My Interior revival. Lots of pics and lessons!

[revlis240]

I bought my car basically missing its interior. The floors looked like this:

 

 

Spent 6 hours doing a combo of chisel, dry ice, wire wheel and tears to arrive at this:

 

Spent another 4 hours prepping the floors for/putting on the POR15.

 

After the POR, spent 6 hours putting on the sound deadening material (edead).

 

Finished up the passanger and drivers door as well:

 

Before:

After:

Door back on, the sound difference is amazing:

 

Now the fun part! Another 6ish hours for insulation and carpet.

Went to Lowes and picked up some cheap carpet and insulation:

 

Used some spray adhesive to get the carpet and insulation to stick

 

Now the carpet. Its coming out VERY NICE. It was only $18!

I have never cut carpet in my life and I am very impressed.

 

So far Ive only invested approx $220 (but 22 hours) into the floors

and I am VERY satisfied.

 

More pics to come when the seats are in!

Edited November 8, 2010 by revlis240

[revlis240]

post reserved for future use

[WaiDai]

funny thing is im doing the exact same thing ryte now!!! what did you use to remove old sound dampener? im trying the dry ice technique. one side was good other side left LOTS of tar behind... but im EXTREMELY glad you are doing the exact same thing im doing. im working on a s130. i scrubbed everything using simple green, and now im onto removing the sound dampening.

[Drax240z]

How many square feet of sound deadening did you use? Looking good!

[revlis240]

I removed the factory sound deadening by just chiseling away hour after hour.

 

I bought 100sqft of the edead. Its $1 per sqft and so far I am happy with it. By the time I finish my trunk i think I will have used approx 80sqft for it all. If so ill do the roof.

[bjhines]

I like your progress... but just keep in mind that the floors rusted because the original sound deadening trapped water. You might be making it worse with those materials.

[revlis240]

The original floor was filled with small holes which i covered up. Plus the rubber plugs werent even sealed well and I used RTV sealant to seal those well. Also, the POR is supposed to make the surface impervious to rust...no?

Edited November 8, 2010 by revlis240

[wolfalp1592]

Looks great. We too are replacing the carpet and hope to get it cut to fit this weekend.

[bjhines]

Stainless steel is not even impervious to rust. POR15 is not going to stop rust when the area stays wet. The rust goes all the way through the metal. Have you treated under and over the floorpan? Did you remove every flake and break apart every single bubble or blister on both sides? sandblasting or cutting is the ONLY WAY to remove rust. POR15 just covers it up for a little while.

 

The cowl area will develop leaks and drain onto the floors, especially on the passenger side. You may be removing all that stuff after the first rain.

[revlis240]

You may be removing all that stuff after the first rain.

 

POR15 just covers it up for a little while

 

Well...i dont know if itll be THAT dramatic? It took 30 years for it to rust that much, if i get another 5 years out of my por15 treatment itll be fine. Plus...this car will not be leaving its garage unless its a 75º california day. Its not a daily driver

 

On the POR topic, Im not claiming to know much about it, but from my reading it does a little more than cover it up for a little while. Unless you have first hand experience, have you applied it and had the area rust again? Not being a smart-ass. Just here to learn!

Edited November 9, 2010 by revlis240

[Drax240z]

I've used it first hand a fair bit and will offer up my experiences.

 

In 2000 I sandblasted the underside of my car (ugh) and applied POR-15 to a freshly sandblasted surface. At the same time I did much of what the OP did to the floorboards, removed everything down to bare metal. I used a knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder (which worked really well by the way) to remove all residue and prep for POR-15. I applied it direct to the floors as well, no primer no other steps.

 

In about 2004 I had the car up again for a lengthy period. The undercoat POR-15 was holding fine everywhere. No delamination, no rust, no failures. It didn't look all that great (faded, dirty, etc.) so I power-washed and reapplied over the old coat to freshen it up. To this day, it still looks pretty damn good and has not failed under the car. (with limited driving, but always stored outside)

 

The floorpans have seen some failure however. It didn't bond to everywhere on the floor great. There was some small amounts standing water for a period on the floorboards. They have some surface rust, but have held up really well too. I think the failure of my POR-15 was due to 1) not properly prepping floorboards, should have sanded as well as wire wheeled and 2) never covering the POR-15, no carpet, padding, sound deadening, etc.

 

I think if the OP put this on fresh, rough metal and/or used metal prep he'll be good for some years. How many? Based on what I know of California weather I'd guess more than 10...

[cygnusx1]

  On a lightly rusted panel with proper POR-15 bond, you will get 10+ years of normal use.  On a sunny day car....maybe 20+ years.  That stuff is tough, and bonds hard, to light rust.  However, regular inspection is a good idea to catch any areas that might delaminate.  

Edited November 9, 2010 by cygnusx1

[revlis240]

drax, youre spot on.

 

I did a lot of reading and prepped the floors by:

 

1) Chiseling ALL I could

2) Wire wheeling

3) Scuffing with 60 grit sand paper

4) Washing

5) Soaking with MetalReady (POR's Phosphoric Acid metal etcher)

6) Washing

7) Drying with heat gun to make sure surface is 100% dry (very important according to POR)

8) Laying the POR

 

It SHOULD be good for longer than the rest of the car will probably survive.

 

I have a lingering fear some F250 will Tbone me, and if i survive, my hundreds of hours of restoration will go down the drain.

[Drax240z]

 

I have a lingering fear some F250 will Tbone me, and if i survive, my hundreds of hours of restoration will go down the drain.

 

If that happens, the last thing you will be thinking about is your car. T-bone + early Z = bad news.

[revlis240]

Todays progress!

 

 

All of that for $18. Not bad!

Edited November 15, 2010 by revlis240

[jhm]

Looking good!!

[mxgsfmdpx]

Looks pretty good so far! Will look even better with the seats in.

[mal_tiempo]

This is a great thread, because I may be picking up a Z that needs exactly this done. Looks great! I've done a bit of home carpet cutting myself, so I look forward to possibly tackling this.

[revlis240]

Todays progress! The seats are in! Based on my other tread about seat rails, I did the best i could using some steel to reinforce the bottom of the pan in an X pattern. The seat rail bolts onto a hardened steel plate that bolts to the floor pan and is reinforced by that X brace in the pics. Used all Grade 8 bolts and fasteners in the process.

 

More to come later!

[mxgsfmdpx]

Nice!