here is what i found for a rust point that i bet we all could run into since the only thing covering the factory hole is foam. it is in the rear of the truck on each side. figured the rust belt guys like me would like to know about this mainly as well as all X owners






I cleaned the area and welded it shut painted top and bottom

i ended up finding lots of "bubbles" all over the rear floor and cleaned and painted the entire area. the main floor was very nice only a few spots the worst there was in the drivers kick panel area

 

Wish I had a welder (and a little more skill). I wouldn't mind hitting that at the same time I do my sound deadener (eventually).

 

home depot sells cheap mig welders, the lincons there are plenty powerful for this type work. ask santa.

 

Exactly what I used

 

It's not so much the money as it is the skill. Also buying a welder just to do that seems a little wasteful. I'll buy one eventually though

 

You wont believe all the fun things you will find to weld once you get one and with time the skill will come although I haven't mastered mine yet..

 

Oh I didn't buy it for that I found it in the junk at work and put a 70 dollar part in and was running
I waste that much a week smoking so it seemed worth it

 

Once you learn what thickness needs what heat setting and your "wiggle" with the gun you can pick it up pretty quick. I am by no means saying it is a easy skill to master nor am I a pro but the tongue I welded on my trailer hasn't fell off yet.

 

Those cheap 110v welders are good as long as you realize that they aren't meant to weld anything more than maybe 1/8 thick.

Also you really don't need "skill" to just spread some metal on there to fill the gap...

And even if you're incredibly bad at welding you can just buy a grinder and no one will ever know...

Make sure you clean it up well and give it a good coat of paint... a bare weld will rust quickly in the salty areas...

 

A weld can/will introduce porosity or contamination that can cause rust faster than the original hole. Unless you can get to the backside of that seam as well I would leave it, paint it, and put a sticker over it again. lol

 

you can get to both sides of this equation, if not i would have used body filler.

also there are 6 body mount plugs back there that in my case i used a sand blaster to clean up down inside and painted the $%&* out of to hopefully stop the rot

 

Put a bead of silicone in there

 

just pour some salt on it and get it over with, im a tear the bandage off quick kinda guy. no sense in dragging it out.

 

That would do it too. I just figured I would see how it went welding that area and planned on kicking myself for doing it when I burned a hole the size of a quarter.

Something is better than foam tho it was a dizam wet sponge when I pulled it off

 

Yeah, foam is bad.