Mk1 1.6 Gti Project Rot Box!!! BAD NEWS!!

i've never been scared for someone elses car before, but when i saw those pics my heart sank.

i'm no expert (in fact i don't know much at all about this) but i know if that was my car i'd be royally pee'd off.

what did you think when you saw it?

cut it out mate and start again , weld new metal in then you no its all ok .

mk1ash said

cut it out mate and start again , weld new metal in then you no its all ok .

x2

Well, wire brush back to clean metal, and look at it closely to see the amount of pitting (by rust, which you'll have just removed using the wire brush), since this makes the panel thinner and its not that thick to start with on the mk1 Golf floorpan. If there's maybe 6-7 small areas which are rusty then cut away all the rot and pitted metal, back to good solid metal (you'll know from being able to bend the edge by hand, or not, and if it springs back properly). Luckily you're welding horizontally on the flat, from above, so its one of the easiest welds to do. Just remember to clean up both sides of the metal. For a good job, ideally you want to 'close up' the other side of an overlap weld by welding from the bottom too, but this will be much more difficult (upside down, lack of space etc) so I wouldn't blame you for skipping it (paint in weld-thru primer beforehand and use sealant, etc to close it off instead).

If its a larger area of pitted metal or more significant corrosion, then possibly time for a new floor panel. It looks like the inner sill will need attention too.

thats wot i said lol

i'll have a better look tomorrow but by the sound of it i've got a bit of a job on my hand.

oh well should keep me busy.

sounds like it mate ,but if you dont want the car ill have it lol im allready changing the rear floor on my beetle

sounds like you may need one off these



from here

http://www.golfmk1.co.uk/FloorPan.htm

if that is the only issue with the car your lucky

that would be fun to fit lol id have a go  8)

well can't afford a new floor plan so looks like i'm making one myself.

i ain't sure if this is the only problem that i've got but it's just something that caught my eye.

if i had a garage i'd strip it and start again, but as i haven't it's just one thing at a time.

i'll let you know how i get on tomorrow. not going to cut anything just clean up and figure things out.

Just read this thread from the start. Car looked spot on in the 1st pictures. Just shows how looks can be deceiving!

Good luck!

Yomp your right!!!!

when i when to view the car i jacked it up and had a good look around and it wasn't like that

just shows how much of a mess a thick layer of underseal can hide.

bit more progress today, i'm taking it one step at a time and not rushing into anything.

disconnect the fuel pipes and strapped them out the way.

after a bit more cleaning i was geting the bigger picture



i discovered that the beam in the middle was only held on by 2 spot welds so i went about taking it of didn't take very long. this is the bent beam



after a bit of small technical adjustments with a hammer and cleaning with the wire brush this



still needs welding but it's 100% better than it was.

after alot more cleaning this





the footwell floor is really good steel and welded very good so it's just the wishbone mounting area that need sorting and the beam.

looks better than it did the other day. quite pleased with my efforts so far. :wink:

before and after picture of the wire brush

.

What you reakon????? :dontknow:  :dontknow:

You can get replacement floor panels from hadrian, i think the best option would be to cut the whole lot out like a few others have said, and weld a completely new one in.

It really annoys me when people just weld patches over rotten metal, im in the process of cutting out some inner sill and floorpan because some bonehead did a bad repair in the past

I have to say that does look like one of the worst bodges iv ever seen, but it shouldnt be too difficult to put right :wink:

Good luck!

Greg

if its only an old banger and you need an mot a rusty patch will do, but really it looks awfull , is a cheap bodge and has no place on a restoration.

had a look at hadrian and they don't have the repair panel on the website,

the floor repair is not to bad, it's the bit infront that gone rotten around the mount.

just doing this for the MOT at the minute.

one day i'll fully restore it when i've got a garage but until then just gotta make the best repair poss!!

And thats fine.

Doing a good job there  mate

I'm sure you can get just the runner/rail repair panels on they're own if your not completely happy with the one you've straightened

also, if this is the only area that's in need, I really don't see the point in cutting the whole floor pan out and replacing it, unless your doing a complete restoration and looking for that 100% original look

I'd probably get a good repair panel cut out from another shell then seam weld that in

My advice, if your reusing the chassis channel, would be to weld some strengtheners inside it - say some 30 x 4mm strips of steel before you weld it back under the floor panel to get some strength back. These rails take a lot of punishment being jacked on etc and with that one already being buckled and straightened its going to be no where near strong enough and will probably collapse/distort when you jack the car up on it.

They shouldn't be used for jacking on, at all….

thats the reason by the floor was all bent because the garage that i took to get the tyres from jack the car up from this point.

i will strength it tho. every little helps :wink: