Questions about my floorpans (rather long) ...

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://photos.msn.com/viewing/album.aspx?m7A!X9U3q6bynoZEhFj0U3o3QxLh6k6iduColmTl!dneJF1MgdXywyQ4foInZodNv8ihRafIsErftSIXtNFtqT96V!YrofaP2VcsV!FcxfbUVsAiOLHpnw$$

I'm removing the sound deadening material right now. I got five blocks (~35 lbs @ $0.99/lb) from the seafood counter at the local grocery store, and it's working very well! But before I started banging away I took a few pictures, and I'm hoping some wise soul out there can answer a few questions for me.

The pictures are in the link above. The questions are these:

Pic #4) I pulled this thing off the tranny tunnel, but it also extended onto both floorpans and up the firewall. It has a hard shell with foam underneath. Is it OEM?

Pic #5) You can see some discoloration on the firewall under the heater. Is that a heater leak? Can anyone tell me any more based on the photo?

Pic #6) I'm planning on having the floor patched in few places, rather than buying new stamped floors. I understand that new stamped sheet metal floor pieces extend a few inches up the tranny tunnel. If I decide I do need new floors altogether, does the rust in this pic go too far up the tunnel for a new stamped piece? Would I need to cut a piece out of a rust free tub instead?

Pic #10) There were several hooks around the shroud that I removed from the tunnel, which held the shroud (shell, not sure of the correct terminology) in place. Are these supposed to be there, or where they actually nailed in through the sheet metal or something?

Any comments or advice are welcome. Thanks!

--Damon

[Guest Anonymous]

-The hooks are stock.

-The hard shell insulation thingy may be stock but wasn't on my

car.

-That is where my heater was leaking-certainly will cause rust.

Removal of heater box is easy but I can't speak (yet) on the

repair

-I don't know about the rest.

Now a question for you-or someone who may know-What is that covering the peddle box? My car does not have that. Is it OEM? My carpet was replaced by the po and hence the possible omission of such items.

BTW-Nice car. What color is that?

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.marsmann.com/2002tii/

number 4: yes, original tunnel cover

number 5: yes, minor leak from heater box. remove rust and replace heater box foam gasket with silicone based gasket maker.

number 6: it is indeed going up a little further than where a standard replacement floor pan will go. How bad is it? If it's only surface rust it can be treated...

number 10: yes, those hooks belong there from factory to hold the tunnel cover in place.

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.marsmann.com/2002tii/

if you mean the rubber cover, yes, your pedal box should have it. It's keeps dust and dirt out.

It should also have a foam like cover on the under side of the pedal box (under the car where the speedo cable runs) but I know some owners remove it because they fear it causes rust (humidity buildup supposedly)

[Guest Anonymous]

Agreed with the comments below, and,

unless you find a lot more rust under the sound deadening, I'd vote to repair the existing floorpan.

But the cruel irony is that you'll have to clean it all up to make a final decision on it.

And Mars, I'd agree that the outside foam traps water and causes corrosion- the rust patterns match the contact spots of the foam cover.

IMHO, of course!

t

[Guest Anonymous]

My car leaked from the heater seal also. I put a bunch of time into patching my floors and finally decided to go with new pans. As my floors had rusted from the inside out, the floor pans were "thinned out" so much that I had no confidence in what I had chosen to leave there. I only want to do this once. I'd strongly recommend that you do the dry ice masitc removal on the floor pans and open them up in the area of the plugs. The more you can see now the better decision you will make.

[Guest Anonymous]

...and it looks like each side has only 1 major (and possibly one minor) problem area. At this point I think I'll continue with the patching idea. I'll get a second opinion from the place that is doing the work.

Thanks!

Damon

[Guest Anonymous]

You can try a citrus based cleaner and it will turn the tar into smeary mess that you can clean up with paper towels. I used a product called "De-Solv-It", but I think that other similar cleaners should work.

The stuff cost about six dollars for twelve ounces. Once bottle should do the entire floor pan with a lot left over. You can find out more at orange-sol.com.

It takes about a minute and a half to soften it up. Clean up is a cinch.

[Guest Anonymous]

...I used the dry ice method and it was quick and clean-but pricey, relatively speaking. However, it would be nice to use the citrus cleaner for what the dry ice missed omo.

[Guest Anonymous]

....because the pans look salvageable. All this discussion on rotted floor pans convinces me to find alternative for heating my 02. While it is a fair weather vehicle I would like to have heat for chilly fall drives so I will install a heater. but not the original. I know I'll use an electric solonoid instead of the mechanical valve for water flow. Beyond that I am considering having an aluminum box fabricated to replace the original heater box. It will have only very basic functions-i.e. a choice between defrost or heat. Either on or off. Fan speed will remain variable.

[Guest Anonymous]

Isn't replacing the foam seal with silicon enough? Will the box continue to have problems even after "upgrading" the seals?

If memory serves I think there's a good article on this site about refreshing your heater. At this point I plan to follow that article.

I drive my car year-round right now, so I NEED heat! :-)

--Damon

[Guest Anonymous]

Replacing the silicon probably is enough-for awhile. It seems to be one of those common weak points of our cars. I avoid bad weather so a good heater isn't necessary for me and I'de rather avoid the long term problems due to leaky heater boxes. That's just me and I'm certainly in the minority on this one I'm sure. Plus I like the challenge of fabricating a new heater. Who knows? Maybe I'll revolutionize 02 heater replacement:).

[Guest Anonymous]

After removing most of the tar with dry ice, I removed the hard-to-freeze sections with a heat gun. If you just warm it a little bit, it will come of in huge chunks. If I had tried that first, I would have saved myself $50 in dry ice. Unless you really sit on it with the heat gun, the tar doesn't smoke.

Mike