New Boot Floor, or ...? Opinions Requested

[cobolman]

As some will know, I've taken over an abandoned project on a 1960 Mini. The last owner did an appreciable amount of work and I'm gently finding my way and understanding more each day.

One thing I decided to do with the car was to remove the Tetrosyl Tetroseal Rust Preventer from the boot. It's great stuff but I want to paint the boot in body colour (tartan red) like the original. As I've (slowly - oh so bl**dy slowly) removed the Tetroseal, I'm uncovering a floor that ... well, I leave it to you to decide

Here's a view of the entire boot thus far:

Boot.jpg

And here are close ups of a few regions that I welcome your thoughts on:

Battery Box. This looks like a recently welded in panel but one of the corner edges appears to have lifted.

Battery Box Sml.jpg

Rear Left Wheel Arch. There's been a patch applied here and the seam between the floor panel and the wheel arch is not closed. There's maybe a 3mm gap if I shine a torch up from underneath

Left Rear Wheelarch Sml.jpg

And finally, the right rear wheel arch. It seems that there's a lot of filler here, which has thinned a little at the point where arch meets floor and light is visible through it if I place a torch underneath.

Rear Right Wheelarch Sml.jpg

My guiding principle with the car is to keep it as original as possible. But of course, I don't want to do that if it compromises the car. My questions are:

1. Would you fit a whole new floor pan?
2. Would you weld up some of the gaps then apply judicious amounts of seam sealer and rust preventer, then paint over?
3. Any other amazing ideas you would consider?

Oh, and a bonus question (and thanks for reading this far): Anybody know of a better way to remove Tetroseal other than white spirit (which is effective but really slow)

Thanks in advance.

[Peter Laidler]

Tetrosyl..... Wouldn't a steam cleaner get to grips with it. I mean a real STEAM jet cleaner. It cleared most of the Ziebart from my friends MGB. Some of the real steam cleaners do on-site work from the back of a lorry. One bloke round here charges less if he can plumb into your water and electricity

My opinion on your boot floor is that while it's been bodged in the past, I think that once it's been cleared of that shite, you'll see that it's not as bad as you think (or it seems...). Probably worth a few simple but properly done sheet metal repairs. A complete new boot floor ain't a job to take on lightly that's for sure

Just my opinion from looking at photos

[mini_surfari]

Heat gun and a scraper will get the worst off, and then rags soaked in petrol (plenty of ventilation required). A shit job none the less though.

The boot floor doesn't look terrible at all, personally I would get it as clean as possible (necessary for welding/ painting regardless of the direction you go), and then give it a full inspection.

I suspect you could unpick some of that and let in well formed patches and have some invisible repairs quite easily, especially if originality is the name of the game.

[Dearg1275]

It does look a bit of a patch work. Until you have it all back to bare metal you will not know the full extent of the problems. Rust and patches both. The battery box looks poorly done and the repairs around the tank stand also. I would remove the battery box and tank stand and start again with larger better shaped panels. If you are intent on keeping as much of the original panels as possible but are not confident in shaping new ones then you could buy fresh panels and cut sections to suit the damaged areas. A bit extreme but much less hassle than doing a complete boot floor.

D

[cobolman]

This forum is great! As I'm sure many of you know, it can be a bit discouraging working on this stuff on your own but that can be quickly wiped out by the help provided here. Many thanks to all of you that have responded.

I'm greatly heartened by the prevailing view that remedial welding should do the job. I've contacted a local mobile welder that specialises in Minis so hopefully, they'll be able to help.

Also, I'm searching for a mobile steam cleaner now. If they can save me the countless hours of stripping the Tetroseal off with white spirit, I'll be delighted!

[Joel Welsh 4769VU]

I'm not sure what you can get your hands on over there- but something like acetone or lacquer thinner will likely cut through much quicker... but may damage surrounding paint if spilled.

And likely cause headaches and breathing troubles if not used in a well ventilated area!

Is that really that much brass covered area that I'm seeing? Where it was brazed in? The areas that look goldish in color?

Oh my....

[mab01uk]

I agree remedial welding should do the job....seen far worse boot floor areas in Minis that have been neatly repaired without removing/replacing all the original boot floor.

[Fanfaniracing]

Dry Ice! Blasting or like the Guy in the Video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AfNTB1235V8&t=25s

[Peter Laidler]

Dry ice........ amazing to see it at work in the video. How does that work I'm bound to ask.......?

[Costafortune]

I'd scrape all that black shit off, soften it up with thinners first.

Then a wire cup brush in a grinder and bare metal the boot floor. If the repairs are solid, I'd either redo the battery box seams or drop a new one in. Solid repairs can be linished with a grinder and tidied up with plastic filler. Then DA sand it, prime, paint, job done. You can either reinvent the wheel or make it sound and good looking.

[Peter Laidler]

......... but he's fed up using the oh-so-slow thinners method!

