Do-it-yourself car bottom repair

In detail: Do-it-yourself car bottom repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Sometimes there are cases when it is much more profitable, both financially and in terms of saving time, to repair your car with your own hands. In this regard, we will consider today how you can easily and quickly restore the front floor of a VAZ 21099 car. As you can see in the photo below, you will have to change the entire square, which is completely rotten, entirely, patches in this case will not help.

- firstly, it is necessary to put the car so that it is convenient to work, that is, so that there is comfortable access to it both from below and from the side of the door;

-It is also recommended to cover the dashboard and seats with foil so that dust does not get on them when you need to cut a piece of the floor. After that, you will need to purchase or, if possible, get a piece of iron for free in order to cut out of it "a piece of the required size for the floor."

You will also need a front jack and a sill connector for repairs. What materials are suitable for processing? The bottom will need to be coated with Body 930, and the floor, after welding, will need to be filled with Body 992 anti-corrosion primer.

What else awaits the masters during their work? You will have to raise the support (pictured below), under which, most likely, you can find rust. The new metal joint will go underneath it.

How to lift it? It is necessary to drill out points, which will then help to orientate, or you can put yourself other marks.

It is imperative to get to the very place where she stood, otherwise there will be problems with the installation of the seat. In the upper part of the threshold, you need to focus on the area where the paint has been preserved and it is along the edge of this area that you need to cut out a rusted piece of the floor.

Video (click to play).

As for the door, it is better to remove it. This will help create a more comfortable working environment. Of course, it will take a little longer for repairs, but in the future it will not interfere with the restoration work.

If you look at the threshold, you can see that it itself is quite suitable, only the edge has jammed.

What can be done is to replace the amplifier, put a thick plate in the appropriate place (in the photo below) and weld it together in the right places.

What to look for: before starting work, you need to cover the interior (so that dust does not get on the seats and the dashboard, disconnect the battery terminals).

In this particular case, a semiautomatic device and CO2 gas will be used for welding.

At the initial stage of work, you need to drill out the base. The points are marked, then it will need to be put in place.

As you can see, the support was not removed for nothing, there is a lot of rust under it, which must be removed, as well as mark the boundaries of the new plank.

Now let's move on to the spar. If it is in good condition, you can leave it as in our case. The floor is welded to it with dots. They hold the sill joint and the floor itself.

The photo shows the side member and the threshold connection.

It will also be necessary to change the subjack.

You should also take into account one more important nuance: welding will be carried out in the places indicated in the photo.

As a result, the anticorrosive will burn under the arch. To apply a new one, you will need to remove the wheel and wheel arch liner. However, first, when these elements are removed, you need to cut out the rusted section of the floor. In places where you can find points, you just need to drill them, where it will be impossible to find them, you will need to cut off the metal. As one of the options for reducing dust in the cabin, you can water the treatment area with water and cut on an already wetted surface.After the section of the rusted floor has been cut out, you can proceed to the next stage.

Do not forget that under the section, which is shown in the photo, brake pipes and gas lines pass. Therefore, you need to disconnect them, make a spacer so that they are as far from the metal as possible.

Then you can cut off the old floor. Where you can see the points, it is a little easier, in these places you can drill them and separate the metal.

In places where they are not visible (as on a spar), you can cut off the edges or even make an incision in the middle and, prying the incised area, find these points. The main idea is to leave the spar, which will be in good working order after cleaning.

In addition, as you can see from the photo, in the place of the base plank, where there used to be quite a lot of rust, now it is practically a clean place. All that is needed for this is to clean this area with sandpaper, treat it with a rust converter, cover the area with soil and it does not need to be cut off.

The next step is to cut out the front jack, as it is rather rusty, and we also have a new one. As for the sill connector, it is still in good condition and there is no need to do the extra work by cutting it out and replacing it with a new one.

What should be done next? Everything is very simple: the piece of floor that we managed to get out is put into place, the excess parts are cut off, a careful fitting and welding is performed.

When the floor is welded, you will need to weld the cross member on top.

It is necessary to weld the front jack, install the sill joints, cover a new piece of floor with a primer on top, and coat with grease from below, Body 930 will do.

The center of perforating corrosion, or simply a hole in the bottom of the car, is a payment for the comfort in the cabin. Its primary source is not anti-icing reagents acting outside, but moisture accumulating under the "cake" of heat, noise and waterproofing. Therefore, during its liquidation, work is carried out mainly from the inside.

If you follow all safety rules for welding, you must completely dismantle the interior, including the skin. This is always very time consuming. Therefore, the question of how to close up the bottom of a car without welding is very relevant. Moreover, most of the alternative methods give not the worst, but rather the best result.

There are two ways to seal holes in the underside of a car without hot work.

Using composite materials - various types of polymer resins in combination with a reinforcing filler and an accelerator of the curing reaction. With high-quality surface treatment, they, in addition to restoring mechanical strength, play the role of inhibitors - inhibitors of chemical and electrochemical corrosion reactions;
By installing sheet material patches on rivets.

Read also: Bosch wff 1200 DIY repair

You also need to stock up on the following materials:

Oxygen and calcium carbide (for gas welding).
Carbon dioxide and copper wire (for semi-automatic welding machine).
Grinding and cutting wheels for metal grinders.
Metal for patches.

