State of my Union with Verona

[kota02]

Hello All and especially Greg in Floyd VA and Dave in Northern VA.

although I have not met Dave, I did get the hello.

So this past weekend I drove my New Verona to Greg's place in Willis, VA.

I learned a lot in that one hour, about how ill equipped I am and what all I need to do right away.

The front sub frame needs to be patched up. Driver side floor pan needs to be patched up right away, as I like to drive her, even when there is water on the road. Same story with the passenger side floor pan and the sub frame.

So today, I came back an hour earlier from work, and did the following.

Took the seats out

Unbolted the seatbelt anchors.

took the speaker grills up front, off.

removed the sound insulation from underneath the carpet.

Pulled the carpet back, to access the rusted out subframe.

So here are my observations so far:

The pedal box looks OK, except, I need a new slave cylinder.

The rust is not that bad, but I will need at least a 6-12" wide piece across the driver and passenger side.

The questions I have:

should I take the pedal box off?

Should I remove the carpet all the way, and check the transmission well too?

Is it pretty common for the tunnel to rust at the same rate as the floor pans?

I have posted the images with this. Hope to get her going agin soon.

Thanks a bunch.

Akshay

[kota02]

Sorry I posted the pics in the reverse order....

I will be careful next time

[kota02]

Two more shots of the rusted out floor pan and subframe filled with undesirable material. and a shot of the pedal box.

[Tommy]

The questions I have:

should I take the pedal box off?

Should I remove the carpet all the way, and check the transmission well too?

Is it pretty common for the tunnel to rust at the same rate as the floor pans?

It doesn't look bad if that's all the rust or worst area.

Take the box out. That way you can clean and treat the surfaces between the box and floor and then seal it again.

Although the tunnel doesn't normally rust that easily take it all out. Then you know. There can be rust if heater has leaked at some point.

Good luck with your project.

Tommy

[kota02]

All right,

The MIG welder is in place, the grinder is in the trunk, The ramps are ready to rumble and I am just waiting for the snow the stop, and get cleaning, grinding, cutting and welding.

Butterflies in my stomach.

Will keep you all posted.

Happy 02ing

[2double02]

I just fixed the same damage in my car near the pedal box. Jeff Tighe at Lojolla Independent shipped me a nice floor section to make the patch. It saved time over fabricating the piece from scratch.

[kota02]

After all, learning, reading, figuring things out, I think I have the first stage of the making the car road worthy pretty much wrapped up.

This afternoon, I read and adjusted the valves, that got rid of the valve clatter, and the car seems to be driving a lot smoother. I also replaced the plugs.

So in all, these are the small things that I have done in the past few months:

Replaced the rusted through floor pan sections and while doing that learned MIG welding.

Replaced the old, crumbly foam inserts with new foam layers, for insulation. It seems to have not made any difference, but at least it is not worse than it used to be.

Patched up the frame rail sections with sheet metal caps, and sprayed it all with rubberized undercoat.

Patched the hole in the spare wheel pan, and removed the spare wheel with really old tire, that is a really old tire in the car. It had a green towel under the wheel, I guess to provide some cushioning, the fabric has fused with the rubber. I will post pictures soon.

Removed the front air dam, as it was just hanging with two screws at the ends. I have not decided if I will install it again, but If I do, it will be done in a much more secure manner.

The car is roadworthy again, I am thinking about looking for some plastic wheel arch inserts, may be from some other car, that can be retrofitted to this car, because all the water splashing straight into the rocker panels, or atleast the part that is close to the wheels, really creates perfect conditions for that area to get rusted.

I will be posting pictures soon, beware, it is no where close to what you guys are used to seeing on this site, but I think I have made significant improvements to the condition of the car.

[kota02]

here are the pictures of the project.

[kota02]

Total cost so far:

Sheet metal - 30.00

foam - 10.00

headliner/carpet adhesive - 10.00

rubber undercoat spray - 9.00

red rustoleum can - 7.00

rust converter spray - 7.00

Spray Can gun - 3.00

Total - 76.00

Total hours spent - around 30

I am a happy camper.