Is Removal Necessary

[Nigel Mulvey]

I've read a lot on this site about how people are going about removing the "rubbery" insulation on the inside flooring of their z's. My question is why bother? Surely if the surface of the insulation is free of serious penetrations no water could get underneath it and any dampness that was under there when the cars were built would have caused damage clearly visible from below.

My plan with my resto project is to wire brush the metal surfaces of the interior and POR those, I will then use their White Cote to completely paint the interior so it will match the exterior.

Anyone got any thoughts?

[HS30-H]

Nigel,

When I started pulling up that rear floor insulation on my 1970 project car I was horrified to find that it revealed quite a lot of surface rust.....................

To be honest, the insulation was a bit scruffy - but I had NO IDEA that it was going rusty underneath. The idea of stripping it all out was part of my "432R Replica" theme ( they had no insulation in them whatsoever ) so I was trying to replicate that. What with the 1970 body being "pre-storage bin" ( just stamped holes in the floor ) there was actually quite a lot more of the insulation than on the later cars. This has now all been stripped off, blasted and painted. Makes me feel double satisfied to think that I have removed some really sneaky hiding rust and replicated the 432R at the same time.

I should put some before and after photos up in the Member Galleries.

Yours might not be as rusty as mine was, though..........

Alan T.

[mperdue]

Here's what it can look like underneath. The rust around the holes is what you can see with the stuff still on but it does get up under there too. The stuff at the front left and right was covered. These are actually pretty good floors - if you have much rust it can be a lot worse.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1996&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

I'd recommend taking it all off and applying POR-15 to the whole thing, just to be safe. Have fun!

Michael

[2ManyZs]

When in doubt, rip it out.

The coating is porous and will retain water, so if there were ever a leak in the hatch or floors, you can be sure there will be at the very least, some surface rust under it. Surface rust will easily become more serious if not attended too.

At the very least, I suggest taking it out in the floor pans as this is usually the first place to rust. You have all those rubber plugs in the floor and as you can see by Michael pics, the surface rust usually spreads outwards from them.

[Daniel]

Nigel, I once had that same thought.In begining my resto. I had only one hole in the passenger floor.It was about large enough to pass a golf ball thru it.Just a little patch job I thought as the underside of the car showed no trouble.AS I cleared away the rubber to get to good metal to weld the patch the rust area grew.Soon I could pass a basketball thru the hole.I think the rubber was holding the rust together and stopping the floorpans from falling out.Two new floorpans later,I'm glad I did it.I think you will be also.There is no better time then now.Who knows years from now the pans may not be available should you require them.You need to know the status under the rubber. Have fun.Daniel

[Daniel]

Nigel your question reminded me of a time long ago.I had another 73 240 then.It had the normal rust under the battery box but,appeared OK.On a very cold winter rainy night I was coming home about 2 in the morning.I ran thru a low spot in the pavement that had collected quite a pool of water.I was going about 45mph.All of a sudden the passenger floormat blasted toward the back of the car.A wall of water with the size and pressure of a firemans hose shot thru the to the ceiling of the car for about 3 seconds.I WAS SOAKED to the bone.Needless to say repairs were in order!! Daniel

[derk]

I thought mine was rust free and am in the process of removing mine thanks to input here. Check my gallery for photo but I am finding a lot of rust under mine.

A heat gun and a scraper is getting it up.

[Nigel Mulvey]

Well, I took your advice and have decided to remove the tar matting. I can see already that there is some rust that has crept under the edges so this is definitely a good move - I have only done a small part of the hatch area so far.

I read with interest considerable debate over the best way to remove the stuff. I have found today that it came up very easily with a flat scraper, although I also used an old screwdriver and a chisel for the more stubborn bits. I read that some people heat it up before attacking it but here today it was over 40C (110F) and I thought it might actually be easier if it were cold - it almost just snaps off. Anyway with the little bits that are left, I just wiped them off with kerosene which just lifted them right off. I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Here's a photo of the finished article.

Thanks again!

[derk]

Good work, Nigel. You're way ahead of me.

110F? Jesus Christ. No need for a heat gun there.

Today it was 8F here. I need to get to Australia. Only like a 27 hour flight from here.

Should we do anything special to the seams or just Por-15?

[Nigel Mulvey]

Saw on the news this morning that it was actually 44C yesterday where I live. That's around 118F. Believe me, you don't want to be here.