finally decided to start doing some work on my 85 Firebird. I pulled the interior some months ago, it previously had a 4th gen dash, seats, doors, and console in various levels of completion (it was installed during college, and the car was a DD). So, after pulling the interior out, I noticed some rust in the floor boards, not as bad as some, not as good as plenty. Honestly, for a T-top car that's been rained in more times than I can count, had the windows accidently left down during thunderstorms, and a chassis with ~300,000 Midwest Daily Driven miles, I'm fairly happy with how it looks...but that doesn't mean it doesn't need work.

I've made a couple phone calls to craigslist welding services to see what it would take to fix (specifically) the rear floor area where there are some quarter sized rust holes The front has surface rust, but appears to be solid (thusfar). I'm going to plan on getting a wire wheel and going to town with those rusty areas, and if I don't find major rot, I'll plan to POR-15 and finish really start on the carpet.

Here are some photos:

Passenger Rear Floor

Stripped Interior

Purchase Arrived

Pulled out and laid out


From the Rear


Rear Carpet Dropped In

Interior Plastics in "storage"

 

Surprisingly enough, I didn't have rust at the rear of the car, considering how badly the trunk area leaked when the car was spending it's life outdoors, I find that amazing. So, I dropped the rear carpet in for the time being. Hopefully I won't be looking at costly repairs of the passenger compartment rust.

I hopped under the car very briefly to see what the bottom looked like, and things didn't look bad (minus the rot through the passenger rear floor) Once I get the car up in the air, I'll post some pictures so we can figure out what we're working with. This'll probably be a lonnnng process, but hopefully it'll go slowly and steadily and not just fade away...like it had for the previous 3 years

 

I have seen alot worse than that and it can be fixed, what I would do is take a screw driver and poke around to see if there are any other soft areas before you hit it with the wire wheel. Good luck with the project.

 

Dude!

You put that carpet on your bed?!!!

Now you're never gonna get laid!

 

LoL, it's the spare bedroom...so life's good (if the wife kicks me out though, i have to sleep on carpet).

Good idea on the screwdriver. I've looked around on this board and seen worse rust, but unfortunately i have limited funds and know how when it comes to welding. Hoping one of these guys actually calls back eventually, but so far it's been goose eggs.

Would you guys recommend buying a replacement RH Floor Pan and cutting it up to fit? Or cutting out the scrap, and replacing it with some mild steel. I'm not worried about how it looks, just functionality, and strength. I'll likely add some SFC's while we're here.

I've messed around with welding twice, and know that you don't want to lay a bead on sheet metal, just the heavy gauge stuff, but I don't know how successful id be.

 

That rot isnt bad at all. I say just cut the areas and weld in new metal as a new pan wouldnt be usefull as you will only use 20% of it if your lucky

 

I appreciate all the good feedback...I actually purchased a welder recently, but will be doing lots and lots of practice before I attempt any patching. It'll be nice to get the carpet out of the bedroom and into the vehicle, then get the dash back in, figure out if I can relearn how to read a wiring schematic, and start attacking the front steering and suspension...After the car is able to safely move under her own power (and stop too) it'll be onto the body. As said, this car was a daily driver for me from 99-09, prior to that it was owned by my father who drove the car over 200,000 miles through the midwest, and every single winter. All in all, i'm pretty happy that the rot isn't worse. I do have a spot on the strut tower (small, but still a hole) that concerns me...considering how structurally necessary that spot is, there's a very good chance i'll pay someone to cut/weld it properly...luckily, the rust doesn't extend to far, so replacing the entire tower shouldn't be necessary.

For the floor steel, do you guys recommend 22 gauge, or 18 gauge?