I knew there was some rust in the floorboards. ButI've torn inot the car and found extensive rust throughout.
The forward/right side of the passenger side floorboard is pretty much gone and the forward most part of the inner shelf is gone and also rusted along half its length towards the back.
at least half of the inner sill is gone and I haven't even gotten into the driver side yet
The firewall has serious rust, some holes and the upper engine bay shelf also had holes in it.
I'm hoping the triangular re enforcement panel above the suspension inside the fender well is not rotted out.
I an only assume the driver side is as bad if not worse.
Totop it all off, the previous owner/repair shop did not cut out the rusted metal and weld in new, they did what the previous owner of my Spitfire did; rivet galvanized sheet metal over the old rusted metal and packed home fiberglass insulation in the repairs, making the metal around the repair rust out even faster.
I've started cutting out rusted meal and cleaning out as much rust as I can. I've treated the remaining surface rust with rust converter and I got some heavy sheet metal from my MG friend Kevin. I also bought a metal break to shape the metal. I'll weld in the new metal instead of getting replacement factory sheet metal. when I'm done with the welding I'll rustproof, seal, prime and paint everything as best as possible. I'll also lay a layer or two of fiberglass on the floorboards to add a bit of strength just like I did in the Roadster and the Spitfire.
My goal will be to stabilize the car and stop the rust and to be certain that is it safe to drive. If I can do this I can drive the car for a few years and work on the other cars. when those are done, I can tear the GT apart and do all the repairs with actual heritage replacement metal panels.
I want to drive this one,not buy it then put it up on jack stands for a year or two,
No comments:
Post a Comment