Fixing Under The Cowl - Found Rust

[jimmycakes401]

Well. I realized I needed to clean up under the hood too and look what I found. A big gaping hole into my passenger compartment. Everything is scraped off. I just need to use some thinner to get the rest off. What do you guys do under here when you find problems? Fiberglass? I don't know. I'm annoyed that I found this, but i guess it would have just kept getting bigger. Also, my heater flap is rusted through and will need to be modified or replaced.

[Fiat88]

Mine didn't have any rust really, just the fresh air flap was rusty but usable.Sanded it down and rust converted and painted it. The rest of the area I used brushable seam sealer from Eastwood and sealed all the seams and crevices to waterproof it. I then painted over it. Not sure but I guess fiberglass would be ok for the holes, since it would be waterproof.

[jimmycakes401]

Its a good sized gap. I don't think this metal is thick enoughbto weld anymore....

[DocGraphics]

Maybe try the POR 15/fiberglass mesh trick in the cowl area.

After brushing as much rust off as you can paint it w/ POR 15 lay the mesh in the wet paint, paint again, another layer of mesh, etc w/ the POR 15 acting as the resin to bond it all.
I haven't tried this but looks like it works good & I would think it would work well in this area being that it's not structural & is protected after the cowl is back on.

[124JOE]

ya i would go with the POR15 and glass
strip down everything in there and do up the holes
if you want to hide it after you get done
fill it with bondo and sand to blend
seal it and black it all out

[jimmycakes401]

Good thing it was covered with sound material or I'd have had a lot more water on the cabin floor

[Exit98]

JImmy,

What Doc and Joe said, I just did.

POR-15 and the fiber mesh they sell. I plan to do a write up about it but i'm not quite done and I want to do before and afters in my post.

My floors weren't bad, but I had a six inch seam open on the pass side floor next to the sill. I mulled over options, and for me welding wasn't one of them. First I was going to fiberglass but dicided no after realizing that glass wouldn't stick to POR and I didn't want to glass over even a little rust.

Then I decided to POR the area then rivet a piece of sheet metal over the gap and tread all sides with sealer.

But I bought the glass mesh from POR along with the paint and dicided to try that first, figuring I could rivet the metal later. Anyway, after using the POR and many layers of the mesh it sealed up hard as a rock. And the POR seeped throught he mesh so it is as good from the bottom as it is from the top. A piece of metal on top would just be redundent.

I'm real happy with the result and I'm confident the repair will be permanent. Give it a try in the cowl I think you'll be pleased. You have to be very careful with the mesh. Gloves and a mask are essential. Don't fool around with that stuff the fiber threads are very scary, I wouldn't want to breath one of those in me.

[jimmycakes401]

I've done a significant amount of fiberglass work in my life. From building surfboards, fixing boards and doing some car repair. I'm considering using the master series silver I have on the rust and then glassing over it. Then of course top coating everything with some paint. I'll look into the POR mesh kits and see if I can find something locally at a reasonable price. I was originally going to use POR on the interior, but the many limitations started to bother me. Like the one you just mentioned. Glass won't stick. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks for all the advice! If anyone else has any ideas, let me know. I wish I had the time and space to strip out the whole area and rebuild, but I don't.

How hard is it to remove the heater flap? I'd like to take that out, sand blast it and repair it somehow.

[jimmycakes401]

Here's a better shot of my hole.

[4uall]

Here's a better shot of my hole

[Jimb]

If I found rust like that I'd really be worried that it was elsewhere as well. Have you had a good look around the car to make sure the rest is solid?
Jim

[jimmycakes401]

Yes. The rest is great. Which is why I was really bummed. My floor pans look great. Luckily it was garages and there was seam sealer and deadening material over it or water would have poured through.

[Fiat88]

How hard is it to remove the heater flap? I'd like to take that out, sand blast it and repair it somehow.

There's I believe two screws that hold it in place. Just gotta unhook the control cable after you loosen the bolts. I did it awhile ago but it was easy.

[jimmycakes401]

I took it out. One of the studs snapped off.... plus the door is so beat I really need a new one. Any ideas where to acquire a new one?