Center Underneath
This was the final major project before setting the body back down 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 all the old sealant with a set of picks and stripped the remaining 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 kit to fix this. 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 as a substitute.
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.