[esears]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone would have some basic suggestions on how to repair some of this damage. A friend of mine has offered to do the body work for free ( he used to run a shop in southern cal ) and teach me how to do it. He will take care of most of the dents. But I will be stuck with the little stuff. I've thought about using the por - 15 floor pan repair kits for some of it as I posted in another post. I don't really have the capability nor the money to completly replace the floor pans. I only paid 300$ for the car and think its in pretty good shape overall.

Pictures (warning might be a bit for dialup)

car1

car2

car3

car4

Thanks for any input. I've already ordered some por15 to do the floorpans top and bottom to try and stop any more rust from forming after I clean it up for the last time.

Eric

[unstable]

well if you are going the poor-mans route, you can pick up a rivet gun for fairly cheap. Get some sheetmetal (either from a junkyard or a steel supplier), cut the rot on out, and rivet in the new stuff.

I think for the most part, this is a good solution, in a normal passenger car, you can throw carpet over the repairs and you'll never see them...

Hope this helps.

[milo]

Here's one I did with junkyard sections,
http://www.a2zautoforums.com/showthread.php?t=360

[bigpimp2988]

my friend had the same problem with his monte carlo he just bought some sheet metal shaped it to the floor pan cut out the rust spots that was left and just welded it in there it doesnt look that great but who cares it will be covered in carpet

[adtkart]

If your friend is set up for welding, I would consider getting pieces from a junk yard for patching the floor, and welding them in. It isn't that hard, and will make a better repair. Don't need to replace the whole floor, you can do like Milo shows and replace the places with holes. Also if you can't get the stuff from a junk yard, floors are relatively forgiving. They don't have to be that precise. You can get some panels and beat them into shape with a hammer and bag of sand.

If you're really cheap, like me, I have a place in my yard where the ground is really hard. I use that sometimes.

[esears]

The major problem I'm running into with welding is that I don't have a trailer to tow the car around to someplace to weld it. I have a friend with a mahcine but it is 220 volt and where the car is parked I have to run 200ft of extension cord to even get 110 to it. As soon as I rebuild the rear axle with new bearings and oil in the diff I might be able to tow it someplace if I get some tires too Could anyone suggest a good mig welder that runs on 110 that is pretty cheap? Thats my other option or possibly a stick as I am a bit better with a stick welder.

Eric

[Moby302]

Eric, if it makes you feel any better, check out these pics, I am going to be doing the same thing soon .
http://hotrodders.com/gallery/showga...=500&password=

Can't you use oxy/acet portapac for welding, dunno what the correct terminology is.

[unstable]

110 Machine that is worth the money IMHO is a Hobart 125.
Base machine is going to run you about $315, but it has provisions for hooking up gas later. If you do not have intentions of running shielding gas at any point, I'd recommend getting one of those super-cheap machines off of ebay that are Flux Core only.

You do not want to try tackling this with a stick machine, you'll evaporate the metal quick as hell and it will piss you off more than anything.

The dilemna with the car not being mobile, you not having access to a welder etc. is why I suggested riveting in the repair panels. It will be covered by carpet anyways...and hell, if you ever decided in the future, you could remove the rivets and weld the panels, or leave the rivets in...doesn't matter.

[esears]

Riveting is probably what I will do for right now for a stop gap measure. I'm taking it when you say gas your talking about argon for the mig? Didn't know you could mig without it I'm a mechanic inthe army so have access to just about any tool I want. Riveting seems like it will work well for right now till I can get it mobile enough to do the job right with the limited $ I have at the moment.

[unstable]

I'm in the same boat brother...cash is tight. You can indeed weld with a "MIG" without shielding gas (argon/co2). You simply use Flux Core wire.

After quite awhile of waiting to have the fundage, I purchased the hobart 125...at $315 it was reasonable. It cost me another $85 to buy the gas solenoid/regulator kit...plus another $100 for a bottle with gas...so at the end of the day you're paying $500.00 for a real small mig setup. You want something bigger you'll pay more. I just went this route because of $$$$$. I figured I wouldn't be welding anything thicker than 1/8th" and I wanted the ability to use shielding gas when I had the money.

Currently I'm using flux core...only because I still had 2# spool in the mig, and I didn't want to swap it out just to run solid core. I'm getting pretty good at tacking really thin gauge metal like 22 gauge. That's what I've been using for repairs. It's not nearly as easy as I thought it would be, you'll burn through metal in a second!

Keep us updated with pictures bro! btw-you probably don't hear it nearly enough, thanks for volunteering to serve in our military...I did my time in the Corps and I know it isn't easy from day to day...but it's because of people like you that makes this country great.