When is rusty too rusty?

[Chasedan]

I removed the seats, carpeting, and floor tar paper to find...yuck, extra ventillation coming through the floor. The more I looked, the more I found. I knew there was some rust lurking in the floor, but after this weekend I am wondering how I am going to repair all of this rust. The rust is coming off in large flakes from the floor pans. The rust runs half way up the transmission hump (terminology?) on both driver and passenger side. Many holes, many, many holes... The battery box bottom is shot.

I can cut out the rust, and create a Flintstone mobile.

Does anyone have suggestions where to find help with this one? The local backyard experts (as long as the beer holds out) are telling me its a lost cause unless I strike oil somewhere and make it rich. Should I give up and go grouse hunting?
Just Venting

Chasedan
B94000037
Series IV Alpine

 

[tony perrett]

You can easily spend far more money (not counting your time) repairing a bad car than it would cost to buy a good one. I get the impression from reading the Forum regularly that there are still a good many excellent cars still available in US.

 

[V_Mad]

Depends what the rest of the car is like. If its just floors that are rotted, I would buy or beg some sheet steel and get fabricating. I have a local supplier where I can get offcuts for free.

 

[P. Scofield]

Someone on the board was selling a very good Series IV shell. Finding a good shell would be the way to go.

Paul

Does anyone have suggestions where to find help with this one? The local backyard experts (as long as the beer holds out) are telling me its a lost cause unless I strike oil somewhere and make it rich. Should I give up and go grouse hunting?
Just Venting

Chasedan
B94000037
Series IV Alpine

 

[Ken Ellis]

I think that was volvoguys. His is RHD though... great if you've got a paper route!

Ken

 

[mikephillips]

Ken, the shells have all the holes and captive nuts for both RHD and LHD. So provided you have all the proper parts for the option you want the shell itself can be built up either way.

 

[the ghoul]

I would buy or beg some sheet steel and get fabricating.

Im not too proud to admit that
#1 I once had a corvair
#2 when I was replacing the carpet I noticed a verry simmular thing happening. so with a couple of 'good ol boys' I borrowed a few of those nice gavlinized sheet metal things on pols with reflective stickers on em from uncle sam.... trimmed them to size, and smeared about 2 cans of rhino lining on the inside floor, than put the carpet overtop.

now that being said and dumb-ness aside....
how is your exterrior metal?
how does the gap between the door and jamb look?

if the only thing rusty on the car is the floors than it would be worth fixing it, weather it be by finding donner metal, patch pans, putting in flat metal, or road signs. If the body is sagging; rear fenders, front fenders, rocker panels all have holes the size of golf balls in them; and your car isnt very rare, you will prolly be better off finding a clean shell to swap stuff on to.

oh , also,
if they are just pin sized holes and nothing bigger than a pen, and they dont have too much give to them, then I would just clean all the loose stuff off and smear it down with some POR 15. Its a good rust preventing/stopping paint that drys hard as nails and the can reccomends it being applied directly over rust (no prep work required).

 

[norville]

oh , also,
if they are just pin sized holes and nothing bigger than a pen, and they dont have too much give to them, then I would just clean all the loose stuff off and smear it down with some POR 15. Its a good rust preventing/stopping paint that drys hard as nails and the can reccomends it being applied directly over rust (no prep work required).

then what? That's where I'm at now. Still pretty strong metal with BB sized pinholes. Someone POR15-ed it in the past.

thanks
bob

 

[the ghoul]

then what? That's where I'm at now. Still pretty strong metal with BB sized pinholes. Someone POR15-ed it in the past.

thanks
bob

If you hardly drive in the rain I would just por 15 it again and lay the carpet back down... If I was worried about rain getting in I would lay down a tick top layer to seal the holes rhyno lining, undercoating spray, ect... This is a bit of a tricky subject tho. just patching over the problem is a good way to slow down the damage and allow you to enjoy the car. But if you want to keep the car around for a good long time and the floor pan rust is the worst issue you have than I would look into some new floor pans. also if you lay the rhyno lining down and decide to replace the floor boards down the road you will have a bit of a mess on your hands trying to remove it.

I guess isolated floor pan rust is common with these cars. tops/weather seals leak soak the carpet which traps the watter and rots the floor boards. so if the rest of the metal around the floor pans looks good (firewall, seat supports, inner rocker rails) floor pan replacement could be done realitivly easily (if your good with a grinder and welder).

 

[P. Scofield]

This is an example of too rusty...........

 

[the ghoul]

some said mine was too!

Fat lady still hasn’t sung on that one though...
I’m currently patching in sheet metal from a series v donor car.
basically its all a personal call.
is it too rusty to you?
what are your abilities,
what will the car be worth when its all done,
how much will you have to put into it to be happy with it,
ect...
for me, my project is a mixture between ignorance, personally challenge, not letting a rare bird like this go to the scrap heap, and a promise I made to the last owner.... Also ignoring the cost with the intention of never selling it.

 

[the ghoul]

This is an example of too rusty...........

this is a more dammining picture of that car!!!

 

[Alpine 1789]

You might be interested in this discussion on the same topic: http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5653. In my case, I bought the car to be used as a parts car, then had second thoughts when I realized this was one of the last Alpines produced. Still, the collective wisdom of the club convinced me that this particular car was too rusty to be saved and it has become an organ donor. I will eventually use its chrome in various cars (I assume it must have been replaced, as it was far nicer than the rest of the car), some of its sheet metal on my SIV, and possibly the front suspension on my S3. Some of the parts I don't use will be sold, but I am hesitant to sell much until I finish work on the other cars. The rest will probably end up going to China as scrap metal.

And, at some point I really need to dig up the VIN for the registry.

 

[Tom H]

Jim ,

The VIN of your old rust bucket is:
B 395017894LRX.
Color 122

The VIN tag photo was in the photos you posted.

Quote: And, at some point I really need to dig up the VIN for the registry.

Tom

 

[sunalp]

Jim, All I really need for a complete listing in the registry is the SAL#.
I assume we should RIP this one.
Cheers!
Steve

 

[Alpine 1789]

When the time comes to crush the remains I was planning on saving the VIN, since I do have a clear title to the car. I won't actually remove the tag, since that is illegal, but might save just enough to allow someone to use the parts as part of their restoration, so it may not stay dead forever.

 

[Chasedan]

I guess after seeing some photo's of some real horror stories, my project does not look as daunting. Still, its going to take patience and time...