TR6 Rust and small hole on floor pan- TR6

[Flummoxed]

You guys have been an invaluable help for an inexperienced mechanic like myself. I appreciate your time. After lifting the carpet and foam, I noticed a very small hole surrounded by rust on the drivers side floor pan. I have seen replacement floor pans for sale, but I imagine this involves pretty serious welding and body work (maybe not, does it bolt in?). I'm not tearing this car down and restoring it. With that in mind, what's the best way to deal with this? The car now resides in a mild climate, and is garaged or covered in the winter. Can I let this go and apply some sort of agent that deals with the rust? Does this rust and hole mean that further deterioration is inevitable, and could possibly spread to other parts of the car? Sorry if these are naive questions. Many thanks.

 

[Guest]

Flum,
What you have is quite typical on a TR6. It doesn't mean that there is rust everywhere else on the car, although you might start looking. Replacing the floor pans is a big deal. They are cut and welded in. Short of replacing the pans, you have some choices. One is to take out the seat and all the carpet (no biggie) and start poking. The rust is probably under the foot area only. Start scraping, using motorized wire bristles (drill) and get down to shiney, bare metal. Grind ALL the rust away. You will probably end up with much larger holes than you think you have. The floor pan will be quite thin by now. One choice is to leave it as is and protect the cleaned area with the appropriate coating
(POR15, etc.) and reinstall the carpet or consider doing limited fiberglass repairs of the holed area. Either way, get the rust out! It will only grow from there. I have the same issue with my car and have bought both floor pans (in storage). When I cut them out, I will have to repaint the car by then. I just check the floors regularly and have installed totally removeable carpets that pop out in less than an instant. Remove them after every wash or rain to dry the floors.

Bill

 

[DougF]

Depending on the size and number of holes and the overall condition of the metal, The panel can be patched or replaced.
A new panel would involve drilling out all the spot welds holding the floor in position. Panel position is most critical. The welding into position is easy. They can be spot welded or mig welded. In mig welding, I would drill small holes in the panel to allow access to the mating panels, giving you a places to weld. Personally, I would not bead weld.
Patches can be welded into place or holes welded shut, depending on the size of the hole. If you are going to fix it, you should do it the best way once. Shortcuts are short term.
As previously mentioned, eliminate all of the existing rust to reduce the chance of future problems

 

[PeterK]

another suggestion.
if this is a small hole in the foot area, it's probably from leaks around the top that gets caugh under the carpet.

for a driver, clean as suggested, then use a rust convertor product (there are lots of them); the product will turn the rusted area black.

then seal the area with por-15 or rust encapsulator - these products block oxygen from the metal so, no oxygen, no more rust.

to fill the hole, i would patch the holes with tiger hair - strands of fiberglass in resin. a little goes a long way and will lay flat, can be sanded smooth and painted over. if the floor is shot (sounds like it's not), then think about replacing the entire floor.

 

[ichthos]

My TR6 is basically a daily driver right now. Like you, I am more interested in driving now. Even so, I would agree with Bill -do the job right or you will regret it later. There is rust on my drivers side door pan too. In my case this seems to have been caused by two things; the master cylinders leaking onto the floor, and wearing in the pedal area. I would make sure I addressed the problem causing the rust before doing repairs. And I would suggest that you do not use fiberglass patches. I have seen too many horror stories where the fiberglass just trapped water and actually caused the oxidation process to accelerate. I have a mig welder, so a job like yours is no problem for me. I am no expert, but I have always been happy to help a friend with small jobs such as yours (Replacing floor pans is no easy task for me!)Check with friends or a local Triumph club for help. If you have the area prepared, it won't cost much to have a welder put in a patch for you. You may want to use epoxy primer to seal off this area before you repaint it.
Kevin

 

[prb51]

I had the same issue in a driver MBZ 190sl. Pin holes and rust but the pans were strong enough to stand on so worth saving. I used POR15 and painted over fine mesh fiberglass cloth. One coat of POR lay the matting and paint over it. It dries hard as a rock and if done right looks good. Seals all of the pin holes etc. Never had an issue with it again.

 

[Flummoxed]

Thanks to all. I'm on my way to find the appropriate products. So far, the worst part has been getting those seat sliders unbolted from underneath the car. Hopefully the PB blaster will unfreeze those. Thanks again.