floor repair (Rust)

[Chimchar1]

Hi, everyone please forgive me if i posted this in the wrong spot (probationary member thus i'm limited in options) I bought a 90 tsi project it needs a great deal of rust repair. My major concern is the floor pans on the driver's side. I literally put a screwdriver through the floor with minimal effort. The seat track is rusted almost completely out. When I cut new floors out of the junk car i had to go through 5 solid lines an exaust hanger and the frame. So basically i need to know if its repairable or not. I heard somewhere that i could use fiberglass to patch it up... Is this true? Can I avoid cutting frame on my car? If so how.. I have access to an arc and a mig welder which should i use? Thanks for your help

 

[Blindmouse]

IMHO some pics will helps the answer..

fiberglass? don't use that.. becouse the rust is working under the patch..

 

[Chimchar1]

here are some photos my cpu wouldnt cooperate

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Holy smokes! That looks really really bad. The correct tool would definitely be the mig welder, with shielding gas and some .023 mild steel wire, but I'm curious about how bad the rest of the car is.

 

[Chimchar1]

the rest of the car is ok at best. the rest of the frame is ok. it needs rotors too as they rusted through. I pulled the car from the woods...

 

[TimF]

ouch, that is bad, imo a new shell would be the cheapers rout. Unless you plan on doing it all yourself but would seem really time consuming. I am in the same situation. My rockers are rotting and I have a nasty hole under my fuel tank door, other than that, my body is fine, my struts are unbelievabley solid(knock on wood) which suprises me because winter in the midwest EATS car alive(and my car is over 20 years old). My undercoating save dalot to. I was thinking of just fiberglass for the hole by my fuel tank door because I lack the knowledge of welding.

 

[Chimchar1]

I would be doing it myself as I don't have the room for an extra shell. It only took 4 hours to cut the floor pans out of the junk Lazer.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

I would take everything apart and look over the body with a fine tooth comb, because otherwise you may find yourself looking at one huge undertaking after another.
Pull up that mat on the firewall, remove the fenders, remove the side skirts and bumper covers, back seat, trunk carpet and spare, check the wheelwells, inner and outer rockers, door bottoms, look underneath...

It almost seems impossible for it to be that bad in one spot, without being just as bad in others.

I almost think it would be easier to fix the 91 Tsi that I cut the whole rear floor out of for my AWD swap. At least the rest is solid.

 

[Chimchar1]

Thanks for the input guys. I checked all of those spots you mentioned and the rest of my rust issues could be solved with bondo and sanding and fiberglass.

 

[Blindmouse]

Wooh.. I never saw a rusted floor on a DSM..
That car was parked the bottom of the ocean?

I think the body swap is the simpliest way..

 

[Sebba]

and I thought my new 1g was a POS. Thank God for Texas vehicles .

 

[Jon91TSi]

and I thought my new 1g was a POS. Thank God for Texas vehicles .

I pulled my 2nd DSM from the woods as well, it sat there for 6 years, un covered, one window open an inch and about 2 inches of water standing on the drivers side of the car, yet there is literally no rust on, or under the car.. I think you are in under your head on that one.. That's a LOT of work.....

 

[SkyGrowsCold]

I'm going to try and be positive here and say wire wheel as much of that rust off as you can to get a good idea on what you're working with. A good majority may just be surface rust and you might just have to deal with a few of the spots where there is clearly a hole.

 

[Sebba]

I agree. Only replace the metal that needs replacing. No need to do an entire floor replacement.

Most would crush this one and call it a loss.

 

[Kait]

Ya, I'd get a donor shell

 

[Blurred Talon]

If your floors are that bad the frame is likely shot. I'd pull whatever is good off the car and junk it for a better one.

 

[NeWyoRksPLaYaZ]

I also had a lot of rust on my strut towers and in the back near the exhaust sheild. I had it cut/grinding out to bare clean metal and welded with a thick peice of metal and then sprayed with rubber undercoating and so far its good to go

edit: just saw your pics and wow thats crazy . Thats a big piece that needs to be cut and welded.

 

[Auto RS T]

If the floor is that bad I would reconsider using the shell. I've seen the front control arms with rot holes... so

 

[TSi Kid]

Time to find a new shell

 

[greene3543]

I'll be positive for you, looks like alot of work, but with enought work you can make anything work!

 

[Silver99OZ]

I would also say to find a shell and swap parts. With that amount of rust just on the floor I am sure there is tons more all over the car. I could not imagine what would happen to that car if it was involved in an accident, I would not feel safe riding in it. Also, it would suck to spend all of that time replacing the floor pan, only to fail inspection for too much body rot.

 

[Doubleot]

I would say that body is toast. Way too much work to bring it back to original and with that much rust on the floor, I would hate to see the rest of the under body.

 

[Chimchar1]

I'm not concerned about the time it will take. IMO, it would be more work to take the engine and drivetrain out then to patch the floor. In NJ they dont bother to look under the vehicle unless it is commercially taged.

 

[cisco5311]

Is it just the driver side floor pan?

I am guessing that the car had a broken driver window or it was partially down.

My buddy and I pulled out a 70 ford Torino out of his grandpa's shed that was basically collapsing onto it. Floor pans were almost completely rotted out of it because of water sitting there for so long, the rest of the car is in awesome shape!

Take some more pictures so we can see the condition, even get it up on blocks or jack stands and take some pictures of the underside.

I feel your pain I'm in NE Ohio!

 

[Chimchar1]

both windows were up when i got to the car. it was sunk into the ground though