Rusty GTV floorboards

[daveydog]

I know I know. We've all seen rusty floorboards before. I guess that comes with living in a wet climate, but as a do it yourselfer, I'm trying to show one man's attempts to fix the problem (hopefully once and for all).
(1)Here's what it looked like when I lifted the carpet:
(2) The pan shows a bit of rust where it meets the sill. But what's that white stuff?
(3) A closer shot of that "white stuff".

Someone had stuffed some paper in the hole and some bondo over top.
(4) Notice how the rust just keeps on creeping along doing it's thing eating my car. This is the front left jacking point.
(5) More rust on the floorpan spot welded to the strut underneath.I'm going to have to strip all the black "rust" paint off and see what lies under it...

[nero]

You have the dreaded PO {previous owner} virus. Symptoms are bodged repairs with dubious parts, over application of the healing salve called bondo, improper subsurface preparation and the use of newspaper ,cardboard and roofing tar as remedial anti corrosion and structural support members. Its not always fatal, but the cure can be expensive and take some time.

[daveydog]

Yeah Nero, the time aspect of these repairs is the thing that bugs my wife. She keeps saying, "Why don't you just sell that car?"
She just doesn't get it.
Here's a shot of the three metal patches I cut and ground to fit the rusty areas I had to replace.

Here's another angle. It was fun to cut and grind these pieces.

Here's the floor behind the passenger seat. Whoever did the previous repair missed a spot.

Here's a closeup of my fourth and final patch. It's held in place with masking tape from beneath the car just to get a photo.

The floor has been stripped of paint around the problem areas and has been metal etched in preparation of the POR 15 paint. The green masking tape is to protect the areas I don't want to be painted just yet because a friend of mine who is an experienced welder is going to come over to my place to teach me how to weld with a wire feed welding machine. He may not be here for a while so I'll apply one coat of paint to the whole floor pan except around the areas that need welding. Hope he comes by soon.
Maybe I'll pay him in "beers per hour". After the work is done of course.

[nero]

Looks like you are making good progress, keep the updates coming.Try telling the wife its still cheaper and less time consuming than a real mistress.

[BlueSpider]

Nice job so far. I am about to possibly discover the same when removing all inside carpeting in my new little 73 GTV project Same issue with wife - believe me. When my Dad came over to see the car (my Dad is an Alfisti as well) she dared tell my Dad "you want this piece of junk?" They don't get it - no they don't

[daveydog]

I think I'm getting myself put in the doghouse because of this car. Wifey last night said "We have to talk." Oh Oh... that usually means SHE wants to talk. At me... To make a tense situation a bit better I have agreed to go with her on a tour of people's gardens that they have made at their homes in my area. There's fifteen of them I think and they have musicians and artists present while one walks around and "smells the roses". Oh well, it'll buy me some time later...I hope.
Okay, back to what REALLY matters in Life heh heh heh.
When I pulled out the rear window because of some rust issues on the lip, I also pulled up the rear speaker deck and lo and behold, more surface rust mostly, although there were a couple of perforations at the front right side.


Here's a shot of the floors all cleaned up as best as I could and etched with metal prep. It took many hours to get to this point using hand tools.


That POR 15 goes on nicely! It's a lot thinner than most paints but it's a really tough coating. $35 CDN for a pint so it's not cheap! I used a 2 inch sponge brush and had the doors of the garage open for some fresh air.


Ahhhh... the first coat is on. Looking good. I used their black semi gloss.


I painted the rear deck as well as the floorpans and also all around the interior window and door frames. And there's still half a pint of paint left for the second coat! POR recommends a minimum of two coats. Now I've got to learn how to weld...

[jarrington]

Don't forget to topcoat the POR-15. That's one reason I prefer the Eastwood equivalent. It's looking nice!

-Jason

[daveydog]

Jason I'm wondering about why the POR 15 should be topcoated. I went to their website POR-15 Inc. and it says that if the painted area is going to be exposed to sunlight, then by all means, there should be a topcoat because the UV rays will break down the paint. But underneath the carpet and the rear deck will be hidden from the sun and should be okay. I'm also going to use it on my inner rocker panels when I get to that point. Cheers!

[alfavirusnz]

Yes according to POR 15 literature there is no need to topcoat areas not exposed to UV.
I`ve used it on 3 of my cars - on the interior floors and if prep is right it is tough. (also used chassis black on suspension). I have used within wheel arches as well followed by their white top coat (white car) and excellent durability where subject to stones and other abrasive road debri. It is an excellent product.

Richard J

`65 Giulia Ti, `69 GT Junior, `74 GTV 2000, `76 Alfetta GTV, `77 Alfetta GTV, `84 GTV6

[Manx]

Your floor doesn't seem to have what mine has on it - a think tar-like matting on the floor and under the back seat. It's a bugger to get off - I'm using a hammer and a chisel to chip away at it. Nearly all done. If anyone else has tried removing the same stuff could you recommend any solvents that clean it off - I'd like to do the same POR15 treatment.

Cheers.

[alfa2go]

Manx, save some time and get some dry ice pellets and dump them on the tar bits and leave for 10-15 minutes then use your chisel or scraper to chip it off. I removed the tar from my whole floorpans and under the rear seat in half an hour. Clean to the factory primer with no gunky mess. Really easy! Also reduce your chance of inhaling any dust by wearing a mask as the tar contains asbestos.

[daveydog]

Yeah Manx, you're in for a real battle without some help from above. My car was destined for the Canadian market and apparently Alfa chose to just lay some sound deadening material on the floors with some spray glue to attach them. That glue is impervious to everything I tried except abrasion.
In the end i took off as much rusty bubbled paint as I could and called it good. The main point of this whole exercise is to keep oxygen off metal and rust, and if we can slow it down for our liftime at least then we've won a small victory.

[daveydog]

Three of the four holes I had to cut out of the floorpans were over body struts. They had been spot welded to attach the pan to the frame so I drilled out several holes on each piece so they could be reattached to the frame. My little buddy is supervising the work.



Then I countersunk each hole to give more metal surface to weld on.



Here's a shot of the three pieces all ready to go. Now I've got to rent a mig welder and hope my friend can come over soon...

[gprocket]

You might want to looking buying a cheapo harbor freight mig welder. They go on sale occasionally. Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
You might find that by the time you rent the thing and drag it back and forth it's close to a wash.

They are low power which actually works to your advantage since these are small gauge panels. I have big MIG and my biggest problem is trying to dial it back so I don't blow holes in it.

[daveydog]

Well, I went and did it! I went out and bought a low powered mig welder and adjustable auto darkening welder's helmet. I couldn't think of a reason not to. To rent a welder with wire was $ per day and then of course I had to rent a helmet as well.
Wifey just doesn't get it though. She thinks the money would have been better spent on artwork for the house. I keep telling her that this car is artwork as well. Four wheel Italian art. Or it will be one day if she lays off. She wrinkled up her nose and went back into the house. I can see storm clouds on the horizon. I'm going to start calling her Wifezilla. but not to her face of course