Crap, crap, crap, what did I break?
 

I am in the process of finishing the removal of the interior of my car to start putting my RS carpet kit in. The only things left to remove today was the front seats, and the vinyl panels under the rear side windows (not sure what they're called, sort of the "arm rests" for the rear seats).

Anyway, there are two large hex bolts going through them. Looking at interior pictures on here, I can't find any other cars with them, and I'm not sure what the heck they are. They seem to go through the interior body panel into the rear wheel wells. Anyway, it appeared as if it needed to be removed to remove that panel. Wrench turned it easily enough, but what I thought was the bolt unscrewing from whatever it was screwed into was the whole unit pulling out of the sheet metal.

On the back side of it in the wheel well, a lot of crumbly crud fell out that looked very tar-like. Not sure what this is supposed to be, if I just found a real bad rust spot, if this is normal, etc. I can't even figure out what the bolt might've been intended for.

Did I just really screw myself having this thing tear out of the sheet metal? The "fix it and don't worry about it" part of me wants to just cut a sheet metal patch and pop-rivet it over the hole, and put the carpet in, and forget I ever saw it. Not sure if thats a good idea, though ;)

Pictures:

The bolt on the passenger side:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1059223749.jpg

The gaping wound on the drivers side (burry, camera seems to be broken, ack!):

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1059223804.jpg


The boondoggle that was in the hole:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1059223830.jpg

Although not having worked on an early car like yours, I've stripped out an 87 and installed RS carpets. It appears to be a seat belt anchor, but I could be wrong. Anyway, it is in a non stress bearing area. I would check for anymore rust though. It's common in those area's if there is a leak in the window. If no rust, clean it up the best way you can and cover is up with the carpeting.

I am pretty sure that we are loking at the factory mounting hardware for front seat belt retractors.
I have never seen them rot out like that, but I guess they are as susceptible as anything else in the wheel well.
I assume you have the original style non retract belts in the car now. If you want to go to the later style belts you gonna need those mounting bosses....:rolleyes:

And while you're at it, I'd get a brush and slop in some 3M Rust Avenger/rust stop/POR product, etc. to further minimize any additional deterioration over time.

That is the seat belt anchor for 1968, no question. Lucky you found out that way, before attaching something valuable, like yourself, to that point.
GeorgeK

Isn't that the anchor bolt for the early shoulder harness? Before retractors were used. It won't be a issue if your using a roll bar w/seatbelt mounts or using just a lap belt( non competition use only)

Yeah, there's a good 1.5"x3" rusted out hole there. I've chipped out the crumbly part. Sucks, but fudge happens, as they say. No carpet install for me this weekend. The anchor point on the other side is solid, but the attempt to get the bolt out of there sheared it off, so I've officially got none on either side.

No biggie, roll bar and 5pt harness was the plan anyway. The car didn't have seatbelts when I bought it, and I assumed it never had 3-pt belts.

I pulled the rest of the tar sound deadening out of the interior... there was a lot of surface rust under it on that side, but that hole is the only perforation. I'm going to wirebrush both sides, and a couple other spots where the previous owner's POR-15 is flaking off (aparently he didn't prep it well), clean it, metal etch it and POR it. I'll probably use some silicone sealant and a sheetmetal patch pop-riveted over that hole, since its not a structural area, then carpet over it.

Does that sound reasonable? I've never done this sort of body patching with anything other than welded in sheet metal back in highschool, something I can't do now. Would a fiberglass patch work better? Any suggestions?

Fiberglass applied with epoxy resin over well prepared metal will work well. Or a metal patch bonded with epoxy putty like the panel bonder used on fender flares.