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Posted by: stateofidleness Sep 3 2010, 06:57 PM

so after RE-starting work on greenie, I have moved it to the driveway and have been working on it the past few weekends (brakes mostly). every time i'd go out to work on it, i'd see about 4-5 large ants on the hood.. i thought it was weird... looked EVERYWHERE for an ant motel inside the car.. took the shop vac to EVERY nook and cranny I could find thinking that should do the trick...

well.. after thunderstorms yesterday, I go to check to see how damp the inside got (window seals are bad) and there's the damn ants again!! i decided i'm gonna find out where those damn things are coming from... took me about 5 minutes and VOILA!

I go to lift the center console pad and it looked like something out of a horror movie..

the WHOLE tray, about a 1/2" deep was FULL of large ants (winged beasts at that!) and were still alive! i would've taken a pic but they started to scramble as soon as I moved the pad, so i wanted to vacuum them up quickly...

long story, short (or too late for that?) i end up taking the back pad off and find 2 big ass mud dobber nests and some more random ants... (the backpad is dated too! ha. 1972)

heh.. i also found my shift rod bushing crumbling to pieces as i vacuumed around it... fun...

so how does this "beer and bbq" thing work?? car is at my folk's house and I need to do pushrod tube seals as it leaks oil something fierce... nice and smokey when running... anyone have a mobile lift

Posted by: BigDBass Sep 3 2010, 07:01 PM

Posted by: stateofidleness Sep 3 2010, 07:08 PM

i got 'after' pics

Posted by: kerensky Sep 3 2010, 07:37 PM

Hey, at least they weren't fire ants!

Posted by: bandjoey Sep 3 2010, 07:49 PM

Careful..they might be rustmites!

Posted by: Vacca Rabite Sep 3 2010, 08:29 PM

I hate mud daubers. they like to build nests in outboard carburators. Yeah, that works out REALLY well.

Zach

Posted by: Jeffs9146 Sep 3 2010, 09:04 PM

Ants don't have wings so they are Termites! Check your house and get someone in to eliminate them now!!

Posted by: stateofidleness Sep 3 2010, 09:05 PM

http://www.ehow.com/about_4612128_what-kind-ants-have-wings.html

Posted by: jeffdon Sep 3 2010, 09:25 PM

Ya know, just the bug thing is enough to make me happy I live in the bay area.

And camping? The sierras are close, and we have nowhere near the bugs there that you guys deal with.

Posted by: bugsy0 Sep 4 2010, 12:30 AM

I found a mouse nest under the passenger seat frame on my '71

Posted by: bembry Sep 4 2010, 03:03 AM

Ask McMark about the dead rats in my car that he found when fixing it. . .

Posted by: Bleyseng Sep 4 2010, 03:50 AM

I am driven crazy with the freakin ants here...they are always crawling on me...food if you put down for 5 minutes has ants on it...in it..

Posted by: 1988Hawk Sep 4 2010, 07:49 AM

Ant problem, use corn meal, they cannot digest it, they take it back to the nest and the queen. It's a quick safe solution.

Posted by: realred914 Sep 4 2010, 12:01 PM

corn meal, hahaha, I say tactical nukes, grease the treads of your tank with their guts, bastards ants, die, die die die.


Ok im better now!

Posted by: Bleyseng Sep 4 2010, 12:05 PM

Corn meal huh, ok as I can barely digest Grits...
I am gonna sneak some ant killer in from the states....

Posted by: Bleyseng Sep 4 2010, 12:05 PM

Corn meal huh, ok as I can barely digest Grits...
I am gonna sneak some ant killer in from the states....

Posted by: stateofidleness Sep 4 2010, 06:41 PM

...should've counted my blessings with the ants... I swear! Just when I get to thinking I only have a few "projects" left until I can actually drive the thing, I go and play "screwdriver spelunking"... you know.. in 914 land where you see "how bad the rust is"...

never do this when you're having an otherwise good day..

little background on this car... all original, running condition, A/C, ravenna green, my "girl" right... while back, the folks broke the windshield so it sat parked while a) I finished up school and they found a source for a new windshield...

anyways, finished up school in august and have been working on the car every weekend to try to get it road-worthy before the weather goes south... I got the brakes fixed (with 914sixer's help, thanks Mark!) and the engine is running a little better (still some hose routing issues), so I was excited to be only a few small projects away from being able to take her out without being too nervous of breaking down..

well tonight, i had taken off the carpet pieces that cover the longs and thought "wow, that looks to be in VERY good condition! (it was actually)". then i get to the passenger side... peel back that carpet, slide the seat forward.. and there it is... staring at me in all its brown, coppery glory... rust...

so i did what most 914 owners do and got a nice big screwdriver and stared exploring... talk about disheartening...

all along the floorpan seem on the bottom and the hell hole firewall area is gone... what sucks is it's JUST the seems, the tar-covered inner part is clean as a whistle... so much for that...


so now my dilemma, which I offer up the forum:
i've never touched a welder in my life (and a car is a bit of a jump into the art) some will say "there's no better time to start than now", but I'm saving for a home and can't see dropping loads of cash into the car at the meoment

seems like putting a new windshield in it at this point would be pointless as the car will most likely keep sitting until the rust is repaired now...

what would you do? I just listed the red chalon on craigslist today as a matter of fact because I was so excited about getting the green one in a shop finally!

i'm so bummed out right now...

Posted by: tracks914 Sep 4 2010, 07:05 PM

LOLOLOL

Posted by: tracks914 Sep 4 2010, 07:08 PM

Ouch, I just read the rest of your post.....rust sucks, sorry to hear that.

Posted by: whatabout1 Sep 4 2010, 08:11 PM

Put a couple of the ant food/bait in there. Careful the tins rust.

The ants take the food/poison back into the nest.

They work in dripping wet pump rooms so should work in a really damp car.

Posted by: bandjoey Sep 4 2010, 08:42 PM

If that's all, screw in some angle iron with JB Weld and drive the car. Put the repairs off till winter sets in. Carpet covers a lot of pain.
Get a $99 welder from Harbor Freight when it's on sale, some sheet metal from the scrap yard, and learn to weld. Search and go through the restoration threads here, and I'll be someone in your area can help out, too.

something to forget, and have fun.

Posted by: stateofidleness Sep 4 2010, 08:45 PM

where's bedford

how much beer would i have to buy to have that rust repaired

I actually thought about the harbor freight route, as my little brother is taking a welding class in high school and would make a good bday present (next week) for him. Does harbor sell anything below $300 that would do floorpans with ease?

Posted by: Dr Evil Sep 4 2010, 09:40 PM

The 90Amp $100 Harbor Freight Mig welder would do just fine for you

Posted by: realred914 Sep 4 2010, 09:48 PM

holy ant jamima!, oh, thats you uncle, sorry for the insect joke!

Posted by: stateofidleness Sep 4 2010, 10:43 PM

can you link me to the $100 mig? i've never welded before... how do i go about NOT blowing myself up