Hello everyone! I'm having a bit of a rust issue. My car is a 1994 Z28 with t-tops and power windows. I pulled up my carpet last night (which was slightly damp) and found some rust. There's some surface rust spread out on the floor pan, but the driver's side rear seat footwell is pretty bad.



How would I go about repairing this? There's a small hole above the plug in the picture, and the floor around the plug gives quite a bit. I don't have access to a welder, but I could do fiberglass or por 15 filler.

This is an NC car, and there is no rust on the underside. This is all from interior water exposure. I plan to use a wire wheel with my cordless drill to get rid of the rust patches and then lay down por 15 on the entire floor. I'm also going to try adjusting my window stoppers as I believe that the water is coming in where the window meets the t-top. I'll probably order a new carpet since the previous owner just glued a new one on top of the old one.

Thanks in advance!

 

to me, it sounds like you are doing the right think - POR-15 for the win

figure out the water leak

 

Thanks for this!

I'm also considering coating the rest of the floor in something that will help prevent rust in the future. What would be recommended? While I'll definitely use POR-15 for that particular spot on the floor, I've read that POR-15 isn't the best for parts of the floor pan that don't have rust.

I'm looking for relatively inexpensive, can be applied with a brush or roller, and doesn't require meticulous prep. I've read Rust-oleum is pretty good for this. I'm digging through whatever threads I can find to try and figure this out.

Thanks!

 

i'd cover it all in POR-15 - numerous people have done it as part of their restoration projects.

 

^^^ cover it all with POR15. Surface rust is part of the POR15 curing process. POR15 on the non-rusted areas will just act like a paint and probably better than any other paint you might be tempted to use.
This is what I posted in a thread last year.
Been using POR15 for many years. Up here in the northeast Ohio rustbelt,it's difficult to keep things rust free. Get it on your skin/clothes,it's permanent,use lacquer thinner for skin immediately. Once cured/set on iron/steel,it's very tough and resistant. I mainly use it on rear ends. Doesn't work well on bare clean metal,needs to be treated with their 'etching' compound or wet the bare metal with water to create a natural orange patina. Interacting with a molecular rust surface is part of the curing process. A freshly opened can is very 'watery' and not thick like paint. Has excellent penetration.

 

Thank you! I appreciate your reply! So will it adhere well to the floor pan even though it has paint on it? Will I just need to scuff it and be good to go?

 

It adheres well ( sometimes unfortunately too well to somewhere you didn't want it ) to everything except oily/greasy surfaces. No need to scuff at all. Could take a full day to cure/dry.

 

I wanted to follow up on this question for anyone who searches it later.

I ended up using a combination of POR-15 and Rust Bullet on the floor. I bought the POR-15 starter kit for the driver's side rear footwell, the Power Mesh, and Rust Bullet for the rest of the floor. I had read great things about the Rust Bullet and that it took a lot less prep than the POR-15. I know my own weaknesses and admit that I am prone to try and cut corners. In this instance, however, I took the extra steps to prep for the Rust Bullet as extensively as I did for the POR-15 (scuffing the rest of the floor pan, removing excess rust, degreaser for 15 minutes, metal prep for 15 minutes, using proper drying times).




Hit the rust in the driver's rear footwell with some 100 grit and a wire wheel on the end of my cordless drill. The original hole opened up some more, and a few more small holes presented themselves.



Used the POR-15 degreaser and metal prep that came in the starter kit to prepare the rear footwell.



A few comments that I read on the internet said to use painter's tape under the holes.



After drying up the metal prep, I laid down the first coat of POR-15 with a brush.



Put down the POR-15 Power Mesh WHILE THE FIRST COAT OF POR-15 WAS STILL WET. I was originally going to let it dry a bit first, but I'm glad I didn't.



Soaked the cloth with what was left in the small can of POR that came with the starter kit. When they say soak it, they mean soak it.



The cloth took really well to the POR-15. Cured hard and stiff.



Fiberglass cured the next day. DS shot of the whole floorpan.



PS shot of the floorpan.



Sanded and wire-wheeled under the pedals on the driver's side. There were a few more small holes here.



Same procedure on the passenger's front foot well. This side wasn't as bad as the driver's.



Rust attended to and ready for the Rust Bullet prep.



Passenger front footwell after being treated with the Rust Bullet metal prep that came in the undercarriage kit.



Same treatment on driver's side. I let everything soak for 20 minutes before wiping it dry.



PS shot of the first coat of Rust Bullet. RB was applied with a 4" roller. I was very happy I chose to roll it.



DS shot of the first coat of Rust Bullet. You will notice that I also rolled over the POR-15 and Power Mesh with the RB.



Fiberglass cloth applied to WET 1st coat of Rust Bullet. Soaked with more Rust Bullet on the top.



PS shot right after the second coat. I waited about 2 hours before applying the second coat. The instructions say that after the 2 hours passes and there is no transfer, you're ready to lay the second coat.



DS shot right after second coat.



DS shot the next morning. About 12 hours of curing.



PS shot at same point.

Thoughts:
The Rust Bullet seems to be an exceptional product as does the POR-15. I had wanted to use the POR-15 Silver instead of the Black, but only the Black came with the starter kit. Power Mesh would work with both POR-15 and Rust Bullet. I ended up using about 3/4 can of one of the the Rust Bullet automotive cans that came in the undercarriage kit. I will not be putting on the gloss black top coat. I should be satisfied with two coats. If I could do it all over again, I would skip the POR-15 starter kit and just use the Rust Bullet. The nice thing about the undercarriage kit for this application is that you get the degreaser and the metal prep included, and it's honestly probably enough of all of the supplies that you need to do both sides of the floor pan (interior and underside). I may do the underside too at some point.

Also, Wal Mart online had the Rust Bullet undercarriage kit for significantly less than anyone else (but I refuse to buy from Wal Mart, just a thing with me). I asked Summit Racing if they would match Wal Mart's price and they did, even got it to me faster than Wal Mart would have. Totally painless process. I've always had really great experiences with Summit, and can't recommend them enough.

Any questions, drop them here or send me a PM.

 

That really came out cool. I used POR-15 on the underside and inside of mine. I also ended up welding a floorpan in as the old was pretty rusty. I like the color the rust bullet came out compared to mine. Pics are mine before repair.

 

Thank you so much for the compliment! I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I can understand why you ended up welding, that hole is pretty serious!

 

BTW, R o c k Auto has the right and left rear floor pans for $50 each. They fit fairly nice.