'59 Passenger Floor Panel

[YellowRose]

One of two areas under my Tbird that has a rust problem is that triangular piece in front of the passenger side floorboard. The other is that long flat bar that runs underneath the radiator and the battery. The battery side is rusted through. I am in the process of having both those fixed. Here is what the first part looks like today. The floorboard panel itself looks to be okay. Below this will be the piece that Bird Nest sent me from a donor car. This is what that section looks like underneath the carpeting and when you cut it out. They sent me a large enough section to make sure I had enough to work with.. We should be able to piece it in place. Thanks to Bart for the artwork of highlighting the area to be used.

[Hawkrod]

Just curious, what did the patch panel cost fom the Birdsnest? Thanks, Hawkrod

[tarps3]

Hi Ray,

I've seen a lot of squarebirds with that portion badly rusted.

I've always wondered why it's always the passenger side that rusts more than the driver's side.

Both rust out but for some reason it seems the passenger side is worse.

Sounds like you are correcting the problem in the right way.
well done.

[YellowRose]

'59 Passenger Floor Panel

Hi Casey,

One of the guys on here, I think, explained why the passenger side of these Tbirds and other cars always seem to rust out faster than the left side. It has to do with our roads being built so that the right side is slightly lower then the left and middle side. This allows for better water run off. Therefore, the right tires drive through a lot more water than the left side does, which is not running through the same amount of water. Just think about driving down a street during or after a heavy rain. Most of the water is puddled up on the right side of the road, trying to run off. The center and left side are usually dry. So what do we do? We try to get over to the left to stay out of the water and keep our brakes dry as much as possible. Unless the puddling is so bad the whole street is covered. So more water gets kicked up underneath the right side of the car over the years, causing the right side to rust out faster. My left side seems to be fine. As you can see, my right side looks like swiss cheese, but not for long.

[fomoco59]

...Or if you lived in the Northeast when these cars were driven in winter months.. Salty Slush on the right side of the road. By the way, my Father In Law says these cars were TERRIBLE in the snow.

[YellowRose]

'59 Passenger Floor Panel

Yessss, and thanks, Mike, for reminding me about the northern states, and salting the roads to clear them of ice and snow in the winter time. That was also a major factor in the rusting of that area of a car. Living in south Texas, one tends to forget about that impact to the underneath of cars. It is something we don't have to contend with.

[Guest]

These cars were terrible in the snow. Unless you took off the skirts and put the chains on, then you could go like HE!! . If you drove these as your everday driver back in the day. I did. That's were alot of the rust came from in the northeast.

[Hawkrod]

Hi, I hate to ask again but how much did the patch panel cost? Thanks, Hawkrod

[YellowRose]

'59 Passenger Floor Panel

Hi Hawkrod,

You have a couple of PM's from me that answered your question. One of them not to long after you asked it, and the other just a few minutes ago, with more details.

Today, I went by to check out my Bird. They have cut out the rusted area, that triangular section in front of the passenger floor panel. They have cleaned that section up, looked up inside it to check for any further rust and found none. They are going to spray that area with rust killer just to be sure. Then they are going to pull up my passenger side carpeting, put wet rolled up towels between it and the floor area to prevent my carpeting from being singed, burnt or from catching fire. Then they are going to weld in that new section, after it has been cleaned up, and treated for rust prevention. Then they will smooth things out, and spray it with undercoating to match the rest of the underneath.

[Hawkrod]

Dang, I had no idea I had any PM's and it turns out there were 6! I guess I never noticed it because it is hidden in the top of the page. Thanks, Hawkrod

[YellowRose]

'59 Passenger Floor Panel

Hi Hawkrod,

If you have not done this, you might change your User ID options and do an Edit Options and change your settings to this if they are not set like this...

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I have mine set so that when someone sends me a PM, it is forwarded to my email address. Then I get an email telling me that I have been PM'd and what it says.. I also have my settings checked on for Show New Private Message Notification Pop-up, so that when I am on the forum and someone PM's me, a pop up tells me. Or when I first log on, I get a pop up telling me I have PM's. Put a check mark in the box for those settings you want to enable. If your options are not set that way, you might want to make the change so that you do not miss PM's.

[Hawkrod]

Yup, did that last night. Thanks, Hawkrod

[Guest]

Ray
If this rusted area is where the water drains down fron the cow area you might think about drilling drain hole for this water run out instead of staying inside, I did this when I was working on the same area on my car.

[YellowRose]

'59 Passenger Floor Panel

Hi Bob,

I will make that suggestion to my mechanic as he works on that area. That is a good idea. Thanks!