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Skip to second to last paragraph for question about liner.
So as time has gone on and I've spent more time with Bronquito, I've learned the reality of buying a rust belt vehicle. There's a few rust holes in the body that need to be patched under the drivers seats and the floor under the dash. Overall, not terrible, but work to be done none the less.
Body mount bushings are in terrible shape and need to be replaced, but I'm going to defer that to a shop. I prefer not to mess with it. I do need to hit the frame with a wire wheel and some rust reformer. Debating a top coat of rubber undercoating. It would probably be easier to do the frame if I did the body mount bushings myself since I'd have more access to the top of the frame.
It's been cool taking apart the front end and seeing how everything is held together. I took the bumper off, grill, headlights, and I almost have one of the fenders off, but I can't seem to find the last bolt(s). I think its behind the wheel well, but haven't been able to take that out (read on).
In trying to get to a rust hole in the body under the glove box (just on the other side of the wheel well from the outside), One of the heads came off on a bolt securing the wheel well, so I need to figure out how to get that out. I also broke the head off the bolt securing one of the rear seats. I broke an extractor trying to get it out, so I need to order some diamond tip bits of sanding stones for the dremel.
The carpet under the passenger seat around the floor pan was soaked and moldy. I took it out and took advantage of the clear South Florida skies the last few weeks to let the carpet dry and kill the mold. I still need to rent a spot cleaner and maybe see if I can find a steam cleaner.
The floor pans have some sort of rubber liner from the factory. You can see it in the picture (the parts of the floor that aren't rusted/exposed). On the passenger side, I scraped it all off since it was saturated with moisture but that made it quite easy to take off. I'm debating whether or not to take all of it off in the front seat area since I'll be putting down aftermarket thermo-acoustic panels anyway. Removing it will also give it out of the way when patching the body. However, it's quite difficult to remove. How can I get this to come off easily? I imagine there must be something to soak it in.
Little by little its coming together. I'm enjoying myself while working on it much more than I enjoyed the full size. This is my first project car (excluding the full size bronco, long story) that I've spent time on. Not the most savvy but I can work with tools and I've been doing a lot of reading on the model.
So as time has gone on and I've spent more time with Bronquito, I've learned the reality of buying a rust belt vehicle. There's a few rust holes in the body that need to be patched under the drivers seats and the floor under the dash. Overall, not terrible, but work to be done none the less.
Body mount bushings are in terrible shape and need to be replaced, but I'm going to defer that to a shop. I prefer not to mess with it. I do need to hit the frame with a wire wheel and some rust reformer. Debating a top coat of rubber undercoating. It would probably be easier to do the frame if I did the body mount bushings myself since I'd have more access to the top of the frame.
It's been cool taking apart the front end and seeing how everything is held together. I took the bumper off, grill, headlights, and I almost have one of the fenders off, but I can't seem to find the last bolt(s). I think its behind the wheel well, but haven't been able to take that out (read on).
In trying to get to a rust hole in the body under the glove box (just on the other side of the wheel well from the outside), One of the heads came off on a bolt securing the wheel well, so I need to figure out how to get that out. I also broke the head off the bolt securing one of the rear seats. I broke an extractor trying to get it out, so I need to order some diamond tip bits of sanding stones for the dremel.
The carpet under the passenger seat around the floor pan was soaked and moldy. I took it out and took advantage of the clear South Florida skies the last few weeks to let the carpet dry and kill the mold. I still need to rent a spot cleaner and maybe see if I can find a steam cleaner.
The floor pans have some sort of rubber liner from the factory. You can see it in the picture (the parts of the floor that aren't rusted/exposed). On the passenger side, I scraped it all off since it was saturated with moisture but that made it quite easy to take off. I'm debating whether or not to take all of it off in the front seat area since I'll be putting down aftermarket thermo-acoustic panels anyway. Removing it will also give it out of the way when patching the body. However, it's quite difficult to remove. How can I get this to come off easily? I imagine there must be something to soak it in.
Little by little its coming together. I'm enjoying myself while working on it much more than I enjoyed the full size. This is my first project car (excluding the full size bronco, long story) that I've spent time on. Not the most savvy but I can work with tools and I've been doing a lot of reading on the model.
