This is a bit of a first for me

So I have no idea really what to expect, but be gentle

Anyhoo, 1966 Impala:

The floor was wet so I took up the carpet and noticed a leak around an oval panel in the floor. Thats no big deal, but I also noticed a blister closer to the foot well that I thought I'd get to when it got warm enough to ride my bike into work again.

Well yesterday was warm enough to ride my bike, so I took a look at the blister:

Location:

Closer:

And Closest:

So now comes the questions:

I've never really had any issues with rust before (mostly because I was never looking for it) so if I was to go to a shop in the US to get this repaired what could I expect to pay? What would be involved? If this was your car how urgent would the repair be on your "to-do" list? (like "ohmygodrightnow!!!" or "eh, it'll make it through the summer till I can shop around and find a quality shop that will do good work for a decent price, and get the wife on board with spending $$$")

Thanks,

-Bill

That falls under the "needs fixed, but hardly critical" category. Looks to be a fairly simple repair of cutting that section out and welding in a new piece. Very few body shops want to do rust repair so may quote you absurd figures to do that. I'd probably try asking around the local collector car community to see who has a MIG welder and isn't afraid to use it.

One thing I would suggest is carefully checking the rest of the floor pan for any similar spots so you can whack them all out at once. Then coat the floor with POR15 or similar.

That's a hit it with a wire brush and brush on some POR15. That will keep it from getting worse until you can fix it properly.

seems like a good time to start learning how to weld so you can fix it. you'll be in a few hundred but the welder but you'll have a new skill and something which will pay for itself exponentially

I'm with the mob on this... paying for a body man's time to fix stuff like that is prohibitively expensive because he doesn't want to do it either. That does not look bad - if that is the extent of it you need a squirrelly wire wheel for the angle grinder, navel jelly, POR-15 (2 coats) and spray paint to match.

Retard the existing rust for now and keep an eye out for more. I like the suggestion of getting a welder and learning how to use it. I'm still working on controlling how much heat I put into sheet metal so that it warps less, but every time I weld part of my brain is screaming, "holy hell I'm using electricity to make metal stick together!" It's fun.

What's on the back side of that rust spot? Is there a body bracket or something else that collects moisture and dirt? I'm guessing it's not just a flat spot on the floorpan, otherwise it wouldn't rust in just that one location.

Reproduction floor pans should be available for that car, but if the rust is just isolated to that area it can be patched with a flat piece of sheet metal.

You could even cut it out with a die grinder and pop rivet in a patch with a dose of seam sealer. Not a 'structural' repair, but will plug the hole.

stuart in mn wrote: What's on the back side of that rust spot? Is there a body bracket or something else that collects moisture and dirt? I'm guessing it's not just a flat spot on the floorpan, otherwise it wouldn't rust in just that one location. Reproduction floor pans should be available for that car, but if the rust is just isolated to that area it can be patched with a flat piece of sheet metal.

I'm going to lift the car in the air tomorrow and take a peek (using jack stands of course) rolling around my wet driveway this morning wasn't much fun and I couldn't see much...

But POR-15 and a wire wheel is now the plan. I'm hoping to put off a more permanent repair until I get back to the states.

Thanks guys.

corytate wrote: seems like a good time to start learning how to weld so you can fix it. you'll be in a few hundred but the welder but you'll have a new skill and something which will pay for itself exponentially

In the works actually. but like all good things, it takes time (and I'm known to get a bit sidetracked at times)