Minor floor pan corrosion temporary and permanent repair

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:50 pm
I just bought a 2001 Lesabre with some water intrusion issues; this is a common issue with these cars, and has caused some floor pan corrosion issues that I need to deal with. The battery is located under the passenger seat, and leaking acid has eaten away at the metal and left a 6" long seam that needs to be fixed.
Initially, due to limited garage space and no welder, I want to do temporary repairs, as I need to keep this car on the road for now. The battery pan will be glassed and coated. The entire floor pan on the passenger side will be cleaned with a wire wheel and treated with VHT SP229 this go-round, then coated with bed liner or chasis paint. Since I'm limited on both time and money, everything will need to be sourced by my local parts house.
Both sets of seats and carpet are fairly easy to remove, so I'm leaving the permanent repair for another time. Since I don't want to be doing this a third time, but don't really care about cosmetics, I'm thinking about POR15 and using adhesive to bond a metal patch over the battery rust. Once completed, the entire floor (drivers and passengers, as well as under the passenger seat) will be sprayed with Lizard Skin ceramic.

Just asking for inputs to see if there are any other off the shelf products anyone likes better.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:52 pm
Well, this is a little "cart before the horse" with me.... I"ll explain.... This is not a classic or specialty car here so the Lizard Skin has me lost a little but I'll address that later. I think it would cheaper, faster, and whole lot easier to have this welded up right by a neighborhood welder guy. Local economies are still not great and there are some talented hungry guys out there. I'd get a couple referrals from the local Autozone, O'Reily's, etc. Once the metal is done, seal it up, with epoxy and you can be done until you do some type of treatment over that (bedliner or undercoater underneath the car). What you want to do is not a problem I just think you could get it right locally.
Now, about the Lizard Skin.... A $100 a gallon for what net effect??? You can buy 1/4 inch thick self-adhesive Q pads, use a combo of thick jute and foam carpet pad and good quality carpet ( I buy all of that in overstock and cut offs from my local carpet company). You'll spend a whole lot less money and the car will be acoustically dead inside. That is the exact same set-up I have in my fiberglas kit car and the thing is a like a tomb inside. Never have to turn the heat or air above low fan speed for complete heating and cooling.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:15 pm
Thanks for the reply. I don't have time to get it welded right now; we need both vehicles for work, and weekends are usually booked solid for the foreseeable future, hence the need to just do a decent temp. patch until I can get it done right down the road. I live in no mans land for any sort of good work; my friend has a mig, but he's tried to fix the same something for us 3 times, and a good wind can break his weld clean- not Stacey David by any means.

As for Lizard Skin, it's one shot for everything (heat, acoustic and corrosion shielding). I have the gun, so it's just a matter of putting down a couple of layers and never having to do it again. If noise was the only thing I'm concerned about then, yes, there are much cheaper alternatives out there. My floor pan is not one flat plane; it's got some bridges and cross braces used for various supports. The only way to get into those places is with a spray, and Lizard Skin would more than do the job.

Glass is looking more of a hassle to me; I'm thinking about getting some 16 ga and JB welding it down or a good body adhesive, though I understand they are rather pricey. Need to find a good water resistant body filler to do the underside after the repair.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:45 pm
Okay, I'm on board..... As for doing the thing with the 16 ga., have you considered a good epoxy resin system? West Systems epoxies are excellent for that and are very waterproof and more importantly for winters chemical proof. You can find out more about them at www.westsystem.com Their 105 resin has several speeds of hardener as well as filler/strengthener/thickeners that go with it. Their metered pumps are cheap and you can really just mix enough to use. It can be brushed on with throwaway chipping brushes, rolled on, or (after thickening) almost puttied into place. West is truly a marine rated epoxy so it would work great for you application. I am fairly sure they are also selling their new single caulk tube 610 which would also work for that application.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:04 am
Thanks for the info; I'm thinking maybe West Marine would carry it (haven't searched yet), and also had them in mind originally for any sort of marine grade metal repair. Problem is, again, living in no mans land and having to travel about 30 miles. Again, not looking for permanent or even good work, just decent enough to get me through a few more months.

I may borrow my friends mig, grab some scrap panels from the local bone yard, and start cutting, shaping and burning until I get confident enough to burn on my floor. Does anyone know of a product formulated special for battery compartments? Eastwood used to carry it, but I can't find any now. Regardless, an Optima is going in (have 2 good ones sitting on the garage floor) so the bed liner may work just as well.

I did wind up buying a cheap fiberglass repair kit from Oreillys yesterday. I hit the rear floor pan first using some aggressive techniques; HF 4" grinder wire brush attachments, which are waaaaaayyyyy too aggressive for my needs, but I got it done with some
restraint. After knocking back all the scale and cleaning up, I sprayed the Duplicolor rust converter all over the bad areas, including one area near the rear seat pan that had a bridge going over it - very difficult to get behind. I had to attach a red straw just to ensure I got good coverage. After double checking today for thorough drying and coverage (and a second look for missed spots) a coat of Duplicolor bed spray goes on today, followed by another tomorrow.

As soon as I re-read how to post pics, I'll get some up of my progress.

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