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Floorboard Rust Repair

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tony barnhill

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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I'm replacing the floors in one of my cars...using air nibbler, cutting wheel & tiny air sawzall (2" blade) to cut the old floors out...driver side was no problem - about an hour....passenger side, I was being so careful around the wiring & plumbing underneath; but, I cut about halfway through the brake line!

When you're doing the passenger side, always mark the run of the wiring/plumbing with a felt marker on the floor itself so you stay away from them with your cutting wheel...I know to do that; I know where they are...dummy me, I decided to just 'trust' my knowledge - WRONG!

Also, I've found that running an air nibbler around the outside of the floors right about where the body lip is takes all of 15 minutes to make the major cut...then doing the same around the floor supports breaks everything free in little pieces...the tiny air sawall & cutting wheel are for places where I can't reach with the nibbler.

I'm going to FUSOR the new floors in so all I'll have to do once the old ones are out is clean up the edges of the old floors that I left in place, clean the backs of the new floors & apply FUSOR - a few sheet metal screws to hold the floors down until the glue sets & VOILA! No removing pop rivets; just cutting the old floors away, grinding the edges clean & bare & glue.

But, remember where your plumbing/wiring runs under the car.....now, I get to replace a brake line!
 
heheheeeee!!! First B, then?

Back-when, me Old Fella an' I did a "patch job" on my first B, inadvertently put a pop rivet thru the harness, didn't know it. When we were checking the lights afterwards, the t-sigs were all FAXOR'd, found it almost immediately. Old Man about wet himself laughin'... We were lucky it didn't dead short the entire rear harness, actually.

EDIT: I "glued" mine into this B and am absolutely "over th' moon" for the panel glues. GREAT stuff.
 
Na, Doc...many, many B's under the belt...just slipped (& I knew I was right over the plumbing)....one of those things - but a new guy doing his first floor might not realize it...& brake line? That's what parts cars are for!
 
mehheh. knew that. just thought I'd rub some NaCl inna wound... I'm feelin' puckish over th' Alfa brakes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I'm a coward. I remove all the damageable bits before I start with the implements of destruction.
I haven't tried the Fusor yet. I've got some floors to do this summer, so may give it a whirl.
Any words of wisdom regarding it's use, Tony? Or should I just give Chuck a shout?
Jeff
 
CLEAN bare metal is about the only prerequisite, Jeff. You'll be in love. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Give chuck a shout...this set will be my first experiment with FUSOR...chuck's gonna come down with his FUSOR gun & walk me through it..
 
Tony,
I have checked out a website for Fusor products, and, like POR, there are many different types:
https://www.lord.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1146

Do you know now, exactly which one you are going to use? I am going to replace the trunk in the '71 when I get it home, as it appeared that there was water sitting on one side of it for an extended period of time, and ate through it. I have gotten a rust free trunk floor from another '71 which I am going to use to replace it.
Would I be able, do you think, use the Fusor product for this application such as you are doing for the floor, or will the lip of the replacement trunk bottom look odd? How could I do it?


Paul
 
Again, Chuck Cougill is who I'm learning from...I really don't know anything about FUSOR except he & another old body man friend, John Weimer, swear by it.....I would think the trunk floor could be done the same way though....ask chuck: chuck@shadetreemg.com

...he's done 'em before

Oh, both my floors are not out! Just gotta clean up lips & get black paint off bottom of new floors where the glue will go & I'm ready for Chuck to come down & show me how to do it

(Oh, as you guys are talking to Chuck on email - tell him we neeed him over here on the BCF!)
 
Take lot's of pics tony! You could add a "how to FUSOR" on your website! I'd be all eyes for that!
 
Don't worry, Kenny - I'll do a comprehensive tech tip....we probably won't do it until last of month.
 
Oh, I just may get to see that.
 
Hey Tony -

Wonderfully timely post! I just pulled the seats out of my B and cleaned out about 3200 lbs. of rust, old sound dampening crud, and acorn shells, in preperation for removing my floor panels. Got the nibbler, grinder, no mini sawz-all though. But I suppose if I have to buy a new tool to work on the car.... [a grin creeps across his face...] /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
It'll be a few weeks before I get back to remove the floors, and had planned on welding the new ones in. However, a glowing review of FUSOR from you would more than convince me to go that route. Keep us posted. Thanks!
 
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