Continuing with my current restoration, I was removing the undercoating and noticed that the panel under the rear seat was damaged. I didn't notice this at all as the undercoating and the seam sealer (?) was covering all of the damage. At first, I thought this was not a big deal and I can easily cut away and weld in a patch panel.

I tried to show in the photos, the damage is very close to both left and right attachment points. The mounting plates themselves appear to be perfectly fine with no corrosion at all. The metal around the shock towers also appear fine.

Perhaps this is something I need to take to a professional? Or am I possibly over thinking this? Grateful for any advise - thanks in advance!

myoshik said:

Continuing with my current restoration, I was removing the undercoating and noticed that the panel under the rear seat was damaged. I didn't notice this at all as the undercoating and the seam sealer (?) was covering all of the damage. At first, I thought this was not a big deal and I can easily cut away and weld in a patch panel.

I tried to show in the photos, the damage is very close to both left and right attachment points. The mounting plates themselves appear to be perfectly fine with no corrosion at all. The metal around the shock towers also appear fine.

Perhaps this is something I need to take to a professional? Or am I possibly over thinking this? Grateful for any advise - thanks in advance!

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Hi Myoshik, Has the car had a rear end shunt????? Rebuilt???? If you have any doubt get it to someone who can measure all the angles on a jig and then you know it's all straight
Ian.

It looks like a bad case of tinworm.
Any part where the rust has visibly altered the thickness of the metal should be replaced. Much of the under seat area resembles the surface of the moon. I would look replace as much of that as possible.


Best to have it braced first before cutting. you need to maintain the suspension mount positions.

Lucky for you there is a replacement panel for the seat panel.
This is quite an intrusive repair so you need to know what you are doing.
It depends on how much you replace as to what support you need.
If you just change the top section you should be ok with no supporting.
Should you decide to replace the vertical panel that joins the floor then you are likely to disturb the mounts on the floor that the rear arms bolt to. These are critical if you want the car to remain straight to drive.


If you can just change the top/flat section then I would cut it out leaving a 15mm overlap in front of the main rail that sits between the two shock mounts. You can then weld the new seat floor to that lip and join the rest to the vertical section and the side joints.


Good luck.

Here's a view below the panel below the seat. So you can see the extent of it more clearly and some of the places where it fits.

I agree with Sean, you could remove the entire horizontal part with the pinholes and maybe leave a 10mm flange at the front edge, just before the fold to the vertical part; a very strong and professional welded joint could then be made.