What's under the floor mats

[wnsgc]

Greetings,

I want to do something with the interior floor pans on my 85 Targa. When I remove the floor mats, the floor itself leaves something to be desired. There are a number of small surface cracks and the paint is gone. Thus I have a couple of questions.

1) What should I use to fill those small cracks?
2) After the cracks are filled, should I apply some "coating" over the surface?
3) What was the factory color of the floor, black or the body color (in my case Guards Red)?

Thanks.

[tobluforu]

Can you take a pic of said cracks?
People like por15 as a coating.
I just took up the carpet last week on my 72 which was original and man, what a mess. Where the rears seats are/were, there are 2 rusted through holes which I believe is from water coming through the rear window gasket and somehow making it down there. I scrapped/ sanded and painted it with rust inhibitor. I then fiber glassed, painted it, applied aluminum tape and sprayed on an undercoat product made by 3m. The under coat was a mistake in the sense that it stinks like high heaven and I about died applying it. But you can not tell there was ever any holes there.

[wnsgc]

Here are some pictures.

First the drivers side front floor:



And the passenger side front floor:




Thoughts on what to use to make the floor look nicer?

I guess I have my own answer regarding the floor color. It should be Guards Red.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

What you're looking at is a hardened, tar-like substance that many people remove through a variety of means, some involving dry ice, others a putty knife and hammer. It's 1970s-technology "soundproofing." Those interested in light weight take it out--I'm told it weighs 17 pounds or so--and those interested in soundproofing also take it out, but then replace it with something contemporary like Dynamat.

To fill the cracks and repaint it would be the act of a serious concours, keep-it-original type. Nothing wrong with that, but why spend effort making "the floor look nicer" when you're never going to see it? Sort of like hand-polishing the insides of your valve covers. If you're going to spend the time and work, I'd either remove it or improve it, not restore it.

[pgeorgeson]

It is a sound deadening material applied by the factory then painted same color as the interior. You could remove it and end up with this:



Then you could repaint or re-apply some other type of deadening material. If you want to remove, I found that a heat gun with a paint scraper works well.

[red911sc]

Originally Posted by wnsgc

Thoughts on what to use to make the floor look nicer?

The carpet makes the floor look nicer

[wnsgc]

I am definitely NOT going for a concours-type car, just a driver that I can be proud of. That being said, I know the cracks and craters are there (under the carpet) and that's all that matters. So if I wanted to fill those voids, what would be the best product to use. I'm not looking to get rid of the current material, just clean it up a bit and fill it in before I paint it.

[javadog]

Keep in mind that the factory never really finished this area. They looked more or less like that when they left the factory. Any paint you had was mostly overspray from the painting of the door jamb area. The sound deadening material is an asphalt-based product. It gets hard but never really fully hardens. I'm not sure what you could use to fill the cracks.

JR

[RWebb]

leave the old stuff there if you don't care about wt.

use a micro-bead sound control product to fill - IIRC SoundCoat is one

then put Dynamat all over the top of the fill for best sound control

then a nice pad & then carpet, then floor mats

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Well, what the hell, if you want to prettify the cracks, get a Home Depot cartridge of silicone sealant. That'll seal in any water that might already have seeped through the cracks and guarantee that your floorpan will rust out. But you'll be able to paint over it, and it'll look really neat.

[wnsgc]

Hmm, do I detect a note of sarcasm from Steve...

Not sure about the hostility regarding this subject. I just don't like the looks of my floors and want to clean them up a bit.

[tmsautoart]

Originally Posted by Formerly Steve Wilkinson

Well, what the hell, if you want to prettify the cracks, get a Home Depot cartridge of silicone sealant. That'll seal in any water that might already have seeped through the cracks and guarantee that your floorpan will rust out. But you'll be able to paint over it, and it'll look really neat.

Funny stuff Steve...you kill me!
I think people are just trying to figure out why, if it's not a concours car, do you care if the cracks in the soundproofing are filled or not? It won't make any difference in the world especially since your going to put carpet back over it.(or did I miss something) But hey...it's your car and I can get weird with some car stuff too. So to keep it "factory" maybe go to Home Depot and find a tube of asphalt crack filler.

[Rot 911]

You will be wasting your time filling in the cracks and painting as the sound deadener will continue to crack. This will be a never ending project.

[Bez]

I actually have the same question on what to do with the floors on my '71. Same situation - cracks and a few missing chunks with some very mild surface rust spots. Biggest issue for me is stopping any rust from developing on these spots (which are visible) or beneath the cracks (which aren't). I'm less concerned about how it looks because it will be covered by carpet and mats.

For rust protection, my thought was to remove the 'looser' material around the craters and cracks (where it's separating from the floor) and treat with a rust encapsulator - POR15 or other.

What to do after that - epoxy prime, paint, wurth undercoat, dynamat, etc. - is up in the air and I was hoping this thread would produce some good options on what to do and, as important, what not to do (i.e., Steve's point about silicone trapping in moisture).

[GothingNC]

My brothers 914 has the same stuff on the floor boards and some of it lifted up exposing some surface rust.

After pulling some of it out it appears the factory applied the tar to bare metal then painted it over.

I would scrape up the loose pieces with a putty knife and cover the exposed metal with Por-15

[wnsgc]

Bez, et al.,

Apparently the notion of cleaning up the floors on a 911 is somewhat a bad idea. I never thought my question would be this controversial... As with you, I saw cracks and chunks (divots) in my floor and was looking for a solution. I guess there's a full moon right now!!!

I'll figure out which is the best product to use to "prettify" my floor, then spray on a coat or two of Guards Red paint. If/when it cracks again, oh well, I'll either do the same thing or leave it alone.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by wnsgc

Hmm, do I detect a note of sarcasm from Steve...

Not sure about the hostility regarding this subject. I just don't like the looks of my floors and want to clean them up a bit.

- just try to ignore his hostility

I don't know what is wrong with him, but he has been sniping at people for a good month now

He did give you a little useful info tho.

Bez - what you do depends on how much ugly labor you can tolerate and how important light wt. is to you (it is, after all, a sports car)

I would beat it all out of there; prime & paint - you need to search to find the numerous detailed threads on how to do each step

BTW - the pedal cluster is real rust attracting area and you MUST remove the cluster to find the concealed rust - there may be LOTS of it

[tobluforu]

My car is still in the process of me installing an RS carpet, and what was great was that the tar in the rear came off in big sheets, no need to scrap, boom, bang anything as it just peeled right off. But when I tried the floor boards, forget it as this is not a race car and I'm not spending the time on that. I will say that the carpet install is going pretty well for a first timer like myself and is actually pretty easy to do if you take your time. Granted, it's not the greatest job, but good enough for government work.
Good luck on your make-over.

[nesslar]

LOL. Steve, yer killin' me, too. I took that as funny, not hostile, but whatever. I once dropped something on the floor of my '86 when I was giving it the post-purchase cleaning, and a 50-cent piece sized chunk of that material popped loose. I thought, "@%#$, what have I done?!?" A new (to me) 911, and I'm breaking it up! Then I realized it was just a coating of some kind. Today, I couldn't even begin to guess where under the carpet that spot is! Don't care......but it is good that the orig. poster now knows what that cracked, chipped away, '70s tech stuff is at least. It's "need to know stuff"....now I gotta go see if the insides of my valve covers are polished, dammit.....

[nesslar]

Besides, ain't the floor of an '85 galvanized, anyway?