Hello All,

Well I have finally gotten my Z stripped to the point I would like it to be at. There isn't much on the inside or the outside (less the bottom) to be take off and I now have an idea of where my problem areas are.

The first problem I want to address are the floor pans. I have attached some photos to show the extent of the damage. The driver side is rotted through with three pin hole size spots. The passenger side has rust in the same area but isn't all the way through.

The entire area of my floor board seems to be covered in this tar crap and it is making it quite fun to try and find the rust and treat it. It's all over most of the area including the console area.

Can I just spray paint stripper or aircraft remover to this stuff and get it off that way or should I just manually chip away at the bulk of it (as I started to do) and then get the leftover with paint remover? Do I need to worry about the transmission/console part of the interior (where I am 98% positive there is no rust) or can I just strip the floor pans and focus on that area (where I know there is rust)?

I will also be redoing the underside of the car so I will get to any rust on that side also.

Hi Gregg,

Welcome to the forum! If you do a search for "floorpan" or something similar, you'll find about 100 threads and basically two different ways to deal with that stuff...Good reading---I've been there.

1) Scraper and a heat gun. (what I used) Better if used when it's colder weather so you aren't drenched in sweat (like I was). Once an area's been heated for 30 secs or so, a putty knife will scrape that crap off easy. Then, a little lacquer thinner takes off the last bits...

2) Dry ice. Freezes it so you can chisel it off. Probably more enjoyable in the warmer months.

When I did my floorpans I found only a smattering of pinholes, but felt that overall the pans were not in good shape--flakes of rust, thin spots etc--so I bit the bullet and bought new pans from Zedd Findings and had them welded in--total cost about $900

The soundproofing extends a ways up the trans tunnel, so I would take as much of it off as you can.

Here's the thread with what my floorpans looked like:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15103

Good luck,

Steve

Here's a thread that discusses removal using Dry Ice. Hope it helps. Gary

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16546&highlight=tar+removal

I started removing the tar mat a couple weeks ago to see the extent of my rust problem... It was around 30 degrees (F) in the garage when I started chipping away at it, comes off pretty easy... If the dry ice is that much colder, I would think that it would be the best route to go rather than the heat gun method.

Dry ice less residue to clean up later. In my case faster also. Smells much better also..

Gregg, ditto to what has been said above. I used a gasket scraper and most came off in chunks. I would take as much on the trans tunnel as you can. I found surface rust way up the tunnel that I didn't think was there. Same in the back, take it all off if you can. To me your pans didn't look too bad. The area under the seat mount may be patched but the rest might make it

Thanks for the great ideas. I can get Dry Ice just down the road at the local grocery store and it should make for things going a whole lot easier for removal.

Now once I remove all this tar/sound insulation, would some Por-15 and then soundproofing material (B-quiet Extreme (aka brown bread) be a sutable replacement?

Dry ice less residue to clean up later. In my case faster also. Smells much better also..

Dude.....I love the smell of melting tar in the evening...it's the smell of victory!

It took me all of an hour to do both sides of the floorpans with a heatgun, so time's not much of a problem. Longer to do the wheelwells, mainly because of the angles, grooves and overall bigger square footage.

My floor pan was split lingth wise about 18'' on the passenger side floor. Outboard of center and rusted badly . This side I replaced with a Zedd floor pan . On the driver side I had pin holes in one area just ahead of the seat . This area I repaired with POR and POR matt. You need to be the judge , if the metal is thin from rust , replace it. As to the tar matt . I only removed it up the side of the tranny tunnel about 2'' above where I found zero rust. I can see no need to remove it , if it is rust free then apply more. From the pictures it looks like heavy rust scale on the driver side by the rocker . Have a long look at this area. With this type of unibody construction the floor is part of the frame so keep this in mind . I sand blasted all bare metal and any rust , did the necessary repairs . Then treated the metal as directed by POR 15 and used there products to treat the floors both inside and under the car . Your floors from the pictures don't look to be in that bad of shape , but pictures don't always tell all . Have a good look under the tar matt in the back floor and around the spair well . I have pictures if you are interested, send me a PM Gary

Hi Greg,

Are you doing both the inside and out?

Now once I remove all this tar/sound insulation, would some Por-15 and then soundproofing material (B-quiet Extreme (aka brown bread) be a sutable replacement?

That's what I did. Frankly your floor pans look pretty good compared to mine and most of the others I've seen. Once you get all of the tar off you can use POR-15. Be sure to follow the directions. When you use the marine clean and metal ready you need to rinse with water. It seemed really weird to me to having a running garden hose on the inside of the car but that's what you really need to do. Much of it will go out through the drain holes but I also used a wet-dry vacuum. It really gets the water out quickly. After the coats of POR-15 I used Dynamat and then another layer of foil backed insulation for an additional sound and heat barrier as well as a bit of padding under the carpet for comfort.

Hi Greg,

Are you doing both the inside and out?

Sorry... Gregg failed to notice your thumbnails below. :nervous: I ditto what beandip is saying. The floors appear to be solid. I as well have extensive before and after shots in my gallery of a complete floor pan, frame rail replacement and POR 15 process etc... I am currently in the process of installing the sound deadning insulation.

I live in Houston ...PM me if you would like some info., sources and/or help with you Z in the Houston area.