Rear floor - yet another

I took the carpet out the back of my Disco 1 recently to inspect the floor.

This is what I found:-




This doesnt look too bad to me, here are a couple more:-

The worst bit.....




The seatbelt mount:-





The right hand side....




All in all it doesnt look too bad but it's probably best that it gets some attention sooner rather than later.

As the floor seems to rot from underneath I am assuming that the cross members will be well shot? If this is likely to be the case whats to stop me grinding the majority of the panel out rather than drilling the spot welds?

Also, what is the best way of rustproofing the new panel - I have read other posts that talk about different types of sealer but I am not sure where it goes e.g. do you seal between where the new panel and original panels meet?

Is it necessary to take the petrol tank out to underseal the underneath once the new panel is fitted?


Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

D

nah what you do is take out yer engine, buy a 110 with a knackered 2.5td, swap engines and away you go!

Dont think you would say that if you knew my disco is the 2.0 mpi !! Any advice on the question though?

Cheers

D

dave_dunn said:

Dont think you would say that if you knew my disco is the 2.0 mpi !! Any advice on the question though?

Cheers

D

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in which case just get another rusty disco with a proper engine. and you could bobtail yours that'd get rid of ur rust.

actually i have nothing productive to say at all sorry - more intelligent peeps will be along shortly

No takers on this one?

D

dave_dunn said:

No takers on this one?

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I good steam clean underneath and some spray on cavity wax. That will slow it down, but unless you start with a new floor and treat it properly it is almost impossible to stop the rust spreading.

It does actually look pretty good to me.

The Mpi can be 'improved'. Remember it is an O-series engine that turned up with a turbo in the 220 Rover Coupe

andyb66 said:

I good steam clean underneath and some spray on cavity wax. That will slow it down, but unless you start with a new floor and treat it properly it is almost impossible to stop the rust spreading.

It does actually look pretty good to me.

The Mpi can be 'improved'. Remember it is an O-series engine that turned up with a turbo in the 220 Rover Coupe

Click to expand...

I had the 218 vvc coupe, not as quick but good fun!!

The MPI is T-series I think, al-la 620ti, solid enough engine but just not suited to a 2tonne+ 4x4

andyb66 said:

I good steam clean underneath and some spray on cavity wax. That will slow it down, but unless you start with a new floor and treat it properly it is almost impossible to stop the rust spreading.

It does actually look pretty good to me.

Click to expand...

To be honest it isnt that bad. If it wasnt for some of the horrors I have seen on this forum when left untreated I would probably just leave it!! For the sake of a £60 quid panel and a bit of effort I will probably get it done.

I am just not sure of the best way treat the new panel and underbody once fitted?

Do you treat the mating surfaces before fitting? If so with a rust preventer and a rust inhibitor?

Once fitted is it best to underseal, grease or wax?

Sorry for the dumb questions but the last thing I want to do is got to the effort of doing the work and lock a load of rust in!!

D

dave_dunn said:

I am just not sure of the best way treat the new panel and underbody once fitted?

Click to expand...

Seam sealer then an anti-rust or hard wearing paint.....which is a subject in itself.

Just replaced mine, other than hammeriting over the old rust and welded areas will prob just slap another coat of paint over on a yearly basis and accept these things rust. Considering mines needed a new floor after 15years of neglect it's not as bad as people say really - imo anyways

the 2.0 mpi is a T series Engine which is taken from the Rover 820

I have recently done my old one....yours is nothing! Beleive!

The stage it is at now, you can patch it if that makes you feel better. All in, for a disco floor that is pretty solid. The belt mounts would benefit from a little attention, but to be honest, they are actually mounted to a bushed bar that leads to the chassis, so no real strain is taken by the floor - but it would keep the testers happy.

If you want to weld it, just patch neatly, re-seal very well, and plenty of shultz underneath and on top. The minor areas you can pretty much clean out and either patch or just treat and seal.

The rear patches of rust you see attach to the most useless support bars that are known to mankind - i think they are there more to stop vibration noise than anything else. If you do decide to cut the whole floor out, be steady round that area as you are just above the tank.

dave_dunn said:

I took the carpet out the back of my Disco 1 recently to inspect the floor.

This is what I found:-

This doesnt look too bad to me, here are a couple more:-

The worst bit.....
The seatbelt mount:-


The right hand side....


