Part TWO...What Would You Do

[mally002]

I think I should be happy, buy since I am a rookie when it comes to body work and structural things here's my situation. Yesterday I posted What would you do with the rust I found and the fiberglass covering it.......Well, after chipping away alot of the fiberglass I found SOLID FLOORS???? What kept throwing me was where the exterior rust was heavy I couldnt find where it came thru the inside, so I hacked away and this is what I found..See Photos.

So, is it as simple as just removing this old "rust cover" or is the whole floor and rails still at risk. I am going to assume the PO fixed the problem from the inside, and left the outside alone and just glassed over it. So, what do I do now??? I really love the car but want to be sure I'm safe driving down the road.

Thanks,

Randy

[Sailor Bob]

I was wondering where the blue paint was coming from - now it looks like there was a set of floors from a donor spotted inside the originals.

I have no experience in such matters - just expressing what it appears to be.

I definately would be concerned - it is a fine looking car otherwise.

[BRE-240Z]

I'd keep going. I'd want to get all of that old stuff off. If the floor really is solid, just paint it up with some POR-15 or other rust-preventive paint and you'll be set.

This fiberglass covering might be somebody's weird idea of rust prevention, but it makes no sense to me at all. I would still be expecting to find trouble, but who knows...maybe you'll get lucky?

[RolfSis]

Looking at one of your pictures, Randy, looks like a twin to ours! But when I saw the rust on the bottom, not so much. We've been the only owner of our '71 240Z, and thought all along what we were seeing on the bottom of our "floorboards", were actually the floorboards, only to learn (thanks to this site), there's something called Tar Mats. . Chipped it away and found things OK.

Also had ours up on a lift at the shop to inspect, found topical rust, and not the level of pain you're showing on the thumbnails (thank goodness). Did you scrape around to get it to drop down like that or is it the way it was just on the lift?

[RolfSis]

Should have included at least one link, sorry.

http://asta.bizhosting.com/november_updates.htm

[BRE-240Z]

I'm kind of encouraged from the new photos, actually....

That shot from the underside appears to show solid metal....I think what happened was the floorboards may have been replaced at some point, (although I can't tell whether it's sheet metal or OEM-type floorboards) and someone just laid fiberglass in on both the top and bottom.

Mind you, there still may be something horrible and nasty under there that you haven't gotten to yet....is the driver's side the same way?

At any rate, all that fiberglass (or whatever it is) should come off. Wear eye protection!

[Zak's Z]

Is what's coming off the bottom underside fiberglass or rusted metal? If its metal and the top floors were tacked in, arent they at risk as they may be tacked to the rotted metal floors? If it's fiberglass underneath, thats the strangest method of preserving floors I've seen. I guess either way you gotta get it all off to be sure.

[mally002]

Hey guys,

All the stuff coming off the bottom is fiberglass and rusted "original" metal. I got some more off and you can see the weld spots from the other floors that were put in, its crazy why they left the old rusted floors there....

When you take off the fiberglass, that is where you find all that old rust, It is so bad that the pieces you see in the photo's were from me just reaching up and pulling it down, but when I pull off the rust here's these non-rusted blue floors....it's really weird.

I've been working on this for hours so I'm going to take a break for a while, and yes the drivers side is the same.

+1 on the eye protection, this stuff is going everywhere.

PS...Any recomendations on what tool to use to get all the rust out, I've been going very slow with hand cutters.

Also RolfSis, great looking car!!!

[geezer]

Take your time Randy and carefully remove as much of what doesn't belong as possible, using whatever tools you have at your disposal. With a hammer and a good sharp steel chisel you can trim back the original rusted metal to the replacement metal that was tacked in years ago. There should only be one layer of sheet metal and no fiberglass or fillers. The more you get into it, the more obvious it will become, to as what needs to be done. Keep the pictures of your progress coming. Other than this needed work, this car sure looks nice in the pics. I'm sure you will be able to do most of the prep work yourself and have someone else do the nessesary welding for you.

To me it looks like the replacement metal was simply tacked in place over the original rusted out floor and a layer of glass was used to seal around the edges and over any other holes. Obviously, an amateur repair that did serve the purpose for many years, but was doomed to eventually failure.

[DatsunZsRule]

Hey, I got those same identical ramps :laugh:

Anyway that is very strange. I don't know as much about body repair either but maybe sometime in that Z's life, the previous owner took it some place for service and some moron tech didn't position the lift correctly and damaged the floors and owner bitched at them to fix it and the service place did the cheapest half a$$ed repair that they could get away with to make the owner happy???? Who knows but just a thought

[BRE-240Z]

I'll be interested to see more photos, too. From what we've seen so far, and from Randy's description, I've got a mental image of six inch thick floors on this car! Two layers of metal, two layers of thick fiberglass, etc.....

Randy, if you've got a small hand-held grinder, that might be the way to go. Faster than hand cutters, anyway......

[RolfSis]

Thanks, Randy. You sure look like you're in excellent hands here, so reading and learning. Not sure this link will add any value, but maybe since it's work on a 240Z with fiberglass issues. Novice that I am, not sure it was fiberglass that my hubby chipped off our original '71 240Z or what the Tar Mats were made of, but he needed lots of patience and muscle to get it chipped out.

http://www.project240z.com/Blog/tabid/53/EntryID/73/Default.aspx