derekf.com

20 Feb 2019
Front of bed

So I chopped up the fake bed cover. Stored in the compartment is:

Rust!

Driver's side.

Passenger side. I broke free this large chunk of rust-enhancing foam. Sigh.

The support is rusted out too.

Better view of the driver's side. There is some bubbling on outside of the bottom of the quarter here.

You can see little tiny pinholes in the floor here.

Better view of the support.

Support removed. You can probably see the pinholes better now.

The plasma makes it fun. I cannot tell if the lower layer here is part of the old lid, or something for the lid to mount to for sealing purposes.

Without flash you can get a better idea of just how much rust is there.

At least - and it's not much consolation - the "welds" didn't have any/much penetration.

Pile of removed metal grows.

Trying to clean up the side. The shelf the panel mounts to was gone, but there were weld gobs stuck to the panels.

At least the shelf-tab-thing exists here.

Swept and cleaned.

Test fit of the panel. A couple of weld-gobs are in the way.

Blurry closeup of the gobs.

Driver's side, behind the fuel filler. Rust at the edge of the bed, because of course there's rust.

The bolts for the fuel tank were apparently original; I had to cut them with a sawzall.

Surprise - there's no rust in this image!

Passenger side has the same rust at the edge of the bed.

Again - a rust free image.

Drained the fuel tank. There wasn't much in it, thankfully. At best this is 93 octane from 2008.

Need to clean it up, inside and out.

Patched rust holes and tonneau cover snap holes in the sail panel and in the section below the rear window.

Those pinholes? They became perforations, tear at the dotted line.

Removing the "patches" at the back of the footwell. Sigh.

It's all horrible.

So yeah. My car is made of rust and sadness.Good news though:

It's not a show car
It's NOT a show car
It doesn't have to be a show car

I bought 2 sheets of 16ga steel to try and fix things.

I had thought that I would build a battery box and mount the battery on the pass side of this area, and hinge the lid. Now I'm not sure how I would seal that from water - don't want to have to do this again in the future. Battery may end up in the stock location.

Go back to the previous day (10 Feb 19)

	So I chopped up the fake bed cover. Stored in the compartment is: Rust! Driver's side.
Passenger side. I broke free this large chunk of rust-enhancing foam. Sigh.
	The support is rusted out too.
Better view of the driver's side. There is some bubbling on outside of the bottom of the quarter here.
	You can see little tiny pinholes in the floor here.
Better view of the support.
	Support removed. You can probably see the pinholes better now.
The plasma makes it fun. I cannot tell if the lower layer here is part of the old lid, or something for the lid to mount to for sealing purposes.
	Without flash you can get a better idea of just how much rust is there.
At least - and it's not much consolation - the "welds" didn't have any/much penetration.
	Pile of removed metal grows.
Trying to clean up the side. The shelf the panel mounts to was gone, but there were weld gobs stuck to the panels.
	At least the shelf-tab-thing exists here.
Swept and cleaned.
	Test fit of the panel. A couple of weld-gobs are in the way.
Blurry closeup of the gobs.
	Driver's side, behind the fuel filler. Rust at the edge of the bed, because of course there's rust.
The bolts for the fuel tank were apparently original; I had to cut them with a sawzall.
	Surprise - there's no rust in this image!
Passenger side has the same rust at the edge of the bed.
	Again - a rust free image.
Drained the fuel tank. There wasn't much in it, thankfully. At best this is 93 octane from 2008.
	Need to clean it up, inside and out.
Patched rust holes and tonneau cover snap holes in the sail panel and in the section below the rear window.
	Those pinholes? They became perforations, tear at the dotted line.
Removing the "patches" at the back of the footwell. Sigh.
	It's all horrible.