I started ripping into the floor replacement on my '55 Fairlane, and I've discovered that the problem was worse than I thought. Turns out the front part of the inner rockers are trashed, and so are the front floor braces (I guess that's what it's called) that are under the pedals on the driver's side and where the pedals would be if the car were right hand drive. It looks like I can use some kind of rectangular tube steel on both problem areas. My question is more about the inner rocker area...if I weld a patch in place, the outer side will either rust again in no time, or if I paint it first, the paint will catch fire while welding. Should I use the BBQ Black stuff or high heat engine enamel? If I'm only going to be tacking it and letting the tacks cool, will it exceed 1200 degrees long enough to get hot enough to burn?
**** weld only ( end to end dont overlat the metal it can cause a moisture trap)use a zinc rich weld through primer( 3m, wurth), then when your welding is done, make an access hole and blast the inside of the rocker space with cavity wax (i mean douse it front to back and when you think your done add some more)then get a rubber grommet and cover that access hole you made. good luck and i hoped that helped out
Thanks for the advice. Where do you get these products, the weld through zinc rich primer and the cavity wax? Unfortunately, the car (and I) are in the sticks right now and I don't even know of an auto body supply in the area. Would a NAPA or Autozone have that kind of stuff or am I up a creek until I get back to civilization? Thanks.
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