Excellent!!!
Excellent!!!
I found that a heat gun and one of those multy-purpose vibratory tools ( no not THAT vibrating tool) does a great job of removing under-car smegma.
You want to use dry ice. Buy a bunch of the rice sized stuff, put it in a pillow case and set it on the floors. In a few minutes, remove the pillow cae of dry ice and whack the floor with a rubber mallet. The undercoating will fall right off. I did the entire floor and transmission tunnel in no time. Soooo easy with zero mess. As a bonus, it removed all of the sound deadening inside the car at the same time.
Love me some Z content! I have never done it but have seen the dry ice trick recommended numerous times, usually it is recommend mixing in some isopropyl alcohol Linky
Once cleaned up an rust free i would suggest making sure all the seam sealer is in good shape and add/replace as needed, then epoxy primer over the entire underbody before applying undercoating. On my project (93 MX5) i found that the rubberized undercoating would promote rust growth where the undercoating was damaged/loose and held moisture against the metal. Once completed this will be a non winter DD so i just plan on loading up on layers of epoxy primer. I hope you get some feedback on using bed liner, i have seen may people use it but never seen anyone comment on the longevity as a undercoating (actual experience vs opinion).
Decided that the frame rail cap needed to come off before I'd ever be confident there isn't any rust inside.
While I was at it, the one rust hole in the floor came out too.
Then a patch was made using high tech fab tools. (Not really) I used a floor jack handle, a 4" vise and a rubber mallet to make the bends.
It's nowhere near perfect, but being that none of the floors are perfectly flat, I really don't care.
After some low quality welds, it was sturdy enough to withstand moderate blows from my framing hammer. I called it "stress testing".
And then after copious amounts of grinding, it looks like ass, but is solid. There are some pinholes I'll weld up later, and more cleanup work to be done.
I have zero fab skill or experience, which made this extra fun. I was legitimately laughing and smiling the entire time.
It may not be correct, or high quality, but damn I had fun doing this.
I'll straighten out the edges of the rail next, treat the corrosion, prime the inside and then fit a new cap on the rail, which will be welded (poorly) by me.
I intend to open the other frame rail next, and get it straightened out. Then both rails get capped with full length 13G rail caps that tie into the rear subframe for extra stiffness.
Mocked up to get an idea of how this is going to go.
In reply to birdmayne :
Looking good. If you have welding questions, there are quite a few of us on the forum that are experienced in gluing things together with metal.
In reply to Recon1342 :
Thank you! I am a former estimator at a body shop and my favorite uncle is a career body man / restoration tech. I lean on those resources heavily for this stuff.
The nice part of welding on the floor is that it doesn't have to look perfect. It will be buried in undercoat on one side and insulation and carpet on the other.
Seeking opinions from those that know more than me. I peeled off the cap of this frame rail to address surface rust. I stitch welded a new cap on, but am curiousbl if stitch welding is sufficient or if I should weld it all?
Will be capped with Bad Dog Frame rails regardless. That being the case, does it matter?
The OEMs just spotweld that rail to a flimsy floorpan. Your stitch welds are already stronger.
I would Zinc spray the all the bare metal before welding the new part over top just keep the zinc away from where your gonna weld. Clean steel is friendly steel.
High Zinc weld thru primer on inner rail and inside of full length rail. There's a small gap between the floor (crowned) and the new rail (flat) so I can drill holes for spot weld and run bolts through to suck the floor down as needed.
That looks awesome. I can see how those caps would be fantastic with the extra support they give!
Nice progress! Which do you think will be running first, your car or the Zonda?
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