Yay and Huh?

[millsan1]

K. here is the YAY part. I ripped the carpet and sound dampening (yeah right) material out of hte passenger side of my new Z. Th efloors look great, just the most minor of surface rust in a couple spots, and solid as a rock. I will clean and treat the areas with POR before painting, etc. But great news that it looks as solid from the inside as it does from the outside.

Now the HUH? part. Since my last 2 Zs were rustbuckets, and I owned them almost 20 years ago, I do not remmber this. Under the sound dampening material (there is that joke again), there was this semi-putty-like black material. It bound that (you know the joke) to the floor. I am assuming this is factory installed. Am I wrong?

That stuff is coming off with some elbow grease, so yay again. Next step is the drivers side.

[Virto]

My 280Z doesn't have that kind of covering, although my floors were replaced by the PO.

I know a similar coating was applied to the floors of the Datsun Roadsters, so it might very well be factory.

[LanceM]

Stock stuff, PIA to get up if it isn't already loose.

[EScanlon]

Here's a link to a search with "Dry Ice" as the terms used.

Hopefully it doesn't bomb out on you:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/search.php?searchid=260504

If it does, just key "Search" above and type in Dry Ice.

That's one of the EASIEST and QUICKEST ways of removing that Tar Paper that's attached to the floor panel.

That answers the "HUH?" part.

However, you won't know if in fact you have "YAY!" until AFTER you remove the tar paper. Unfortunately, there have been countless instances where the Tar Paper looked great....but the metal below did NOT.

Here's a couple of pictures to illustrate what I mean.

The Left Most is the area below the Passenger Seat...didn't look TOO bad. There was some rust to be expected (look at the forward side edge) but as you can see from picture number two.....YIKES!

Then look at picture number 3...."OH NO! More of the same?"

Then take a look at number 4...."OH! Not as bad as I thought it would be".

All of that damage you see, is quite easily repaired. It's when you start seeing holes that you have problems....

Hope I didn't burst your Yay bubble too hard.

Enrique

[EScanlon]

In case the search does get bogged down; here's the link to the best of the Dry Ice articles.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16546

Enrique

[millsan1]

Nah, I scraped off 70% of the tar. I am down to metal. There is really very little rust, and all of it surface rust. I am not having a hard time removing it, just was wondering what is was.

Thanks for the pointer on dry ice, though.

[theianmonster]

The drivers side on my car was pretty rust free too, just a bunch of surface rust. I haven't finished the passenger side, but frankly, I'm scared.