I'm buying* Canada's cheapest, roadworthy**, 50 mpg*** Mazda Miata MX-5

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by Daox

I await rusty pics.

I await repair and result pics....maybe it will reassure me that I can do the same!

[MetroMPG]

The passenger side, cut back to clean metal. Just one hole, and not too bad:




Choco delish patch template!

[MetroMPG]

The driver's side was unsurprisingly worse than it looked at first glance.

Here it is, sawzall-cut back to good metal.



FORTUNATELY! The edges of the cut are where the metal is thicker/structural and so slower to rust away. So there's a good "border" to weld to, almost all the way around.

That section running down the middle of the footwell is an underbody "frame rail" - a box channel stiffening element, also made of thicker metal. It needs a bit of first aid.

Based on what I'm seeing, I bet someone probably sells pre-fab floor patch panels for this car. Of course, I'm just going to cut & paste scraps of sheetmetal I have laying around.

[MetroMPG]

I made some progress this weekend!

I borrowed some steel boat stands to get the car up nice and high to work underneath:



Of course, the more I worked, the more bad metal I found. (The latest is a hole behind the plastic fender liner.)



But the floor itself is now mostly done, aside from cleaning it up, sealing, painting & undercoating.




I'm not going to win any welding awards. But it'll do the job.

[MetroMPG]

... and my 2nd, 3rd and 4th!

Up to today, I've been pleasantly surprised at how easily the nuts & bolts on a 27 year old car could yield to a wrench and a bit of penetrating oil. (Thanks to not being winter driven.)

But this fender did not want to come off easily!



Unfortunately, I found more future welding work hidden beneath it...

[Daox]

Reminds me a lot of the work I did on my Metro.

[serialk11r]

Wow. You are next level masochist.

I was getting frustrated working on my car after breaking the suspension tower studs and discovering my sway bar bushings had crumbled away after spending several days redoing a bunch of wiring, and here you are with a car that makes mine look new patching all that rust like it's nothing...

[MetroMPG]

Rust repair is nearly done.

I have 2 small patches to finish this evening, then it's time to clean & seal the seams, paint (inside) and undercoat (bottom).

Originally Posted by Daox

Reminds me a lot of the work I did on my Metro.

But with much messier welding!

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Wow. You are next level masochist.

Supposedly the masochist enjoys the pain. That definitely doesn't apply to me -- I'm sick & tired of working under this car and happy it's nearly over!

It occurred to me early on in this process that even at $700, I definitely overpaid for this car.

Part of this is my own fault: I work so slowly. I bet this is a weekend's work to someone with more experience. (And a work ethic!)

[MetroMPG]

Welding is done! Seam sealing done! Undercoating done!

Pics to come.

[jimhs]

Cool!!
I wouldn't even dare to start a project like this
What kind of sheet metal did you use?