Went to change the fuel filter a couple days ago, pulled the plastic cover off and found this. Rusted clear through. I'd noticed the driver's side carpet was damp last year but didn't think it was this bad, apparently the cowl panel grommets have been leaking. It soaked the pad under the carpet and just sat there and did this, and I never saw it because of the cover (I guess it's been 2 years since I changed the fuel filter, I don't put a lot of miles on this car). I pulled up the carpet inside and it looks terrible. Now I'm gonna have to figure out how to fix this. Ordered new grommets and some stuff to hopefully fix it but yeah...was hoping to start driving this car in a couple weeks, that may not happen now.
Pfft that wouldn’t stop me! Rectify the cause and repair the issue but that shouldn’t stop you driving it!
It won't stop me from driving it, I'm just not sure how long this will take/how difficult it will be to fix.
You can cut it out and weld in new metal. Or weld in new on top of whats there. Or pop rivet new metal on top of whats there. Then paint the top and bottom with undercoating and call it good. Its not a big deal.
This would be the least evasive fix. Rivet a panel in and put seam sealer between the new and old panel.
when I see that on my car I'm putting the plastic panel back and it goes in the paper the same day LOL
That's the only proper way to do a floor repair if you want it to last a few years. It depends on how long you plan to keep the car. If you'd rather do a quick cheap repair then just grind away the rust, apply chemical rust treatment to the newly exposed metal, patch the holes with fiberglass, and finish with stone chip resistant paint. As long as it isn't a structural part of the floor, fiberglass would be a strong enough repair that also won't rust..
Plan right now is to cut out the really rusty stuff, put a new piece of metal in somehow (haven't decided yet) and then Por15 the shit out of the whole area.
Depending on what exposure the car will continue to be driven in, such as winter driving in salt, my experience is any layered patch with any amount of cleaning, POR15, rivets and seam sealer will come back through, eventually. POR15 and seam sealer are only Band-Aids on salt covered roads. Holes for rivets simply create another area for salt to seep in and rust further. Yes, you can buy time with an "add-on" patch, but not a permanent repair (at least in salt conditions). YMMV. FYI, if it hasn't already, water will soon be soaking your carpet from the back side and before long your car will smell like mildew/mold.
...I riveted a patch into my 1986 mustang, had a hole by the torque box. I owned that car from 1996-2011. Nothing ever progressed.
If buying a new / used car, it really should be under coated...and over coated. I did just that when I bought my 2011 Fusion new. Somebody asked me the other day, if I had re-painted the Fusion. Down below, zero rust. They did a really good job back in Feb 2011, a month after I bought it.
proper way is weld in a new panel. Get a new section of Ford metal pre formed off a junkyard car and cut it huge, then trim to your area and weld in. smooth and paint. could never tell it was repaired
The floor of my `79 Mustang rusted out so bad in less than 10 years, that the drivers seat, with me in it, fell through to the road after hitting a large pothole. Maybe covering up the rust in the beginning with roofing cement wasn't the greatest idea.
It doesn't get driven in winter. The rest of the car has very little rust except for this particular spot.
