mike1305 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Hey gang, Decided that my Pathy is in too near-perfect shape to let the rust eat it alive. After weeks of calling and searching, I finally found a local shop that is willing to do rust repair. All the shops around here just seem to focus on insurance work and hail damage repair, and I can't blame them! Once I found a shop who wasn't turned off by the R-Word, we did an inspection. The rockers are being replaced wholesale and the rear quarter panel is also getting repaired. I can't do (and am not willing to learn) body work so I think it'll be like $1000-1200 out the door. I'm okay with that. Where the real issue was is the under seat rust. He was thinking somewhere in the $3,000 range due to the amount of labor required to essentially uninstall the interior to clear the working area, let alone finding a replacement patch panel. That quote hurt. For $1,000 I'm willing to pay a pro and get it done right. For $3,000 I'm willing to wait and look for alternatives. While I see this issue called out in the common issues, for whatever reason, the NPORA search engine is failing to show me any threads related to this problem and possible fixes. No topics in the Garage anywhere either. Any pro tips here? Maybe for this one it is worth my time to borrow a welder and figure it out.... thoughts? Rear Quarter: Under seat... worse than it looks too: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike1305 Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 Well after 5 minutes, I realized Google did a better job than our native search engine. Looks like I need to inspect, inspect, inspect for more. Fun times. For posterity: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 You could probably save a good chunk of change by taking the interior apart yourself. I've patched many of those rusted out rear floors. I didn't do an "oem" looking patch but I did cut out the rust, form a patch, and then welded it flush into the floor. It looked fine after painting it and it is under the truck so no one will notice. I'm assuming the body shop wants to cut the entire rear seat area out and weld in a new piece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Reverse Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 My plan with my rear seat floor rust holes is to take advantage of my body lift and some sheet steel. Planning to fab a box tray and then cutting out the floor where the rust is and welding in my box and then I will have some under seat storage. Until then, I just have some aluminum duct tape covering the holes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 My '95 was pretty rotten back there. We found a solid donor at the wreckers and they cut a section of floor out of it for us. We didn't strip the interior before welding it up. I'm not even sure we took the seats out. If the rust isn't too extensive, you could do the job pretty easily with flat sheet metal, but don't be surprised if the hole is bigger than you think once you start chipping away at it. My '95 didn't look too bad until I tried to clean it up. I had the same plan as Mr. Reverse for my '93, then discovered that it wasn't actually rotten there, so I left it alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike1305 Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 Thanks for the notes everyone. I've got an absolute @!*%load of work to do on my Toyota as well so I'm hoping to at least try to address this by the fall. I don't have a welder and haven't welded anything since 2006 but I like that idea of just cutting it all out and using duct tape LOL or at least stripping the interior myself to save the dude some labor. He wasn't comfortable just welding in a flat piece of metal and was more keen on finding a replacement piece, I don't blame him since he's gotta sign off on the safety aspect of the work. But I obviously don't care. The storage box idea is interesting too. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 If you're going to drive the truck in the winter, do yourself a favor and get it oil sprayed. It seems like that is a way less common thing in the US than Canada, I get all my cars done every year that see winter. The pathy gets parked in the garage for the season, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike1305 Posted July 13, 2020 Author Share Posted July 13, 2020 Good idea. I think I'll have that done in the fall before first snow. In all honesty, I'm seriously considering a 2021 Bronco, and with already restoring my grandfather's 1982 Toyota, my Pathy might get the boot next summer. This truck is totally complete inside and out, with all the options checked, a fully sorted drivetrain, and once the body work is done... I might do my part to bring attention and value to these badass trucks by throwing it on Cars & Bids. Would really want the rust mitigated first so I'm not passing the buck. I honestly think it could command $5-6k to the right buyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoTango76 Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 I have a 94 with the same issue. For an interim fix, I cut out the floor and from the inside reassembled using sheet metal. This year, I plan to remove that and fab a better bitting box that I can use for some under seat storage. The biggest issue that I encountered was reattaching the seat mounts for the backseats. Fabricating you’re own will require more careful planning to ensure you can bolt your seat backs correctly. Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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