Years ago, when i was a teen, (about 20 years give or take a year) my dad put a fiber gl*** mat and the resin(?) to fill in the rusted out places in the floors in my Studebaker truck. Course back then they didn't have pre made floors for them like they do now. The fibergl*** places are still hard as a rock and shows no signs of cracks. My question is, if it is still in place and hard as a rock, think it will be ok to leave in there or you think i may need to replace it with new flooring? I've even tried to kick it out and it is still there.
You MUST remove it IMMEDIATELY! Someone with crystallophobia could enter your truck at anytime. You must protect them!
They have pre-made floors for Stude trucks, now? Technically that's a ... well, not a correct way to repair it, but that's what you did especially with somehting that was just transportation back in the day. As long as it's holding up you may as well let it go, unless you want to take the time and spend the money to blow it all apart and put some steel in there.
HAHAHA! Never thought about that. Well looks like i may leave it. I just need something to cover up the mess though. It ain't pretty to look at, sort of like my last blind date. I heard that they make a new dynamat to look old for use traditional-ist.
I'd re-do it and fix it right. sounds like it doesn't bother you. you may want to just leave it. quality work should not be reserved for "concours show cars" only.
Quality work???? Hmmmm. Lasted twenty years...so far. Still can't kick it out. No cracking. Hard as a rock. The crystallophobic's mantra: MUST REMOVE 'GL***...NOT RIGHT WAY...MUST BE WELDED. Reminds me of another current thread in which a guy is complaining of shoddy work. After TWENTY years, his paint is cracking and he finds Bondo under it. If I could get twenty years out of any paint over any type of prep, I'd be ecstatic.
This is the best advice I've seen on here. Isn't this why we spend so much of our lives working on this old stuff anyway!
I remember looking at a Ford pickup that was for sale, back in the late 60's. I looked inside and the floor looked solid, but with the sun light the way it was I soon realized that most of the floor was fibergl***, and the original steel has fallen off at some point. However I have done the same thing a couple of times, and both of them lasted for 10+ years with no signs of failure.
Here's my take. Lets say you have a panel thats hard to get a replacement piece for and it's very thin. You get it blasted and are left with a clean panel with tons of pinholes that's way too thin to weld on. If it's clean, wipe it down real good with denatured alcohol and lay a sheet of gl*** on the back side of it. The resin will pop out of the pinholes a bit and you can sand down the outside and have a super solid piece to fill, sand, and paint. It will last a long time if done right. And if it's on a sweet hot rod, no one will care if a couple panels have some gl*** you can't see...
Big *** dent, bondo. Little *** dent, fill primer. Rationalize, like a guy I know parrots the diss of bondo, but;. When he uses it, he calls it (,,shhhhh; that filler stuff a lot of us call bondo), he calls it fibergl***!
As long as it works well why mess with it? Tell any haters it's a vette floor and makes your truck handle better. To do a steel floor better than what's there will require the cab to be come off the frame. If your truck's a driver are you ready to completely dis***emble it just to have a steel floor?
20 years means it's non-traditional You should declare any fibergl*** or billet at the entrance gate.
As far as covering up the mess, I find that the spray can rubberized undercoating can conceal a lot of crimes. The thickness and heavy texture can cover up a lot of stuff your not proud of. It also dries flat black. I use it on both side of the floor pan when I'm done with a repair. It does take a few days to properly dry though.
Mine in my Stude pickup is still strong, solid, quiet, and holding fast after a few decades. Why ruin that ? I know, a few here will tell you you are going to die a terrible firey death (especially if you combine it with radial tires or copper pipes), but mine is still stronger than the original metal. Why ruin that?
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