All in all it doesnt look too bad but it's probably best that it gets some attention sooner rather than later.

As the floor seems to rot from underneath I am assuming that the cross members will be well shot? If this is likely to be the case whats to stop me grinding the majority of the panel out rather than drilling the spot welds?

Also, what is the best way of rustproofing the new panel - I have read other posts that talk about different types of sealer but I am not sure where it goes e.g. do you seal between where the new panel and original panels meet?

Is it necessary to take the petrol tank out to underseal the underneath once the new panel is fitted?


Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

D

Click to expand...

Hi D, the best single thing you can do for your Disco floor is to take out the carpet and rubber mat and leave them out permanently - this will allow the floor to dry. Incidently they rust from the top down, not from underneath.

I put a sheet of plywood over the metal floor and since doing this the floor has stayed bone dry.

Oh and I'm bolting mine down tomorrow, don't care what people say - it ain't structural!!

Here's what mine was like when I bought it last year:

So many different options to chose from. Simply a case of what works best for you.

I can only tell you what I did. Whether this is better or worse than what others did, I don't know. Truth be told, I don't think there is much differance between any of the well known products out there.

Anyway, mine was a bit worse than yours, so I replaced my boot floor and crossmembers, (and inner rear arches too).

The panels were from Paddocks. Not usually a fan of theirs, or Britpart, but Paddocks are local, and when it comes to body panels, their as cheap as anywhere, and let's be honest, it's not a nearly new Merc, so decent panel gaps aren't really an issue. (I know how I go on about using my local LR main dealer for parts, and on most things they are competative, just not on body panels, although many parts prices are coming down, so may be a good idea to check first).

My Disco is a keeper, so perhaps I went a bit OTT with the repair, plus I didn't want to be doing it again in a couple of years.

Fuel tank out, cut out old rotten panels and crossmembers. With the new ones, remove the primer from were I would be welding. With the rest of the panel I roughed up the surface a little, in order to get new paint to help stick.

Once it was welded in, I Karusted the bare metal areas, then added a coat of slightly thinned down Hammorite zinc rich primer. On top of this I added a couple of coats of Hammorite top coat, then got it waxoiled.

I pay far more attention to how clean I keep the underside of my Landie, and get it steam cleaned and waxoiled every autuam.


I have also heard many good things about Dinatrol, but having never used it, can't say for certain what it's like.


Just my 2p. And like I said, most of the products are likely to be much the same. What I would say with certainty is do the job once, and do it right, then keep it clean there after, (as it jet wash it properly every time you venture off road).

Oh, and a +1 for removing the carpets and sound deadening. It's just like having a huge wet sponge sitting on your floorpan 365 days a year.

Thanks guys - the carpets are now out!!

D

Dave,

Last year MOT man advised rear floor was "rusting so would be good to look at" as he was handing me the MOT certificate. I had a look and decided to buy a kit I'd seen on eBay, £100 all the bits. Checked out this forum and set to it, bought spot weld drill and removed the floor after loads of effin' and blindin', don't forget to remove those bits of carpet over the wheel arches as they could hide extra rust worm, mine did I had to weld plates around the seat belt fixings. I also found it helpful to remove the rear seats.

Fitting the new floor wasn't to bad just a load of stop start welding of the Z shaped side supports as it naffs yer back if you try and stay in there to long. Beware the cross members and those flappy floor supports that don't appear to do much, you might need some assitance when fixing them to the floor. I used hefty pop rivets to stop the floor pan vibrating on the cross members etc. the central seat belt fixings do most of the work holding the pan in place. As the original floor was spot welded I got away with tacking the new one to the side rails at 2 inch spacing. When all done a heavy coat of mastic along the seams both inside and out. As the moisture that had caused the rust worm to breed came from within the cabin I painted the entire floor space including arches with a couple of coats of black hammerite, left it a week then put the carpets and seats back. During that week I found out where the moisture had come from, those dinky windows on the edge of the roof, seals had rotted. Bought new seals then got my local windscreen shop to swap them, cost about £75 including the seals from the local Landrover shop.

I will have the whole underside cleaned and Waxoyled before the winter, there's a guy down in Sittingbourne CHASSISWAX doing it, will give him a bell and check out the prices.