[cobolman]

A quick update on where I am with this ...

I rang a couple of guys that specialize in high pressure steam cleaning. They advised that their washers would probably be too powerful for what I'm after and I may do better to speak to a car body shop.

For what it's worth, I did take a Karcher Steam Cleaner and tried some steam only on a section. I'm sure I heard it laughing at me.

I also noticed that I had some Gunk Ultra around and gave that a go. This time, I thought I heard sniggering.

As you've guessed, the Tetroseal held firm.

I rang a company local to me that specializes in classic restorations and they advised:

- Brush on white spirit, let it work for a while, and then remove while it's still wet (you can imagine my eye roll)
- Brush on Alloy Wheel Cleaner. Let it dwell for a while and then use a scuff pad, followed by wiping off with wet cloth (trying this tomorrow)
- If the condition of the underlying paint isn't an issue, try Jenolite Paint Stripper. That'll get it off (and probably a lot more besides)

[mab01uk]

If you do try paint stripper, apply it and then cover it in Clingfilm or polythene sheet to prevent evaporation and then leave for an 30 minutes or so, then remove the polythene sheet and start scraping. Scratching up the surface with a wire brush before applying also helps the stripper to penetrate better.

[Peter Laidler]

I can see exactly where you're coming from but wonder if there's a better, chemical way to go about this. Looking at the boot - and presumably the underside of the car - some of the paint is still in good condition and good enough to keep intact. Or am I wrong?

Steam WILL definately soften the Tetrosyl just as it did on my friends Ziebarted MGB. Got it hot, broke it down and made scraping it off simple.

But always ready to learn..........

[cobolman]

I didn't get a chance to try the Alloy Wheel Cleaner today so that's now a tomorrow job I did manage to test the G101 cleaner on the interior trim though (result in a separate thread).

Thanks for your thoughts on the steam clean Peter. It's highly likely that my steam cleaner simply isn't powerful enough for the job. And you're absolutely right about the old paint on the interior of the car. Most of it seems in good condition and I'd rather preserve it if I can. Where there are surface rust patches, I'll apply some rust treatment, then primer and tartan red coach paint.

Great idea about cling film, mab01uk. I'll try that with the Alloy Wheel Cleaner.

[Pandora]

Dry Ice! Blasting or like the Guy in the Video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AfNTB1235V8&t=25s

About 10-15 years ago whilst still an Inspector with HSE, I was invited along by a local licensed Asbestos contractor to see a demo of dry ice blasting that they were looking into as a possible addition to their 'arsenal'.

In an enclosure the company demoing the kit very impressively took a playground horse (the one where you sit in a line, and the head and tail are cast Iron) from rusty painted mess to bare metal in a couple of minutes, then stripped the paint from a wooden window frame and a few other things. All very impressive. "So, Al" asks the asbestos man "what do you think?"

"give me two words we never want to hear with asbestos" I suggested

" eh. not sure?" said he, starting to look a bit vague.

"Dry. and Blasting" I said. then "where do you think the fibres you blast off are going?????"

"ah. OK" he said, realising he had been more than a wee bit daft, and a dim view was about to be being taken.

So we agreed it was an amazing bit of kit to do certain jobs, but NOT for removing asbestos..... He never mentioned it again

But, for cleaning up metal work, it was really impressive and FAR les messy than the traditional blast mediums.

Al

[cobolman]

I really like the idea of dry ice blasting. My challenge is finding someone in my area that does it (Plymouth, Devon).

If anyone knows anyone, please let me know.

[Dearg1275]

Removing Tetroseal cheap and cheerful. Fire extinguisher to hand. Use a blow torch. Don’t over heat, just enough to soften and get in quick with a plastic scraper so as not to scratch the paint / metal. If you don’t use too much heat - just enough - you won’t damage the paint on the other side of the panel. Then lots of fresh air and standard thinners on a rag will get the rest off.

You will be welding anyway so there will be paint damage both sides of the panel so don’t expect to get away without fairly extensive re-painting.

While you are thinking about this learn to weld. It’s fun and you will be in control of what happens to your car. A good entry level mig welder costs very little these days.

D

[cobolman]

Use a blow torch.

Oddly enough, I tried this yesterday. It does soften the tetroseal and I can scrape away some of the surface seal. But it seems to take ages so not sure it moves me forward where my intention is to remove the tetroseal as quickly and completely as I can.

I'm going to try Poly Discs next. I know that it might remove original paint too but then, so does a scraper. So gentle application and let's see how it goes.

While you are thinking about this learn to weld.

I'm completely with you on this and have been looking at entry level welders already. What's always put me off Welders is the need for the compressed gases, for obvious reasons.

[cobolman]

Tried the Alloy Wheel Cleaner yesterday. The stuff I used smelled really good so already a huge improvement over white spirits! Sadly, it did next to nothing to remove the underseal though so that's another one off the list.