Rusty GTV floorboards

[BlueSpider]

LOL boy you made me smile. Welcome to the club my friend!! I have exactly the same issue: "...Or it will be one day if she lays off..." - YES precisely

[gprocket]

Let me know how that whole WifeZilla thing goes...

Check out Bill77's outstanding thread. I think he uses the identical welder: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/car-...-progress.html

Make sure you get the right wire and take your time.

[daveydog]

Hi Rich, yeah I like Alfas too! Wifezilla backed off a bit on me when she saw my friend Mike's bike. Now that is one gorgeous piece of Italian machinery. Form and function in one good looking package. I love the flair of design in Italian bikes (and cars as well I guess you know).
And the good thing is she's getting an idea on beauty other than flowers and artwork that one can hang on their walls.
Sometimes an outside source can be the tipping point in a disagreement







And my buddy has just supplied the wedge that may open her narrow mind just a little bit... but she still doesn't get it.

[daveydog]

My buddy Glenn showed up this weekend and he gave me a few pointers on how to mig weld. He was a little rusty (funny that, he's working on an Alfa), but after a few minutes on some scrap metal he came up to speed. Here's the man at work.



Here he's welding the rear floor section on the passenger's side.



There sure is enough filler weld to do the job



He welded both these pieces...the front left jacking point that had all the body filler in there and the other small piece at the firewall.



Here's the patch he made to the passenger side rear floor after I got out the grinder heh heh heh . Not too shabby for Teacher



Glenn was at my place for all of three hours on Saturday and I have to tell you guys that I learned more in that short period of time than I ever learned in a whole semester in algebra class

Dave

[daveydog]

Here's my buddy using his thumb to keep the arc steady.



And a shot from the rear looking forward of the new piece I welded in with his guidance



Under Glenn's eagle eye I spot welded this piece to the strut underneath and I really gave it the heat to get good penetration. Then I lowered the power a wee bit for the perimeter. This area got a good grinding (trying to use a light touch) and achieved this result.



After a bit more gentle and I hope judicious grinding I'm going to use a very light coat of body filler over this whole area and then use the Metal Prep and Por 15. But what does it really matter? This car ain't going into a councours event, but it matters to me.
Wifey thinks I'm nuts because it's all going to be hidden under the carpet.
She really just doesn't get it!

[PSk]

Looking good. I think more important that bogging is to epoxy your repairs so the metal does not sweat and then rust .

See this thread/post: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/565034-post33.html

Pete

[Frank S]

Does the motor or tranny need to come out to replace floor in a 74 spider?

[daveydog]

PSk, you're absolutely right! I'll primer these areas first, then body filler, then the topcoat. The inlaws are in town right now so I'll have to wait a few days to do the latter two. One of the little boys jumped in the car and was making vroom vroom noises and pretending he was driving a race car. I was kind of touched by his exuberance . I think he "Gets It".
Guess who's going to get the car when I leave it in the Will?

[daveydog]

Frank, you'll have to wait for someone far more knowledgeable than me to answer that question, but I would hazard a guess and say if you're removing both floorboards, then yes, it would probably make the job a lot easier. You have to remember that you also have to take care of the underside of the car with paint and undercoating and with such extensive surgery it would be the prudent thing to do.

Here's one last shot of the front left jacking point that had all the bondo and paper in there. Now it's all metal once again .

[daveydog]

Well I've finally finished the floorpans! Here's the driver's side that had all the problem areas.



And here's the whole four floor pans. Now they're all solid steel once again.



All that cutting and grinding to fit and welding and grinding... And it's all going to be covered up!!!



Behind the passenger seat. The PO welded in that big plate so no more 4" rubber plug anymore. Hope the concours judges don't see it.



I put a thin coat of body filler over the two rusted out and repaired areas on the driver's side. Primer, body filler, POR 15. Now it's time to use some sound deadening material over these floorboards, and then the carpet which is being re-dyed black. I'm pretty happy with the results! I may be just a caretaker of this 34 year old car but future generations will be glad that at least someone took the time and effort to deal with some of the rust issues.

[daveydog]

I've been working around the car doing various mechanical type jobs and now I'm working on the door sills. These are located under the big Alfa Romeo stainless steel plate that holds the lower part of the door gasket in place. Most of the screws were so rusted that they just snapped off when I tried to remove them which seems to be the norm on this board .
This is what I found once the driver's side plate was removed: (I had painted the rusty spots with black rust paint while I was working on the floorboards.)



The rain (or wash) water seems to pool in the countersunk holes in the stainless plate and work it's way underneath where it just sits and starts the corrosion process. At least it was rusting from the outside and not coming through from the inside which could open up another can of worms. The drilled holes that you can see are from the previous owner's attempts to apply a rustproofing coating to all the inner cavities. Yeah right... Left unchecked this rust eventually would lead to replacing the whole rocker panel but I have a better and cheaper idea .




I'm going to cut out the rusted areas and weld in new metal.



The inner frame rails have a bit of rust in there but not too much. Looks like I caught the tinworm in time!



Here's the four rusted out areas that I cut out. Now to get to work cutting and fitting and grinding and fitting the new metal pieces. Again, all this work and no one will ever see it!

[Super1600]

Dave your the man! You are doing a great home renno on your GTV. I too need to do exactly what you are doing to yours. But first I need to finish off my 2 other projects (Giulia Super and Fiat AC 124, the Fiat is 4/5ths there).

Yes and like you and I am sure many others, the missus doesn't get it either. Must be a mising gene or something in their genetic makeup. I bought a modern Alfa to placate her in having to drive in the GTV. I had even once tried the line on her that the GTV looked good on her. She didn't buy it ! I think she is also starting to worry about me a little and the amount of time I spend reading peoples postings on the BB. Like it is some sort of illicit affair.

You were lucky with your cills, since generally once they get the tin worm in them, they and the inners are Toast. Looking forward to more progress. Dave

[gigem75]

Looks like you are comming along great. Just be glad you car wasn's as bad as mine was! Really looking good! Is your welder set up to take gas so you don't need the flux wire? My mig welder has been the best tool I ever bought and I've bought a few

[daveydog]

Thanks for the nice remarks gents! Well good news on the Home Front! The Wife has decided to back off a bit and try and "reprogramme" me with the ole "jiggy jiggy"... Hey, I'm living in the best of both worlds now but I gotta tell her it's her idea, heh heh heh

Hey there gigem, you been out there welding lately? I know I have. Was at a party last night where this guy had a shop in an industrial area of town and he's set up this most amazing bar/nightclub where bands can play and everyone wants to dance. BYOB and rock on. I met my buddy Mike there who owns the Ducati Supermotard in the previous photos and he put on about 2o,ooo kms. on his bike this year and I put on about 2500 kms. And I'm basically a biker first, Alfa nut second! The point being that I've spent most of my spare time in the guy garage this year instead of being out there riding the twisties.
Oh well, at least Wifey knows where I am .

[daveydog]

Oh yeah, forgot to add, that yes, the mig I bought has gas capability. I used CO2/AR gas and 0.25 solid wire on the floorboards and I'll use it on the door sills as well. There are some underneath parts of the car that I'm going to switch to 0.35 flux core wire because they're so dirty. Just small pieces but my teacher said gas wouldn't work as well on those areas. Thanks for the energy-building replies!

Here's one more photo of the rear part of the left side sill: