domderbyshire

Active Member
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Afternoon, All.

Here are some photos of the corrosion I recently discovered in my footwell / bulkhead areas on my 90. I wondered what people think about how severe it is and how to proceed. The apparent rust at the upper edge of the driver's footwell is, in fact, degradation of the paint due to a leaking clutch master cylinder, and nothing more sinister.

Many thanks for any input and kind regards,

Dom
 
Oooh, tin worm.

Looks like you are going to be cutting and replacing a few bits.
Fingers crossed it does not get much bigger when you start cutting out the rot.
It looks like a lot of that could be replacement sections / plates that could be sealed and bolted into place.

Good luck

Cheers
 
Yes, it doesn't seem too bad and I'm hoping to get away with patches etc. The truck had the original sound deadening fitted, which had retained moisture, such that the rot appears to be from the inside out. Once it's patched up, how to I go about making it good? It doesn't need to be green, so hammerrite, or similar?
 
Mine was less corroded than yours, but I ended up buying new foot wells and welding them in. I say I welded them. I got a car body shop to do them. Much neater job than I could have done. Trouble is if you try patching them up I find your constantly trying to play catch up with the plating and welding. I prefer to do a job once but do it properly and not have to come back to it. Had mine done about four years ago and still fine.
 
The passenger side appears to be double skinned, or a least it feels like that when you poke around.


If you look up from underneath you can see the thing is double skinned and is a water/dirt trap, the cut out and bolt in method does work and lasts well.
 
It's booked in for a timing belt change very soon, so I phoned the garage to discuss looking at this issue while they've got the car. They're a great independent Land Rover specialist whom I trust due to several recommendations from fellow Landy drivers, so I'll see what they say and take it from there. I've a few other things I want them to look at. I'm glad I've been saving up.
 
New footwells sounds sensible. They're not expensive. Did you buy from YRM? Did you paint them afterwards?
Bought mine from Paddocks as I was looking for LHD. Yes after fitting they were painted underneath with a heavy anti rust type pain. I don't know what the garage used but its a very thick almost rubber/tar base type of paint.
The inside was painted with normal body paint which has worn off and is down to bare metal but no sign of rust. I removed the rubber mats as they were trapping the water and causing rust.
 
Thanks for that. I'm in two minds about putting the sound proofing back in as I think I prefer noise to rust!
Put it back if its dry. I put a neoprene seal between the removable floor plate and sealed any joints in the footwell, inner and outer, with brushable seam sealer. Paint the new footwell good enough and it will last well. Your soundproof matt was probably soaked with water coming through that bloody great hole.
 
I have found it almost impossible to keep the inside of my Defender water tight.. As soon as I have plugged one leak another one appears. Plus I use mine on my land and in the forest where it is always getting wet inside. So I have opted to remove all the floor coverings and let the water just dry off and I can also keep an eye on the amount of water in the foot wells. Trouble is using any kind of floor covering you don't know if there is water seeping in from some where. I have sound proofed the transmission tunnel and under the bonnet which has reduced the noise. I can at least have a conversation. I don't think you loose much noise reduction by sound proofing the foot wells. And I would sooner be rust free.rather than having to lift the rubber mats every time I lock up the Defender. I go by what all the farmers do around here with there tractors. They have bare metal floors, no matting. All to there own, this is what works for me.
 
Yes, I think mine will always leak, although it's not too bad. Definitely something to monitor to avoid a recurrence of rust. I have transmission tunnel and under bonnet sound proofing that is the standard LR stuff. I will reinstate that and take a view on the footwells themselves once the rust has been dealt with. I get in and out of the vehicle with muddy wellies all the time. It's refreshing to drive a vehicle you can do that with without worrying or being too precious!
 
Once a year I take out my floor mats and give the foot wells a clean,let dry then coat with spray grease before replacing mats,Foot wells still good on my 1990 90.
 
I was recommended Isoflex Liquid Rubber although I have not used it yet so can“t say how good it will be. Only seems to come in a 2l plus tin though. A bit much for a couple of footwells.
 

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