So where are we with the project? At this time I am waiting on my mechanic to be free to help me in uniting the gearbox to the engine. I have been hounding him daily but it is one thing or the other keeping him busy.
So rather than sitting around waiting, I took this time to refurbish the floorboards. Front floorboards on this car are made of steel while the rear ones are of plywood! If this thread has been followed, the front floor boards were removed to gain access to gearbox for removal.
Before I began working on the floor boards, I assessed their condition. As already mentioned, these are made of steel. And the rust protection was via a layer of Waxoil. Waxoil is this stuff:
Clear Tetroseal Wax Oil Rustproofing - 5L | QPaints
It is just great, warm up till it gets fluid then spray heavily and wait for it to cool. Sets as a semi-hard protective layer. That is pretty much what's on our cars chassis when new plus other rust protective measures of course. Sadly no auto supply/paint supply stores even know what it is in Pakistan.
Anyhow, back to the floor boards, as already mentioned the gearbox had been leaking oil for years and this oil was caked heavily on the underside of the floorboards towards the gearbox side. However towards the other side, near tires were it received mud and water, there was rust. Not bad rust but could have gone worst if left unattended. I am guessing that the Waxoil failed at this location sometime over the last 64 years. However Waxoil on the floorboards was still intact over 80% of the area. As a result after 64 years 80% of the metal is still factory fresh and shiny.
Waxoil is a petroleum based product and when it stays in contact with oil, it will come off. That is exactly what happened when I tried to remove the thick cake of oil. Good thing was that the oil and wax mixture had protected the steel well. It was all shiny underneath all that muck.
So in summery the under surface of the floorboards was rusty at the outer side (towards the tires) but good on the inner side (towards the gear box). First order of business was to remove the muck (that also took off 90% of the waxoil). Then treat the rust and finally apply rust protection.
For the business of rust treatment I used this stuff: just apply with brush over the rusty metal, wait for 10 min and wash off. Magic.
With the rusty section treated, I then spray painted the floorboards on both sides with lead primer, followed with matt black paint on the upper surfaces (hidden by the carpet) and rubberised paint designed for chassis application, That's this stuff:
Here is an interesting tool I bought. It provided much better control over the quantity of paint going onto the surface.
And that's how it goes on the spray can:
Once the floorboards had been treated and painted, I next applied sound deadening on them. This helps in making the car a bit quieter inside. Here are the finished items. The floor board on the right has the openings for the brake and clutch pedals. Note that I have not finished the steel flange surrounding the openings. These were left for the purpose to see the condition "before" I refurbished the floorboards.
And from the back this is what the rubberised paint looks like.
Granted that what I have done is not as good a rust treatment job as done by the factory with Waxoil but you have to remember that this car will be leading a pretty pampered life henceforth so I am hoping the treatment I have done will last a few years.