A C

I was out working on the car a little today, sanding on some floor repair work I had done, and I wanted to ask about something I have found in quite a few places. It seems the factory didn't apply enough resin to my floor glass or something, because I have dry stands of 'glass and some mushy spots in places. I have included some photos for reference. How do I fix this? Do I just put some resin on and sand it? Do I have to laminate some more layers on? Also included is a pic of my half scraped off glue in the back. I thought the amount of carpet adhesive was a little excessive. It only took me a couple of hours to scrape off half of it. :lol:

Here is one example of the dry 'glass near the front left passenger side seat mount:


Here is a wider view of the general under seat area:


Here is the glue shot. Man, they must have given a bonus to the St. Louis guys for using up all the glue. :D



AC



[Modified by A C, 7:21 PM 1/18/2003]

74-Roadster

If the dry spots feel weak, I suggest grinding out the dry area and laying some new matt in the hole.

But from the big picture . . . it's been 30+ years, so it must not have too big of a deal, still looks intact. No reason to create work for your self. Only reason I can tink of to jack with it is if you think they could be causing any type of squeaks, noise etc.

AND, YOUR WORK SO FAR LOOKS GREAT! :cheers:

Rolling Thunder

AC - I'm sure someone knows about this than me, but for my money I wouldn't bet on resin alone fixing it. If I were doing it, knowing that any of these soft spots are potential flex (weak) areas, I'd go for additional layers. Plan on painting it first with resin to fully saturate the old dry glass fibers. When it dries, scuff the whole area to be covered. Then just cut a couple of layes of matt sized to the repair. Lay them out on a piece of cardboard or aluminum foil and totally saturate them with resin. Lay them in place and roll out the air bubbles.

Have fuuuuun !
Dave

A C

I already am Dave! I love it when I get those lil red spots all over my arm from the fiberglass :D. It's weird. Certain spots are mushy, most specifically by the door ajar pins, and most other spots aren't. The spots in the photos are very stiff, but I was worried about the loose strands. If just soaking them with resin and sanding would clean up those areas, I will do that. The other (drivers) side of the floor looks a little worse. I suppose because that's the only spot that is occupied most of the time. I have repaired 2 all-the-way through cracks there, and am still working on the third (largest) one near the rear right seat mount. I laminated it, but I can still hear a cracking noise when I put a lot of pressure on the repair. I wonder, do I need to grind out and re-repair it, or just add more laminations?

AC

Rolling Thunder

How many layers did you use for the lamination? I'm not sure how thik the original glass is on the bottom pans. Another thought is to go underneath with a couple of layers. Also, are you getting all the way to good, solid glass with your new material?

Are you using a mask? If not, stop till you get one! :) You don't want to end up like me.

Dave

'79ProwlerOrange

This sounds odd to me. do you think this area may have been repaired before? dosent look like it, but i dont think they started thinning out the fiber glass until the later 70s...

if it makes you feel better thicken it up! otherwise i wouldnt think there is any reason to worry.

A C

I did laminate top and bottom. I sanded the area, which at one point was a hairline looking crack. After I was done sanding, it became apparent that it was actually a very large crack.....almost a foot long, and it wrapped around the metal seat mount embedded into the floor. I think I have it pretty much solidified around the mount, and I actually jacked up the loose part with a jack and wood block before I glassed it because the whole area looked a little low to me. Now I am looking at it and it still looks a little low. It's the area about 6 inches around the inner rear seat mounting bolt. The glass behind the mount looks ok, but the glass in front of it (towards the front of the car) looks like it is low...like an eighth inch or so. It's hard to describe. Like the mount has been broken for a long time and the glass has flexed for long enough to take a new contour.

Here is a pic of the area. The dark black is just from the glass pigment I used. By the way, don't use pigment.....it dries like a rock!



I know it's hard to see, but the floor is actually a little concave at the rear seat mount. I am thinking I need to grind out the crack again, and REALLY jack it up before I glass it again.....until it is flat, like the other seat mounts.

AC

Rolling Thunder

Did a realllllly big guy own the car before you got it? :lol: Other than how your seat fram sits I wouldn't worry about it being a little low. You can always shim the back end of that track. My concern would be keeping my butt off of the pavement! :D If it still feels soft to you, add glass. I don't think I would go to the trouble of cutting it again.

J75

One thing to remember is over the years,heat,oil,road debris take a toll on the floor pans.A lot of the mid 70`s I`ve seen were as you discribe.Lay a few layers of cloth and you should be ok.Make sure to check the underside also.