79 Automatic Floors by a newby to this area

[FiatBen]

I drained the fuel tank, blew out the lines and then dismounted them under the car and pulled them back into the cabin so I could move them out of the way for the one rust area under them. Oh well, the rubber hose underneath the car needed replacing anyway.


I did finish cleaning the top side of the driver’s pan, as much as I could reach with the twisted wire wheel in my 4-1/2” angle grinder.


Now to cut out the bad, put in the new, clean, etch, seal, cover, etc., etc., etc.

Remember this patch on a patch by the previous owner?


With so much rust out obviously running up under it I decided to cut it back out.



Wow, I really didn’t need this. The patch was bridging the gap of a sizeable hole under the rail/crossmember. Not sure what to do here.

And just because I’m must be some kind of masochist, I just had to look in the rear floorboard. Yep, rust....


And then look under the car….


And of course a look on the other side of the trailing arm:


I really didn’t want to take the car apart and rebuild it. All I really wanted was nicer carpet!

QUESTION: How do you guys cut out the rusted crap in the tight areas, i.e. against the side of the pan or anyplace where floor meets “wall”?

[FiatBen]

You know what? I am seriously considering just sealing it up and moving on. I've got it down to bare metal everywhere there is rust (in the driver's floor anyway, which is all I'm focused on now.) I'm thinking about killing the last bits of rust with a converter/encapsulator product, resealing the bottom side with undercoating, sealing the top side with spray-on truck bed liner, then maybe a fiberglass mat just to tie it all together and cover the holes. I know the arguments about fiberglass holding water, but if everything is sealed, then who cares? Or an option would be, after sealing it all up, to drop in a big piece of sheet metal over the whole darn thing, fasten it somehow, paint it and get on with the interior spruce up. After all, the floor is still pretty solid feeling.

OK, opened that can of worms, so now I have to invite opinions..... Fire away. Trust me, I'm pretty flameproof.

[MrJD]

You have to fix it... Especially the rust around the.suspension mounts. Its not safe to drive.otherwise.

[SoFlaFiat]

But you can do a fix that will not require tearing the whole car apart and will last for years. Like you said, you have sealed it all up. Add some new steel around the trailing arm mounting points and patch the other holes. Use seam sealer like you are caulking window frames and it will be fine for a long time. Don't feel like you are coping out! Some of us fools put way too much energy and time into these cars!!
Don't fiberglass the metal! Just patch and seam seal, then there is nothing holding water against the metal.

[FiatBen]

You have to fix it... Especially the rust around the.suspension mounts. Its not safe to drive.otherwise.

Oh, I totally agree with you, JD. I will definitely repair the areas around the suspension. I'm just not convinced that the pinholes all over the main floorboard are really something I need to fix if I can just stop the rust.