typical, its only after i finish work on the engine and clean the car up a little do i notice a small rust hole under the car behind the front seat. so i started sanding it a little to see how bad it really was. well, the small whole turned into a big one about the size of a fist. flakes of rust and crap poured out of it when i started hitting it from the inside. i know the car had some rust under there but nothing that extensive. is this what happens when you leave a car sitting for a year and a half? looks like the whole floor behind the front seat has caved in. kinda upset me a little. i'm thinking of putting her out to pasture as i havnt been able to get it started either since i arrived back in canada. i'm guessing that its a pretty costly repair and i really dont have the finances or the expertise to fix it myself. funny thing is, i actually never got to drive it. i bought her in the summer of '03 for my first car just before i moved to ireland (i knew i'd be coming back) so i never got the chance to get it insured and put it on the road. I've been doing quite a lot of work on it the past month but only noticed the rust today. its a really cool looking machine and i'd definitly hate to sell it but the cost of repair is probably worth more than the car. anyway, if i do sell it, you can bet my next car will be classic american iron too. probably go for something mid-70's so its a little safer to drive. maybe even another maverick. oh, and something with not too much rust. this is getting kinda long so I guess what im asking is, how much do you think it will cost to get something like that repaired cuz i know some of you have replaced your floorboards before. thanks for any input. Sean
The cost of the repair depends on a lot of factors, like whether you'd be paying someone else to do it or not etc. For what you'd pay a shop to do the repairs you could probaly get a small welding outfit and take a class at your local community college and do it yourself if you're so inclined. In any case I'd wager that if we all stopped working on our cars because the repairs superseded the monetary value of the cars themselves, there'd be a lot more orphaned Mav's/Comets out there. these cars are largely a labour of love. Just my
The sheetmetal I used to replace my rotten areas was pretty cheap. Can't remember the exact price, but it was less than $20. It's the cost of the welder that gets you. You can rent a welder, if you are willing to learn.
is it only the floor that needs repaired? if its only the floor its a pretty simple fix but you would have to take out most of the interior..... even if you can't weld as long as you can take out the interior you will save yourself lots of money. just talk to a local body shop and get an estimate..... and if you decide you don't want to fix it, let me know how much you are gonna sell it for
Heck if it is just some rust on the floor just repair is with a good temporary patch. If you don't have access to a welder and don't want to pay to have it reapaired then.....Remove the rust and cut out a small piece of sheetmetal and rivet it into place over the hole and then get some fiberglass mat and resin over the top of it and it will hold for many years. Don't give up on the old car just over a hole in the floor. Remember Mavericks are gaining in popularity and value so you might be sorry to put her out to pasture. Plus they are as cool as any American classic out there. As far as getting it started, you may have some old gas in the tank. If you left it sit for a long time it will go bad. It is usually something simple like that. Old Fords are hard to kill so look for something simple. Good luck.
yeah i took another look at it today and man, i'm beginning to think rust is the only thing thats holding the car together. besides the big hole in the floor, theres a lot of surface rust underneath and some of it looks to be pretty deep. we're not talking one little spot here, it stretches from the front to the back of the car. its a shame because the actual body is in pretty good shape asides from the usual fender and rear quarter spots which arn't even that bad compared to some. if i do decide to sell, i'll definitly have it running before then. what do you think i could get for it?
hey sean, if you really wanna get the car started let me know if you have some free time this weekend and I could head up to your area and give you a hand.... I was hoping to head to bolton this weekend so I am near toronto anyway on Fri or Sat
This thread is over a year old. I'd suggest removeing any rust thats there and coating it with some rust encapsulator or something like that before riviting in new metal. Otherwise it's just going to keep rusting until the hole is bigger then the metal you put in.
squall, judging by how few posts and how long ago, i would suggest getting in contact before driving out.
