So I popped the access panels off the tunnel, and despite the tunnel looking solid from the top, and solid from the underside of the car, there is soooo much rust in there. I had a field day with the magnetic pickup removing all sorts of crap. I even found a walnut shell, don't know how that got in there. Its enough rust that it worries me. Is this tunnel thing separate from the floorboards? How would I go about replacing it? Hell, do I try and plasma torch one side off of it to get at the rust and try and tack it back together?

Thanks,
Alex

The tunnel is separate from the floor boards. If'n you can weld this shouldn't be a problem. Only other optionis to vaccumit all out spray som metal prep and Por-15 what you can reach.

QUOTE (Joe Ricard @ Jan 27 2005, 09:14 AM)

The tunnel is separate from the floor boards.

well, sort of ...

yes, you could drill out the spotwelds along the tunnel and take it out, but ....

i bet most of the rust is at the *floor* part inside the tunnel, not the tunnel itself.
and the floor is part of the pan.

i have seen this many times, water gets in there and sits there for years, rusting the tunnel floor away.
this is a tricky part to repair. if the rest of your floorpan is OK, you might want to consider cutting it from the bottom and weld in a patch.
have you checked the floor pans in the rear, behind the seats? did you do the "crunch" test on the floorboard tar?

usually, if you get enough water in the center tunnel to cause this kind of damage, the rest of the floorpans (and potentially the longs as well) doesn't look all that good either ...

give us some pics of the carnage!


Andy

Check this thread out for Perry Kiehl's solution.

Tunnel Rust Repair

Reason 9,000,014 why this place rocks: There is always a big hitter who knows the answer to your question. In this case Perry answers this exact question.

If you can get the answer here, there just ain't one.

Before you break out the torch are you sure its rot and not just scale?
I looked at my 74 recently and at first glance looks QUITE rusty but upon closer instpection it is all surface rust and not structural

You should get under the car with a ice pick or screwdriver and see if you can poke a hole in the floor of the tunnel before cutting it off. If it seems solid you could just clean it out and put some POR15 or other on there.

Mine was pretty rusty near the back so I opted to replace the rear half of the floor pan.

get a quart of POR15, dump it in the hole by the seats, the jack up the front, then the back ,then the front, then the back....etc etc.. letting it down in between each of course.

If'n it's just surface rust, it's no big deal (if you ignore it, it might be soon). Mine had very light rusting, so I used some Ospho acid, and then did a Por15 type swabbing with a coat hanger and rag. That did it. I also drilled a small drain hole in the rear part of the tunnel. That way when (not if) water gets in there it's got somewhere to go. The paint is slick enough that the water runs down and out pretty quick.

My .02.

Just for general rustprofing info, Rustoleum has recently made its "Rust Reformer" (a good product) available in a spray can, just like their spray paint. IF the local hardware store doesn't carry it, they can get it, or check with Rustoleum and they'll give you the name of the nearest dealer.

How does one cut and weld around the plastic fuel lines in the tunnel?

You dont
Use it as an oppertunity to replace the 30yr old lines with New Steel lines that wont crack leak or burst.

QUOTE (rdauenhauer @ Jan 28 2005, 09:06 AM)

You dont Use it as an oppertunity to replace the 30yr old lines with New Steel lines that wont crack leak or burst.

You don't have to cut open the tunnel to replace the lines they can be removed and re fitted thru the openings in the back where they connect to the rubber lines, BUT as I found out after I demoed them, the hard lines are almost never the leaking problem, it's usually the rubber hoses and connections. Just my .02