How can I check for rust?
 

I have ordered a new carpet set for my SC, and will be fitting it during the next couple of weeks. I have removed the old carpet, and do not really want to remove the nasty black sound deadening stuff unless I really have to. The car has in the past had some leaks from bad seals, but I can not see any visible signs of rust in the car. At the same time, I do not want to fit the new carpet only to find that there is rust that has to be fixed in the next couple of years :s Is there a way of checking if the floor etc has no rust without removing all the black stuff that is there? How about just scraping away a small patch in the most common places where rust can be found?

Any suggestions would be greatly welcome!!

I have leaks in the rear window seal and side windows. I also need to replace the carpet so i felt compelled to see if any rust was present. I removed the old padding and rubber and found no rust but I am not sad to see the padding go (it can be replaced) as it is a dust/water/odor holding cotton felt. I will put fat mat and L comp padding back. I also used por-15 to protect the entire area .
You can pull up the padding in each rear deck coner under the glass and in the rear seat buckets to look for rust areas as larger leaks settle there. unfortunatly the felt will wick small leaks over a long period of time all across the back deck.

Hi RX911,

I have also removed the felt mating from the rear deck and seats, but I am still worried about under the sound padding - on my car there looks to be a layer of black padding (like dynamite) on the floor pan and rear seats. Having read a large amount of threads here, I understand that removing this stuff is a real pain, and requires lots of work and power-tools. I really do not want to undertake the job of removing this stuff unless I really must. for now, I think I will just remove a small patch on the rear seats and floor to see if I can find any rust under it.

The substance on (or in) the rear bucket pans for the seats is not the same and on the floors. It is a body panel sealer. I removed mine as i felt water may have formed rust under it. 3M makes a replacement product. Under this i found a factory break-away hole about the size of a tennis ball. It leaked POR-15 out so it could have leaked water in.
The floors I have not gotten to as yet.

So, you did find rust on the rear buckets?

No. I found no rust. The floor looks to be in good shape. a good cleaning and removal of old glue you should be able to spot problems (rust, loose spots in the black stuff, prior known water problems. I have adopted a leave well enough alone policy after not seeing much but grime and glue.