im not sure this is the correct section but i hope someone see this thread! i live in southern cali where rust int a problem but im from central missouri and my dad is giving me an 87 that of course the floor boards are rusted out.....im flyin back to mo at the end of the month to drive it back to cali but i wanna fix the floor boards before i come back......im only gonna be in mo for a week so i was wondering if there was anyone that had an idea to get it fixed in that little of time for a little bit of money.....if i have to order somthing before i go out there and have it deleived there before i get there its not a big deal but i just need your help!!!! my girl is flyin out with me and she dosnt wanna ride bck to cali while lookin at the highway lol......so if you have any ideas or could help me out could you let me know???? thanks a lot!!!

 

depending on what your plans are for the truck... if you just want to make sure you're not flintstone-pedaling, go to lowe's and get a sheet of steel for $15 and a hand-riveter for another $20. Set the steel in place, drill where there's good metal underneath, and pop the rivets in. Goop the edges if you feel like it.

BTW -- this is my first post on this forum (bought an 87 last night : ) but i've been working on rusty cars for years.

 

Exactly what I did to my old S-10. Then I herculined the whole floor.

 

You could pull out the interior, sand and grind everything down, clean it, and fiberglass it from inside. It will all be covered by the carpet or rubber mat or whatever you have for flooring, so it doesn't have to look pretty. If you don't have any flooring, you could cover the fiberglass with bedliner from the inside. From the outside, I would paint on a good rust-inhibitive paint like POR-15, then spray on bed-liner or rubberized undercoating. A bit of work, but not as bad as it sounds. Also, if you do it correctly it's the next best thing to welding, IMO.

 

alright cool thanks guys! i fly out there next thursday and ill be workin on it that weekend! hopefully all goes well and i make it back to cali lol

 

I hope you're planning to do a bit of a mechanical inspection and tune-up before driving cross-country. The rusty floorboards aren't likely to keep you from making it back to Cali, ya know?

 

oh trust me on that it has already been done! it was a truck that i had bought while i was there and then ran out of time and money to work on it so my dad has replaced a lot of stuff in it! it has all new filters, fuel pump, fuel filter of course, new gas tank, complete tune up, new alternater, new battery, new starter, new upper and lower ball joints, etc etc.....we have dumped a lot of money into this truck so that it will make it out here! im pumped to go back and get it! it should drive and run way better than it looks lol! this time next week ill be getting on a plane to fly out! ill try to post some pics of it up when i get out there or after i get it back out here!