Give it to me straight....How Bad.

[mally002]

I found out why you never keep scrapping all the goop off your car.....because you might find this.

I always new the floors were replaced by the PO, well actually the PO just welded in new floors over the old rusty one's and then undercoated the heck out of the underside. This spot however I hadn't seen till the goop was off.

I went to sell the car back in May but the floors scared too many away, I planned on getting all the undercoating off and then putting in Zedd's floors which is when I found this.

Whats the bottom line on this repair, how worried would you be. You can tell it was repaired awhile ago and it wasn't done very well. Whats the best fix.

Thanks for any opinions.

Randy

[26th-Z]

I'm having a hard time seeing it, Randy. Is that the frame rail below the battery tray? If so, that's common but bad. You could go as far as replacing the frame rail. Charlie has them. Or you could patch the spot - depending on how extensive it is. Still, its part of the frame rail structure of the car and needs to be repaired.

Edited June 22, 2009 by 26th-Z

[Weasel73240Z]

I'm definitely no expert, but I did all of my own welding and metal fab on my Z, and in my experience, as long as long as you can find some uncompromised metal to weld to, its just a matter of basic metal fabrication. Clean/grind, cut out the rusted stuff, clean/grind, make a template out of cardboard, check, make it out of metal, clean/grind, and grab the welder.

It looks like the metal gets better toward the front of the car, so you should have a good welding surface there. Just got to get it real clean to take the weld.

The back side of the repair, near the firewall looks like the challenge. It might be a matter of 1st fabricating a piece to go against the firewall, to give you a good surface to weld to in the back side of the repair.

As long as you can weld, I don't think it looks too bad.

I remember seeing your car when it was on eBay. I remember thinking that the floors were going to scare people off. Especially contrasting the floors against the rest of the car, because the rest of the car is beautiful.

[Arne]

I'd ask a couple of the guys who've dealt with this before. Guys like a7dz or stevef1972z come to mind.

Based on pictures I've seen of those two cars, I'd judge this as being bad, but far from terminal.

[240kconvertible]

It's repairable, just going to take some time.

I had a similar problem with mine when someone did work to it and never protected inside of the rails and it just rusted out from the inside. It only had a small bubble of rust showing on it and then when I cut into it with the grinder it became apparent what needed to be done.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu327/240kconvertible/Sup056.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu327/240kconvertible/ss.jpg

I've since bought a spray pot that has a flexi 1.5 mtr hose that sprays out in a doughnut shape not a cone. Great for getting to those hard to reach places.

Don't be scared to get under there and cut out the steel, air tool small cutting discs will be the easiest to get to it.

[mally002]

Thanks guys,

I thought I would see if anyone else had a similiar issue. I did get a new compressor for fathers day so maybe I should experiment with a cutting disc........only problem, I've never done it before.

Mainly just wanted to make sure it wasn't "terminal".....I was getting a little worried after I found it.

[Weasel73240Z]

Thanks guys,

I thought I would see if anyone else had a similiar issue. I did get a new compressor for fathers day so maybe I should experiment with a cutting disc........only problem, I've never done it before.

Mainly just wanted to make sure it wasn't "terminal".....I was getting a little worried after I found it.

Oh yeah...it's terminal. I'll fly down to Knoxville, and I'll take that headache off your hands for a $1,000.

Not terminal at all, very fixable based on whats visible in the pics.

[Seppi72]

Yeah, as Weasel said, it doesn't look too bad as long as you can find good metal to weld onto. Plus, with it being a floor, the looks of your welding can be covered up with undercoating on the one side and insulating mat on the other.

Then again, this opinion is coming from a guy who's spent $10K fixing up his sentimental rust bucket Z over the past year with perhaps another $10K to go before he's done. I never expected baby ostrich leather seats to be so expensive.

[mally002]

Weasel, your only 5-6k short, and I'll fly you down.........Drinks on me...

Thanks guys for the input, by the time I'm done with everything I'm going to be in Seppi's boat......but a labor of love..........or maybe a labor of.......:sick:

[Mikes Z car]

240Kconvertible,

What kind of spray pot did you get, did you get it off of the internet? I have been thinking I will need something like that.

Thanks,

Mike

[Weasel73240Z]

Weasel, your only 5-6k short, and I'll fly you down.........Drinks on me...

Sounds tempting, but I told the wife I'd finish the boat before I bought another Z.