Cascade Crew

QwkTrip

I went to clean the interior of my newly purchased 2002 Chevy 2500HD when I noticed mineral deposits on the carpet at particular locations. It got me curious enough to pull back the carpet and find that the carpet and under padding are soaked in water and rust damage to low spots on the floor pan.

So now my new truck has a fully gutted interior and I have to take it to a restoration body shop. Not any serious damage yet but enough that I really need to take care of it now. I think it was caused by some rubber floor matts the previous owner installed. They collected snow and salt from his shoes and drained it all off the matt into 2 locations on the carpet. I also found a few 1/2 inch holes in the floor pan that somebody drilled out. I'll get those closed up too.

Fortunately, my experience tearing apart the Firebird interior made this a pretty quick job. I just hope the body shop bill is reasonable.

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:02 pm Post subject:

Don't forget vector control while you are in there.

Very Happy

-Schultzy

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

Fords don't rust.

QwkTrip · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:05 pm Post subject:

No, Fords in prestine northwest environments don't rust. Anything in the midwest rusts! Trust me... I've got both side by side in my driveway.

QwkTrip · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:06 pm Post subject:

Xophertony · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:44 pm Post subject:

good job catching it early

305 302eater · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:43 pm Post subject:

dlp · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject:

It's not a Katrina victim is it?

It should not have rusted if with the circumstances you desribed. My dad had a mid 70's chevy that took 15 years to rust through from spitting salted sunflower seeds on the floor.

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject:

mrpopo573 · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject:

91RSVert · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:29 am Post subject:

Sounds like it was flooded at one time. Thats what they normally due to flood cars.

However, rust on an IL automobile is very common.

QwkTrip · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:20 am Post subject:

No, it's 2 owner truck and it never left Wisconsin until I bought it. Just got some water on the driver side foot well. It's easy as pie reading the signs from salt deposits on the carpet, and all electrical is in perfect condition. I might have the front window popped out and re-sealed just for good measure. The damage is localized to the driver side.

The undercarpet padding will hold water indefinitely when wet. It has no way to breath and holds moisture well. Even sitting in the basement, it is still wet after 3 days. Getting carpet padding wet is a real bad thing. And there is abosolutely no comparison between corrosion rate in the midwest to northwest. It's shocking how fast vehicles corrode here.

Put it this way... THERE ARE NO '80s TRUCKS ON THE ROAD, let alone anything older. I couldn't resuse any bolts when I put the lift kit on my 2000 Jeep when it was only 5 years old. After only a few months, my Firebird has rust on unprotected metal surfaces because of humidity in the garage - the same surfaces that haven't rusted in 10 years in Richland. Tools in my garage must be sprayed with WD40 or they rust. All vehicles will turn white in winter because of salt spray from the roads. Some days it is hard to tell whether it snowed, or if they just recently salted the roads. The list goes on and on...

Al Hasse · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:40 am Post subject:

91RSVert · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:04 am Post subject:

QwkTrip · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:05 am Post subject:

I just had the work quoted today and I'm pretty pleased. I got a lead on a restoration guy that has an 8 acre rural spread with a couple shops near his house. His hourly rate is really reasonable. He had a couple '60's Jags and a Hemi Challenger in the shop right now. He'll fit me in during the next 2 weeks. The guy will wire brush the rust, cover with POR15, coat with "Lizzard Skin" (like Rhino coating), and fill and seal a couple holes drilled by the previous owner. All for $111. That's a rockin' price for that work!

I also found a factory undercarpet padding set for $97. I'm not putting the smelly old piece back in. I'll just order a new one. I'm having trouble cleaning a dirt spot off the carpet, though. But the carpet is pretty spendy so I'll keep working on the dirt spot and see what I can do with it.

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:16 pm Post subject:

Wow you got off cheap Jon. Nice!

-Schultzy

QwkTrip · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:24 pm Post subject:

That's what I thought, too! Smile