RH front floorpan out, more underneath

After spending so much time removing that mystery goo from the passenger side front floor it turned out I needed to remove the entire patch panel. That's what I did today, and that piece of sheet metal will not be going back in.






As I was drilling out pop rivets I realized the seat had to come out. One 10mm bolt at the front of each rail, one on the outboard rear, two on the inboard. So many things are missing a fastener on this car I wonder if there should have been two on both sides. Note bracket on inboard bolt that goes up from underneath.





It is the nature of allure that what is hidden under a skirt is much more intriguing that what it is visible. I could say the same about this floor panel. When at last I had peeled off the patch panel the exposed surface seemed at first to be in terrible condition. After a few minutes poking around it turned out to be rather basic, if a bit rusty.

I was surprised to find so many layers of stuff underneath. A layer of rubbery plastic, reminds me of tar paper. Thin foam rubber. A thick layer (1/8 in.) of a black plastic that was poured on wet, looks like Bakelite. Under that is the original floor pan.

Have to find an efficient way to remove that coating.

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Ripping out old carpet

 

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.

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Finish welding the nose

Today I finished welding the nose. By nose I mean just the top edge, there is more to be done lower down.

Last week I started working on a little patch to finish the center section. Today started with refining its fit and welding it in place. Tricky because it has so many twists and bends.

After lunch I whipped out the last patch, on the RH side. This one was relatively easy, just a little curve to match the original. Had enough room to slip in from underneath due to the doubler having rusted away there. I wanted a flange along the front but I had to scale it back due to the extra layers of sheet metal already there.

If finish up with some photos of the front as it looks now. To me it looks a lot better, but the condition compares well to that of an accident victim right after surgery. Next week I should be able to start filling these areas, and then it will begin to look like its old self. At the same time I can get started repairing some rust damage lower down, especially along the lower LH grill opening.

Just for fun, compare that last photo of the center grill and roundel section with these: