Well,

It looks like I am going to have to take out the the seat cross brace and the channels under the pan. It would be nice to just plop an new one in, not an option. It looks like I will do some patch work. Going to order a spot weld drill.

 

cross brace is rusted just like the other side

 

same gaping hole on the end just like the drives side

 

another shot of the cross brace

You are hard core. Stop by if you're ever in the Tahoe area, and we can exchange horror stories...

Well I am open to suggestions, that is the only way I can think of doing this.

if your thinking about cutting and welding i agree thats probibly the only way to fix it

I just picked up a spot weld drill so this is going to take some time but will keep you guys up dated

The kids were helping out , not much but it was still fun. I got it out faster than I thought. I will be working on this at work during my lunch breaks, got it approved and my boss asked me if I wanted to powder coat it. LOL

Trying to think of how I am going patch the Swiss cheese

 

Pass side is kinda bad too

Looks like a lot of work.

Lotso rust

 

One thing I noticed is this must be like 18g material its super thin and light. I will have to check and see how thick it is when I get to work.

if you have the ability i would sand blast it and go from there

Nope no sand blaster. I am kind of limited of what I can do with that kind of stuff. If I could dip the whole car I would.

I think Subaru used to dip everything in saltwater before they spotwelded pieces together...How about trimming off the worst of it, wire wheel and/or scotchbrite disc it, brush on some rust treatment on what you can't get at, and weld new flanges on where needed. Then paint or por15 before assembly. Consider: Harbor Freight has a great portable blaster (their bigger one on wheels) less that $150 and it does really work well. Then you can do your whole floor pan and save a bunch of time, which you will need for welding. Personally I'd rather weld than clean up yuck.

That is the plan, I just finished pulling almost all the tar paper off. It looks like I will have to pull the dash next and after that fish up and paint thinner off the rest. Yeah all is in the plan except the sand blaster. My kids are helping with the scraping and cleaning so its been fun.

Well I got tired of looking at it for a week and figured it would be better to repair it out of the car rather than in. Which there are two options put a whole new sheet of metal and not worry about how it looks and make it work. Or I can take the original and fix it and put it back in. What you guys think. I can shear some 16 ga and put it in and fix the cross brace and weld it in. Have to see what I want to do as you will never see it. What you guys think?

 

 

 

Can you separate the subframes from the floorpan? I think I would save the subframes (if they're any good) and fabricate everything else. You could even go up a guage for strength. I ended up replacing large sections of floorpan with donor floorpan from a Loyale. A good guage sheetmetal, easy to work with.

I have spot weld drill so yeah I could do that. I am currently collecting 16g sheets at work. I am also trying to figure out a way to sneek my pans though fab on cnc puch bead roller. I might just end up doing it by hand which will take longer but it all depends on how I feel. I really want to get the motor pulled before winter hits so I can work on the engine bay. I am working on the seat mounts right now. putting in about 45min a day at work on my breaks. It will get done. This is the biggest rust repair on the brat.

:-\

I got some time to cut the other side out. I also have one side of the cross brace rebuilt. There are 4 sides to be fixed so I got one done. Now I know what the heck I am doing it should go little bit faster. I am only spending 1/2hr a day on metal fab. Too bad I did not have more time then you guys could see some stuff get done instead of holes

 

Very cool... Now you can stop your brat with your feet like Fred Flinstone...:lol:

 

Keep the progress and pics coming cause we are watching....

So its been about 3 weeks or so. I got the cross brace and brackets done. I still need to clean them and I have not figured what to do for a coating yet.

 

Its not perfect but its stronger than the stock metal. Once I get it welded in it will be really good.

 

Before rust ate away at least 25 percent.

 

After

 

 

 

 

 

before

 

 

after

 

One thing I thought was interesting was I had a rust hole in the side of the drives kick panel I think its called.

 

You can see it in the top next to the door sill .

 

 

Could not have that so I cut the spot out fearing the worst of it full of rust on the inside.

 

 

NO rot

 

 

So I will patch that up and call it good. I am starting on the drivers pan next.

That should be fun:brow:

 

 

 

Oh also ground and cleaned up the spot welds for prep. I still have to hit the whole thing with the hd wire wheel brush, but I am going to do that after I am ready to put the pan in.

Nice.. Its coming along very nice. Thanks for the update.. It was a while and was wondering if you gave up?? Ha just kidding. Keep up the great work and like I said before we(or at least I) will be watching.

Well I hate to say it I felt maybe I did start to loose it but I need to stay the course. I will have to see how I feel after I get all the rust done and the fenders back on.

Dont give up, these Brats are lots of fun to drive.... And people seem to like them or are confused of what the hell they are....:-p

Nice effort !

The only thing I have done in the last few days at home is start the brat up once a week and I got to cut the last of the rust out on the inside of the cab.

The drivers pan is going slow for now at work. Yes that is RTV you see on the e-brake cable. I did not know it was there and nipped the housing a tinny bit, I am pretty good about checking stuff.

 

Keep going, you're doing great! Just remember, the pyramids weren't built in a day either...

Well I cleaned up my free century mig welder. Its got a fan also that is bonus, help run longer if you need. The pan is going ok I reformed the channel and working my way out. I hope to have the drivers side pan ready to install next week. The pass side will be a lot easier. Oh yeah also taking the brat for a drive around in front of the house I thought the tranny was binding in 4 x4. My friend said he pulled two trannys to find out that's how they are LOL. I remember going around the corner and having the tires bark.

Well got the old nasty wire wheel out. Man this thing almost tore my finger off and I was wearing thick gloves.

 

 

 

 

Does a pretty good job. I had another round one but that sucked so I kept using this one.

 

 

I was expecting more cancer when I pulled up some of the foam but it was just surface.

 

 

cleaned up pretty good. It will be a lot easier welding this stuff in.

 

 

 

 

The hump area was pretty bad got some holes down there trying to figure out if I want to patch or cut them out.

 

Some more of the other areas

 

 

Well that is all for now the good news is the drivers pan fit up at work is almost done. Maybe few more days during my break should finish up next week I hope.

Nice work, I've brought a few Volvos back from the same point you are but it takes time. Keep up the great work. By the way is that a 2.8 PRV in the turbo Volvo?