Here we go again....

With the completion of the seat riser, I was calling the floor on the driver's side done.  There are more things to be accomplished, but the hard part is finished.  With that being said, I proceeded to rip out the nasty mess that was the passenger side floor.  Why someone would want to rivet in untreated metal, sandwich what seems like roofing tar between the pieces, patch the corners with bondo, give it the lightest coat of paint (I think there might be some paint, it's hard to tell it from the rust as they seem to have been the same color), and call it a repair is beyond me.

So after drilling out what seems to be about a hundred rusted rivets, and three separate pieces of metal, I was able to peel out the rusted floor.  It's a good thing I wasn't under the car trying to do this as I think I left as much rust in dusty little piles, as metal that actually came out.  Ugh.

Now came the moment of truth, what is going to be the fate of the passenger side frame rail.  It was not good.  I had originally assumed that I would have to replace the whole thing based on how it looked from the outside.  After closer inspection, and much prodding it with a screwdriver, I had hopes that I would be able to patch it and save most of the rail.  This does not appear to be the case.  Now I will say that there is a good portion of the rail that could be saved if I really wanted to do that much work cutting and patching and fabbing and welding and ......well you get the idea.

I would have to patch most of the outer rail starting at the bumper bolts (they are about to fall out of the rail), the underside, and the back end of it.  In the long run, and I think most people would agree with me, it will actually take me less time and effort to cut the spot welds and install a brand new, shiny rail that is already welded and solid.    With the frame under the car, it's a simple matter to install a couple extra pieces to help align the new rail once I get the old one out.  This one should be much easier than the driver's side was.  While I am down here, I will need to pull the rocker apart and see if it is salvageable, replace the inner portion if it is, replace the front rocker piece and fit a torque box onto this side of the car.  Essentially it will be the same process as the driver's side was.  Looks like I need to get an order for parts placed soon.  Oh, the excitement!

Anyway, here is what I was looking at.

Back side of floor.

Front of floor.  I had cut out a piece in order to get access to the transmission tunnel crossmember.

First piece removed.

Second piece removed.

Everything out, backside.

Everything out, frontside.

Look at all that rust piled in there, and the rat nest that has been sitting in the bottom of the rail.  This is after cleaning out one nest already. 

Here we are looking at the inside of the rail.  It is really difficult to see in the picture, but there is another nest up behind the bracket.  It is also pretty much rusted through the bracket in a few places.  I couldn't get a very good pic of that stuff.