When in doubt, just floor it........

[carl]

Yea, the Fatrat had a surprise under the carpet on the passenger side, both seat mounting tracks were totally rusted out. What you see above is the floor after I cut out the rusted portions. Fortunately I still had access to the Rat so cut out the passenger floor in that car..

And then made two repair panels to go over the holes in the floor.

Then trimmed them to fit on the floor.

The contours of the floor and repair panels means the repair panels rather found their natural location but just to be sure the floor seat rail threaded holes will actually be in the proper location I tore up the bottom of a trashed passenger seat.

and will bolt the lower seat rails to the patch panels, slide the seat bottom onto the matching rails/patch panels, lay the assembly back on the floor and tack weld the patch panels in place. Since this is a carl job and not something classy on TV, the patch panels overlap the opening rather than butt match the opening. This way the structural floor will support the patch panels, my typical burn through welding won't be as critical and all this will be hidden under the passenger seat anyway. Sadly any passenger will be forced to sit about 1/32" of an inch higher than stock.

Perfect job to do on a humid 90 something day in the garage.

 

[fiatfactory]

That looks like a very adequate and sensible way to effect the repair...

SteveC

 

[JimD]

Perfect job to do on a humid 90 something day in the garage.

carl,

I think that repair is perfect for the location. Just hand any passenger concerned by the extra 1/32" in height a pair of spanx.

When it gets hot in the garage, I just turn on the window unit. Best $50 I spent on shop "tools".

 

[Dr.Jeff]

a pair of spanx.

What's a "spanx"?

Jim, talking about weather conditions and shop comfort, I added a window AC unit to my shop as well. I got the largest one made, like you I permanently installed it in the wall (with lots of insulation), and I crank it up to max. It takes a couple hours to cool the shop down (fortunately in this respect, it's a small shop). But given the extreme climate here, I am amazed that it helps as much as it does. I also had to fabricate a panel that lays horizontally across the front of it, to help separate the "incoming" air from the "outgoing" air. And I already had two large fans to circulate the air around the shop in a circular pattern, which helps distribute the cooler air. Still not exactly cool inside but just step outside for a minute and the improvement is very obvious.


Nice work Carl.

 

[Fiataccompli]

Carl, the judges at the car shows will take points away from you in mass when they see this repair! THIS is why you should always consult with Facebook on the proper way to engage any sort of Fiat repair.

(where is the icon for sarcasm?)

 

[carl]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am worried that I'm starting to do fixes that are adequate and sensible...I'm going to have to do something about that, maybe go back to rivets instead of welding but then even that is not bad option as many airplanes were put together with rivets.

As to garage AC, I didn't want to make anyone feel bad so didn't mention the portable AC unit I have which works quite well and if I open the door to the house I get extra cooling from the house central air. There are times the garage ends up being cooler than the house!

 

[JimD]

What's a "spanx"?

Dr Jeff,

Just Google terms you don't know. I am not posting the pictures here.

 

[Niklas Andersson]

Dr Jeff,

Just Google terms you don't know. I am not posting the pictures here.

I couldn't resist, now I'm feeling bad, not as in "bad", more like "ill"

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I am not posting the pictures here

I couldn't resist, now I'm feeling bad, not as in "bad", more like "ill"

I'm more disturbed that Jim knows what they are.

 

[Eastep]

For those who are not familiar with Spanx: just go to Walmart.

 

[carl]

You guys really want me to go back to MIRA and just play with spiders, don't you.

 

[JimD]

You guys really want me to go back to MIRA and just play with spiders, don't you.

You could go back to Mira carl, but that image will haunt you regardless. Once seen, it can't be unseen. You might as well stay.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I've always wondered why they make Yoga pants in really big sizes. Hey I'm not being judgemental, just saying the rest of us would appreciate it if they did not.
Getting way off topic for a moment; from a health perspective it is a sad statement on our society when being morbidly obese becomes acceptable, to the point of making it fashionable. The standards for what is considered healthy have actually been changed by various agencies, solely due to the large percentage of the population that are not healthy...creating new "norms" for what is "good" (when they are not).