what should I do while carpet/faom is out?

[aaron325ix]

Due to a faulty heater core/valve all of my carpet and foam is out of my iX. My questions are as follows:
1. Small rust spots, not sure yet if they go all the way through, but what is the proper way to repair those?

2. I want additional sound deadining I heard peel n seal is a great alternative to dynamatt, any ideas?

3. What might i be forgetting that would be good to take care of while its bare in there?

Open to any and all sugggestions, that might be worth while because I dont want to have to dig that deep into my car again any time soon.

Thanks in advance.
AW

[ak96ss]

Wow.

Get out a grinder and have at it - you need to take care of that. Pull out that deadener and check under there as well, it is more advanced than it looks.

That looks kinda serious to me, and I would be surprised if, in the search for clean metal all the way around those, you did not go through.

If they don't go all the way through, you can just grind the rust off and paint it. If it does, depending on the size of the hole, you may be able to get by with fiberglassing it, but I'd say you may have a candidate for some sheetmetal repair there. Hard to tell exactly from the pics, but it doesn't look good to me. My parts car had a much smaller spot, right where the AC evaporator drain dripped onto the stud underneath the car that holds the heatshield on. By the time I was done, it was all the way through.

Check from underneath as well.

This didn't look nearly as bad as that does:





That's my orange jackstand under the car, BTW.

[thereisnoyun]

my two cents

okay, this look very similar to mine when I pull my carpet

1st step is to - sand it down
2nd step - you will notice that since the water soaked under the carpet, under the sound insulation will also trap water, almost guarantee from teh look of it, the water was there for a while, and that under you sound insulation must be rusted as well. Remove the sound insulation... how? plumbing torch. Take the torch and hit it, and have a chizel on the size and peal it off, it will stink so do it outside with windows down.

Then sand it again and prime it, then paint it.

[aaron325ix]

crap. not exactly what i wanted to hear but i wasnt expecting much better. What about the other stuff that might need to be done? I dont want to do this again. Thanks.

[///M42 sport]

I wonder if its better to pull out rubber plugs on the floorboard so that if you do leak into your car, atleast there is some ventilation underneath the foam. Why do they have the rubber plugs anyways?

[aaron325ix]

I wonder if its better to pull out rubber plugs on the floorboard so that if you do leak into your car, atleast there is some ventilation underneath the foam. Why do they have the rubber plugs anyways?

Good question, I was wondering the same thing. Anyone?

[ak96ss]

Good question, I was wondering the same thing. Anyone?

I would not even consider this - you are far more likely to let stuff in than out.

[aaron325ix]

went at it

so I took the advice and went at it with the grinder and some aircraft remover. The holes did go through, although there was no rust under the deadener like some of you thought which is good. it seems as though the exhaust is right under these spots and hard to see what is there, but seems to be some kind of insulator maybe? Anyone know? Either way, what is the best rout to take from here to repair these? Thanks again.
AW

[ak96ss]

There is an aluminum heat shield under the car along the transmission tunnel, at least the front half, IIRC. I would get under there and go from the back side as well, make sure there is no rust anywhere near there. Then, fiberglas or epoxy - POR-15 makes a very nice two-part epoxy that hardens like a mofo.

I had to patch a small hole under the back seat of my car, where the undercoating had worn through. I used a combination of their POR-15 paint, their epoxy, and their fiberglas mat to seal it all back up. It is as hard as the rest of the metal and will never rust again.

Check them out, POR15.com

Eastwood also has some nice stuff, at eastwood.com.

[thereisnoyun]

wow!

WOW! holy crap... hahaha mine was just surface rust....

thats wierd... spot rust, my was just a surface rust all over when I pull the carpet.

[aaron325ix]

so with the other half of my original post, is there anything else that I might want to do while all of this crap is out of there? ie. wiring, sound deadener etc.

[ak96ss]

Yes, exactly that if you are so inclined - either more or less sound deadener, and cables for stereo. Maybe a few extra 12 AWG cable runs in case you decide to add wiring later. Paint a smiley face on the floor.

[aaron325ix]

Yes, exactly that if you are so inclined - either more or less sound deadener, and cables for stereo. Maybe a few extra 12 AWG cable runs in case you decide to add wiring later. Paint a smiley face on the floor.

Not quite sure what 12 AWG is, could you clarify? Thanks.

[ak96ss]

Just 12 gauge wire, heavy enough that you could add some extra circuits for whatever and not have to worry about the wire not being able to handle it.

Honestly, if you are not electrically inclined, I would stick to RCA and speaker cables... :)