RUST...

[trwp72]

Well, I managed to find the first major area of rust on the "Baby" LTD... The entire "well" section of the trunk floor is toast... you can see the top of the gas tank thru it.... DAMN IT!!!! Anyway, any one have a junk yard close thats has one with a decent trunk well you can cut out and send me??? )I figure to cut it around the top edge, then cut mine out about an inch lower.. then drop the new one in and weld around the outside... hoepfully I won't have to take the tank out that way.... I'm going tommorow or Monday to see if there is one around here.. but there isn't many to many left... and what do you want to bet they are rusted, too.... I'll attach pictures later... I am too pissed right now to take any....

[Paul_]

[trwp72]

RUST!!!

OK, here is some photos of the "damage"!!! I think if i can find another floor pan in good shape, I can just cut it out, drop in the new one, and wire weld it in place... hopefully with out even removing the gas tank, but if we have to, thats all good too... since it has a major dent in it... looks like someone backed over something with it... so I need to remove it and get the dent taken out, or replace it with another one....


Thats the gas tank thru those holes!!!!


I figure to cut the old floor out along the red dotted line... and cut the new one out of the other car up near the edge, so they "overlap". That way, when you drop the new one in... it should drop right in place... and then just wire weld it in... And then under coat both sides of it so it won't rust again!

At least this is the trunk, and NOT the floor boards!!!!

This all happened because before i got the car... it had NO rubber seal around the trunk... and there was that "jute" insulation under the carpets... and it stayed wet, and rusted everything out... any where there was no jute, it was fine....
That shit is a menace!!! That is why I went with the foam insulation under my new carpets in the car.... and i will use the same stuff under the trunk carpet too....
Tom!!!

[zwack88]

Wow I wasn't really expecting that from your 84. That is a good amount of rust there. That shouldn't be to hard to replace even if you bent up a new piece of sheet metal instead or get a better one out of a junked LTD. Good luck with that.

[boXman]

I think a good metal fabricator could make you a nice new piece to drop in there, instead. That would be the best route to go. I wouldn't mess with old metal for all that work.

[Fordman75]

The hard part about trying to fab up that piece is the bends up. That is a lot of compound curves and would take many many hours with a shrinking/stretching set up. It's much easier to find a solid one in a junk yard and cut the whole sump out of it.

[boXman]

I've only seen the shrinking and stretching done on TV, hell it looks easy on there!! HAHA :p

[Fordman75]

It's easy on a small repair panel. This panel is huge with many different compound curves. Add that to the bottom which isn't flat(different ridges, etc. ) and you have many hours of fab work. On something like that finding a good panel in a wrecking yard is just an easier way to go.

[trwp72]

Going out looking tommorow.. and going to try to find a new gas tank too.. since mine has a HUGE dent in the back where the previous owner backed over something.... Since I'll have to drop the tank anyway.... I talked to a friend of mine tonight that works at a body shop less than a block from my house.. he said to bring it by and he will do the work... (He owes me a favor or two...) we'll see what he wants to charge for the work.. he is usually CHEAP... For his friends... he pulled a "B" pillar out for a friend of mine.. He got t-boned in a parking lot in my old 1989 Caprice... we got both the replacement doors on the car... but I could not get them to line up... I finnally I did some measuring, and realized the "B" pillar was pushed in about 1 1/2 inches...(Got hit "Square" in the two passenger side doors...) He had to remove both front and back door... pull the pillar out, and reinstall both doors and align them up... Charged him $95.00..... So hopefully he will charge along those lines!!!! Tom...

[grandpaslincoln]

Rust sucks, good luck with it mang

[trwp72]

WOO HOO!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!


FOUND ONE!!!!!!


Found a 1984 LTD today that has a PERFECT trunk floor in it... no rust at all-- not even surface rust underneath or inside... and it is even the same color as mine.. altho it will be repainted once it is in... So tommorow I will be going back out with a friends trusty battery powered recipricating saw and get it... $20.00 for the trunk floor.... And $12.95 for a gas tank...
Too bad someone **cked up the trunk lock hole... or I would snag the trunk lid too... it was perfect till some moron screwed up the trunk lock... what sux is this yard always has the keys in the ignition... and they were right there... some moron didn't bother checking and just bent the heck out of a perfectly good trunk lid... and there wasn't a thing usable to them inside... since it was empty.... What morons!!!


Tom!!!

[85MercPark]

I would cut the new one here.
would be easier to hide the :welder:

[trwp72]

I went to the Junk yard today to get it... ran out of battery power after about 45 minutes of solid cutting... trunk floor is alot thicker than I thought it would be... And I have to cut thru the four brackets for the gas tank underneath... I was on the first one of those when the saw died.... (I bought me a black and decker rechargable sawz- all) Anyway.. was supposed to charge it for 24 hours... only charged it about 14.. so I will leave it on charge for a couple of days, and then go back and get the rest of the brackets cut.... (Got to go to a Highway Patrol auction in Montgomery. Al tommorow! 98 police cars up for bid...) I don't have to worry about the car being crushed between now and then, because I know the owner.. I just mark the windshield "Do NOT crush" with a paint marker... And they leave them alone!

85 MercPArk----
Well, because of the structure underneath.. I had to cut sort of all over the place... but after I get it out, I will make the cut straight around the edge... so it should just "Drop in" after I cut the old one out... Then weld it, grind the welds flat, then undercoat it with the black 3M undercoating... And since it will be covered with the carpeting... most people will never see it!

Well on to cleaning a gas tank! Tom!

[Fordman75]

I've got a 18V battery powered Milwaukee Sawzall. I love it but it does go thru batteries. I bought three spare batteries(Not cheap $85 each! ) just so I'd have enough to actually do some work.

I've also got a battery powered 18 volt Milwaukee impact wrench. So I've got two battery chargers which makes it a little quicker charging batteries.

[trwp72]

Yah the guy at the junkyard asked me if i had my battery charger... we could plug it in and charge it... i said yah right.... would you let me stay till like 10:00 tonight to let it charge!!???? Tom!