I am sure there are many on this forum who have dealt with rust issues and can contribute to this topic with much more authority than I can provide. For me, this is the first time down this road and I am very much learning on the job.

[RANT ON]
After looking at the gutted interior of my car and seeing all the paint laid down at the factory, I continue to be amazed by the thought that some "bean counter" (yen counter???) made a decision to not paint about 6 square feet of floorboard. Paint was applied to the firewall, tunnel, siderails, seat mounts and the entire rear end of the car. It is clear that the floorboard area was actually templated off in order to not get overspray from adjacent areas. ARRRGGGHHH!!!
[RANT OFF]

Well, I feel much better after that little outburst.

Here are a few of the surprises I have found so far:
- The seam sealer at the bottom of the right door frame had a thin crack that I decided to check out. Sure enough, water had penetrated and there was some rust where 3 layers of metal come together. The left side seam is OK.
- Inside, behind the passenger seat mount I spotted a small rust spot about the size of a quarter by the frame rail. I located a very small opening (about 1/8" X 1/64") where the floor pan was not bonded to the frame rail.
- At the base of both A-pillars, the seam sealer was cracked and allowed rust to form on the underside of the door frame.

For each of these problems, all of the original seam sealer has been picked out and the area treated with POR-15 Marine Clean degreaser and POR-15 Metal Ready, and are ready to seal and paint. More on these products later.

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

Here are the rust treatment and prevention products I am using. I read a lot of the IZCC forum content years ago and saw the popularity of the POR-15 products. I found Internet and local prices to be exact matches, it was far cheaper to pay local sales tax than Internet shipping charges. Check your local auto paint suppliers for availability.
Some comments:
- POR-15 paint is expensive at $45/qt., I will use it only on selected areas such as the floorboards - inside and outside.
- Marine Clean dilutes to 5:1 or more, a gallon will yield at least 5 gallons of working product.
- Metal Ready is reusable. Treat small parts in a container, filter and recapture the liquid. Hint: a cat litter pan is the perfect size for many parts.
- READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS AVAILABLE ON THE POR-15 SITE!!!

Link to POR-15 site:

http://www.por15.com/

Here are some before and after pictures of the floorpan under the driver's seat. The Metal Ready has neutralized the rust and deposited a coating of zinc phosphate.

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

Here is the car after the front suspension has been removed and seam sealer applied. As I identified each place in need of sealer, I marked it with a "S" so I could remember to get all of them when I actually broke out the sealer. Two large holes in the fender and also in the passenger floorboard are from the dealer A/C installation back in '71, a very poor approach! I intend to get these holes welded shut before any painting.

I bolted in a 3' 4X4 as a temporary sub-frame so I can continue to dolly the car around the garage. I put a large bolt on the underside of the 4X4 that mates perfectly with the floor jack.

Also a couple of shots of the inside of a shock tower. No rust but the paint was literally falling off and in need of attention. This might be something to check for those living in areas where road salt is used. I intend to use POR-15 paint in this area.

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

Thanks once again, Jim. The more you tell us, the easier our next restoration can be.

Folks up this way have recently been using spray-on truck bed liner as undercoating and engine bay protectant. Have you fellas down home ever tried that?

Frank

Hey Frank,
Thanks for the tip. Can't speak for others but this sounds like the perfect solution for the outside (fender-well side) coating for the floorboards. After I get some POR-15 in place, I will still need an insulating layer to catch stone impacts. This will also be good for the tranny tunnel entry from the firewall as you mentioned. Another product added to the needs list!

Jim

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

I've been a very satisfied POR-15 and Marine Clean user for several years....I can't tell you how many dozens of things I've cleaned with Marine Clean for which nothing else worked - everything from vinyl and leather, to pots and pans (it's an excellent degreaser, especially when diluted with *hot* water).

Jim - I didn't know you could purchase these products locally. I bought them via the web and at the time they had a promotion that shipping was free with a certain minimum size order. I'm running low on my gallon of Marine Clean and would love to know where you bought it locally and how much it was.

POR-15 is an excellent rust inhibitor, but everyone should remember, though, that it cannot be used for sunlight-exposed areas without applying a special topcoat. If I recall, it is *not* UV resistant.

- Jim H.

Jim,
I purchased my POR-15 products at English Color and Supply, local to my area. They also supplied the two spray bottles at no extra cost, the bottles are marked for the various dilution ratios. The cost was $21 plus $1.73 ST for a gallon of Marine Clean. I located them thru the link below.

Good comment on the UV issue with POR-15 paint.

Jim

http://www.stoprust.net/locator/

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

I've seen POR-15 products at CarQuest (Brewster, NY) and also Pruden Auto (prudenauto.com) in Poughkeepsie NY. If you can't find a local supplier close to where you live, let me know and I can stop at either of these stores for you.

_________________
280zx NA to T... http://z.modeltrainguide.com

Jim, I continue to be amazed at how little rust Z's from your part of the country have. If your Z were to have lived it's life in the northeast, it would have disappeared into a pile of tin worm droppings years ago!! Amazing!!

Phil

Phil, you're hilarious!

But before y'all go thinking that Texans have it completely made because their carz don't rust as fast as ours, park your Z outside and watch a Dust Devil sand the paint off one side of it in less than 3 seconds.

Rust you can fight. Wind is much tougher!

Frank

With any luck, this will be my last update to this thread – providing I do not find any more rust as I move along to working on the rear of the car. Yes Frank, no rust found under the rear hatch!

As Ross previously commented about tin worms, most of us with southwest or western cars have not suffered the ravages of extensive rusting. In my case, much of it is due to just plain good luck, having been able to store my car in a nice dry garage these past 27 years. I know I would not have been able to deal with the more extensive body rot that several members have successfully overcome.

Picking up on my efforts to resolve and correct the small amount of rust (so far) on my car, the inside floorboards had the worst of it. Most was surface rust but there was a 3/8” hole in the driver’s side floorboard right at the seam with the angled section coming down from the firewall. With my non-existent welding skills, I opted to patch this hole with QuickSteel. Not a purist approach but one that satisfies me and will not be readily visible.

This first shot shows the original state of rust when I started on the car. The largest buildup is forward, just below the firewall. I'm showing only the passenger side; both sides were equally affected.



This shot is after a thorough cleanup with degreaser followed by POR-15 Metal Ready to kill the rust. A bit of flash rust is seen in the oval section, common after rinsing out the Metal Ready (phosphoric acid).



Here it the floorboard after painting with POR-15 paint. This paint is very thin – it will readily run on any vertical surface and it will quickly pool on flat surfaces. Any contaminant on the surface being painted will cause the paint to reject.



My brother-in-law gave me a tip about painting a non-critical area: take a small body part to a big box store and get a quart of paint suitable for metal tinted to match. Since the entire floorboard area will eventually be covered, it meets my “non-critical” definition. I cleaned up one of the inspection lids and took it in to be matched.



And, here is the result of the color match. I'm really pleased with the color outcome.



Floorboard with body color.



And finally, a completed floorboard refurb.

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

WOW. What a great job! Thanks to your BIL for the tip, too.

Q: What did you use to get off ALL the jute and adhesive along the tunnel?

Frank

Thanks for the compliment.

I managed to salvage all of the jute by carefully using a sharp putty knife to break it loose from the tunnel. A lot of patience is required, I worked around several edges at the same time. After all the jute was out, I went back over all the surfaces with the putty knife to scrape off as much adhesive as possible. You can see there are still some traces of material on the tunnel. I will probably wipe everything down with a solvent when ready to reinstall the interior.

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

I always wondered about doing that, thanks for sharing that info. Looks darn good. Keep up the good work.