Floor Bracing & Cowl Area
So back to business. This last couple weeks has been spent taking care of a few odds and ends on the drivers side, and then it took a slightly unexpected turn.
First up I stripped the new wheel well for the rear LS down. A little more TLC and it will be ready to go in...
Next I've got some rocker work coming up here so I've been taking care of a few issues in that area. I've started fixing the rust a little on the rear wheel well end of the rocker, and before I got into the front of it I figured I'd take care of the bracing under the drivers seat.
A previous owner obviously had an aftermarket seat installed, and poorly. I'm not sure if the rust was caused by a spill of something corossive or from fluid from the leaking clutch master making its way back this far (more on that in a minute), but this brace was a little messed up and the holes from the seat needed to be filled.
Sorry for the hit and miss photo quality. I've been using a camera phone for awhile now (albeit a pretty good one) as its so convienent but sometimes they're a little blurry. Anyways, this is the brace that the front of the seat bolts to removed and you can see there was a little rust on the underside of it too.
The rust ground off and starting to fill the holes...
The brace repaired and ready to install...
The tabs that had the nuts welded on for the seat bolts were just rusty enough that it was quicker for me to just remake them from scratch then to try and seperate the nuts from the tabs and then have to repair all of the rust and weld what was left back together. The new tabs and nuts are welded on here and sealed up so they won't ever rust again like that.
And here we go, all done...
There were holes for the rear of the seat too, also filled.
Now its that time again, time for me to spread fear into the hearts of Supra owners everywhere. Remember when I said that rust usually isn't much of a problem on the front of mk2s? Well once again this car is the exception. Sort of.
I knew it was going to be a bit of a headache as this stuff was all quite visible...
This is where the RS hood hinge bolts on.
Inside of the area in the previous photo.
To make matters worse a leaky clutch master was allowed to bleed for a long time at some point.
This last one kinda seals the deal. If you look closely the sealer running top to bottom between the 2 panels has a big crack in it and you can see a little rust in there. Yep, that panel is coming off. Easier said then done.
Also, I was worried about the rust visible on top of the cowl (panel at the base of windshield). Rust at the corners of the windshield is common unfortunatly. I always thought it was due to rusty cowl trim but apparently the problem stems from inside. Here's a pic from inside the vent and wiper linkage chamber...
It goes the entire way across, that cowl panel is coming off. Now this is obviously a fairly far gone car, but this is a weak point we should all be aware of as it can get really bad before any major signs are noticable. Which unfortunatly is water leaking into the footwells, which means things have already gone too far.
Have a look...
Yes, thats the climate system fresh air duct there. The fan is totaly exposed, you'd think they would have come with filters. Or maybe it disintergrated over time.
Now the rest of this chamber seams to be holding up pretty well, its just that seam under the windshield. I would say that most people could get away with preventing this by pulling the ducts out of this chamber, taking a peak under there with a mirror and flashlight to make sure its clear, and then run a bead of seam sealer on that seam that has rusted out the entire length on this car. Also reapply sealer on the seams around the hinges and at the tops of the fenders, these are weak areas as well.
So getting at this stuff is a challenge. I like to take things apart like Toyota put them together, but that means you have to remove panels complete in the order they were installed, which isn't always an option. First off I had to cut a chunk of the brace that extends into the fender bracing...
Then a chunk of the cowl area (a chunk that needed sections replaced at least)...
Then a piece of the plate that runs the length of the inside of the A pillar, and I was able to remove the big panel that I was originally after...
With everything exposed I removed the hinge reinforcements and started drilling access holes so I can clean up my welds when I put it back together...
Here's the insides of everything I pulled off so I could clean up all of the rust in this corner....
I may end up having to do most of this to the other side too unfortunatly.
Anyways, thats it for this update. I actually had other reasons for taking that big panel off, more on that next.