Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ripping out old carpet

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I will not be surprised if my asthma acts up tonight, or if my allergies go haywire. I pulled out a bunch of old carpet from the passenger's side of the E9 today. Filthy, rotten carpet. The bottom layer actually looked original, which would make it 38 years old. Dust. Mildew. Candy wrappers from my kids when they were in elementary school, which was, say, fifteen years ago.

It was not my plan to remove the carpet. I started out to work in the engine compartment, where I need to weld in a patch along the gutter by the rear RH corner. To do that I needed to check what was behind the panel. That was behind the glove box, so that had to come out. Except the glove box hinge was blocked by a pile of old carpet.

I had no idea the carpet had been glued to the floorboard. The mystery glue looks like creosote; hard, tacky, sticks to skin and hard to wash off. Softened by naphtha, better removed with acetone and a wire brush. The brush breaks off tiny balls which dry and can be vacuumed. I must have wasted an hour removing this stuff and the job is still unfinished. It has to come off for the POR-15 to stick.


The floor pan and part of the firewall have been replaced using galvanized steel, which appears to be in good shape. The edges were smoothed with some kind of filler, which has dried and shrunken considerably. That has to be re-done. Even the new floor has a few small rust holes, so it will get a layer of fiberglass as part of the POR-15 process.


I did remove the glove box. The inboard support still had the original pin and snap ring, but the outboard support was a bolt and nut. Only two lag bolts attached the hinge even though there are holes for three. Had to disconnect the light wires.



posted from Bloggeroid

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