Center Underneath
This was the final task before setting the body back on the frame. It had to be completed before the fiberglass to floor pan seam. It was a very straight forward clean, reseal, and repaint. There was no repair work here to speak of. Here are some things I considered when planning this.
RUST PROTECTION: The floor pans were in decent shape. There are no holes, but there is some heavy rust in a couple areas. I cannot sand blast these so I will treat them as best I can and paint. A temporary fix.
SEALANT: Much of the old sealant was missing or dried out. After a little research, I decided on SEM brushable seam sealer and heavy bodied urethane sealer where appropriate.
HEAT TREATMENT: I put three coats of the same heat barrier paint I used in the firewall rebuild to line the transmission tunnel. Hopefully this will help keep the heat down.
Modifications:
- None
Upgrades:
- Heat resistant coating on transmission tunnel
Removal of Material
I dug out the old sealant with picks and stripped the paint off. As you can see from the picture, there was not a lot of rust. The seat cross member, seat belt attachment points, and the large spot on the driver side are the worst of it. To treat for rust, I wire brushed as much as I could and then cleaned everything with pre-prep. I etched the metal with phosphoric acid prior to application of enamel paint. I added some hardener and rolled it on with a brush.
I was lucky in removing or saving the rocker channel trim mounts. I had one that was rusted out and I was concerned there wasn't enough thread left. I wanted to repair this but couldn't find a replacement. Later, after fixing this, I stumbled across a repair kit. I'll use it if my repair doesn't hold.
I ground the plate off the back and knocked it out with a punch. I found a t-nut with the same thread size.
I ground off the t-nut pins and roughened the surface with a grinder.
I used a SEM two-part structural epoxy to mate the t-nut to the channel. Since this doesn't support a lot of weight, I'm hoping it will work.
After fixing the nut insert, I painted the undercarriage with enamel paint with hardener additive. I applied two coats with a foam roller and brush for the areas I couldn't get to with the roller. Once dried, I applied the heat barrier paint.
When everything was dried, I applied the seam sealer and then a coat of paint over that. With the sealant in place and covered, this project is complete.
SUMMARY: This project was very straight forward. Other than the minor repair, it was a clean and refurbish effort. I'd give this a 3 out of 10.