Longitudinal gone? (Graphic!)

[tharbert]

I started grinding away on my extremely corroded driver's side rockers last week. I removed the inner and outer rockers and found heavy corrosion around the jack plate and the back corner of the floorboard. I was happy to see it hadn't rotted up into the seat bracket. Anyways, what I found on the longitudinal right next to the fuel pump gave me pause.

Can I remove the rusted area on this longitudinal and replace with fresh metal ? What would indicate total longitudinal replacement?







I'm going to go remove some more undercoating in that area and get some better pics...

[tharbert]

The only way to get to this area to repair would be to cut access from the inside?

[Jagshund]

It doesn't look like your longitudinals are too bad as there still appears to be solid metal to weld to. However, replacing that bit in the back is going to require the removal of a few more components; were it my car, I'd strip off some more undercoating in order to examine the full extent of the corrosion.

[robmog]

You are getting very close to the torsion bar mount.Remove the spring plate and look inside.

[mcaterino]

Keep digging. Too soon to know the full extent of the problem. If it is limited to the bottom few inches beneath the torsion tube, it's doable. I recently fabricated and replaced the inner and outer portions of the longitudinal in this area, on both sides of my car. If you go down that road I can give you more information on what I did. There's a few photos on my blog (link in my signature), and I have more I can share.

Good luck,
Mike

[Classic]

I'll chime in, and say i'd cut a section out where you've got the hole, get a dentist mirror and have a good look inside at the extent of the damage.

If you remove the section under where the torsion tube it will give you a good idea what's next.