How bad is it...

[JohnnyP]

So I was looking around the underbody of my Z and was pulling back some of the gunk on the body to see what was underneath (I was hoping to rule out heavy rust damage, or any damage). Underneath one particularly hard to remove piece of rubbery stuff, I found this...(picture)...I don't know what this part is called, it is right underneath the passenger floor pan. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but The picture is showing a whole going right to the inside of the car. The black part you see in the whole, is my carpet!

Im not really sure what to do with this or how bad it is. I thought putting it up here might be a wise choice. Any suggestions would very appreciated!

Thank you all,

John

[cbudvet]

Based on the picture, it may not be too bad. There are many here that know more than me but I would try to clean up the entire area to see how extensive the rust issue is. You probably should do it to both sides. There are replacement floor pans available and it can be a relatively straight forward fix. It also comes back to the fact that anything can be fixed given the right amount of money. Good luck.

carl

[JohnnyP]

I managed to clean around both areas; drivers side floor pan is rust free. It doesn't seem to be a rust issue, but more of an accident. I looks like that part of the floor pan was somehow pushed up, creating the hole. And then covered up by whatever was layered on the bottom of the car.

I'll investigate some more and se what I can find. Thank you for the response as well as the advice.

John

[Z-Luke]

Sounds like improper lifting, jacking up the floor pan. I did it by accident on my AE86 Toyota. I was pumping that jack like crazy but the car wasn't lifting! Why no up!?

oops.

[Z Babe]

It would be a good idea to replace that undercoating that you removed, or it will likely develop into a rust issue later on.

[JohnnyP]

Yeah I was thinking about scraping the undercoating thats on there now and putting something else on. I know some people do rhino lining, is that worth it? What is the best thing to coat the bottom with, to prevent rust issues?

Thanks again,

John

[Zak's Z]

What I would do is scrape all of that coating off to see how bad the metal is. It might be contained to that one area, which I would think needs repair... or it may be worse. It's really a safety issue at this point. If you catch it all now, and do the repairs you can prevent an even worse problem in the future. I had a bit of a hole almost the same as you, but when I got all that coating and stuff off I discovered I had a larger problem!

My advice is keep digging until you are sure theres no other issues like more rusted metal or other holes around. If you are going to do a repair, do it right the first time or it might come back to bite you later.

Posting some more pics that are clearer might help also. I can't really get a perspective on the size of whats going on.

[theramz]

Even undercoatings have to have something to stick to. The best way is to clean off the old stuff alll the way to good metal. Cut out a section larger than the bad area and use it for a template and make a new patch. Weld it in and coat it. New floor pans are expensive and more difficult to replace. If you don't have the right tools or sheet metal experience get someone to help you. Otherwise just schlep over it.