To repair the underside of a car with your own hands went without problems, you need to choose the metal of the optimal thickness. Its recommended thickness varies from 1 to 2 mm. But here the qualifications of the one who will carry out the welding work should be taken into account. When working with thinner metal, it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature requirements during welding. Which, in turn, depends on the debugging of the equipment and the quality of consumables.

Thicker metal is more difficult to process, but at the same time it is more difficult to damage and spoil it. Therefore, before purchasing consumables, you need to really assess your qualifications as a welder.

Now you can start preparatory work. There is nothing difficult in this, and it will not be difficult to do them with your own hands. You just need to clean all problem areas of the bottom from rust. This can be done in two ways.

With the help of a grinder. In this case, it is necessary to use both cutting and grinding wheels. During work, be sure to follow all safety rules. It is better to clean hard-to-reach places from rust by gas welding.

After hitting rusty metal and corrosion, the edges of the surface to which the patches will be attached must be well cleaned. It is advisable to do this work with a grinder. Now you can cut out patches from metal and start welding. Cutting metal is best done with hand or electric metal shears. This will allow you to make your workpieces to the exact size and keep the edges straight. Cutting metal, especially thin metal, by welding requires high qualifications.

It is advisable to weld the bottom together. It will be difficult for one person to simultaneously fix the patch and scald it. If the metal is applied to a flat surface, then fix it faster with a semi-automatic welding machine.If it is necessary to make a bend, you should resort to gas welding. When heated, the metal becomes soft and it can be bent and shaped with a hammer. At the same time, do not forget that high temperatures reduce the properties of the metal. Another option in this case can be a special device designed to create bends on metal workpieces.After completing the welding work, all seams must be cleaned with a grinder and covered with anti-corrosion compounds.

The rot is already cut off in the photo.

Due to the presence of a "grinder" I cleaned the "live" part of the floor to metal. The only jamb - after a couple of passes through the uncleaned mastic, the petal circle clogged and no longer cleaned it, but polished the rust, it had to be replaced.
In the end, it turned out something like this:

After sanding and trimming everything that is superfluous, we begin to cut the tin. Here, everyone has their own injuries. I covered the entire half from the inside, right down to the transverse spar, although the floor was intact there. The fact that there is stamping in the floor does not really matter, later it will be possible to pour mastic there and everything will be a bunch. In any case, the tin did not work for me from this.
After cutting the material for the inner part, we cut the tin for the bottom. Here, again, your personal wishes, the amount of galvanizing available and the nature of the damage play a role.
After cutting the metal, coat the floor with bituminous mastic (from all sides). It is advisable to let the mastic dry so that the layer of mastic will eventually be larger. I had to dry for a week due to working days.

Image - Do-it-yourself car bottom repair

Galvanizing installation.
Before installing galvanized sheets, we generously smear them with mastic (by the way, it is better to make the mastic thicker, otherwise it flows strongly) only from the installation side, otherwise then all the mastic will be smeared on hands and clothes.
It is better to fix galvanized sheets intended for installation from below with self-tapping screws to the bottom, especially if you do not have an assistant. The protruding parts in the cabin must be cut down. Then we climb into the salon, put the galvanized steel (again, oiled with mastic) on the floor and begin to fasten with bolts. In principle, M5x15 bolts are enough for the eyes with the obligatory use of washers on both sides.When using self-locking nuts, the lock washers can be omitted (only regular ones). If the nuts are common, then the growers must be installed. The drill must be taken with the same diameter as the bolts.
It is better to fasten it to start from one end, since the possibility of metal bending is excluded. I didn't do that right away and had to rebuild the structure.
How many bolts and location to choose according to the situation. If you have to replace the front spar ("jack"), then in this place do not fix the sheet yet.

Installing the front side member
Preparation of side members:
I removed the hinges for the standard jack, I think very few people use a regular screw jack.
Drill six holes on the long crown attachment petals (three on one side and three on the other).
We apply the spar to his place of permanent residence and squeeze it from below. Better jack.
We drill holes in the floor through the spar. Then we remove the spar, coat the inner side of the spar with mastic and the section of the bottom that will be closed by the spar and put the spar. We fasten again with bolts.

As a result, we got something like this:

the protruding parts of the bolts can be cut off.
In conclusion, we cover the galvanized sheets with mastic, trying to push the mastic into the cracks, if any, the spars and all places not covered with mastic.
I think this design will last longer than a digested bottom.
Now let's summarize the financial result of this venture (the repair was carried out in the winter of 2009-2010):
- galvanized iron 2 sq. M (350 rub.)
- bituminous mastic 2 large cans (360 rub.)
- side members 2 pcs. (200 rub.)
- bolts, nuts, washers, screws (about 80r.)
- cutting disc 1 pc. (15-20r)
- grinding wheel (60 rubles)
Total: approximately 1070r.
Plus an invaluable feeling of what I did myself :). The service asked 15 thousand rubles for overcooking the bottom.

I hope that this manual and idea will be useful to someone.

It is the bottom in the car that wears out faster than other body elements, due to the fact that it is constantly exposed to aggressive influences from the environment. Various mechanical damages do not pass unnoticed. Using various methods to prevent the development of corrosion, you can try to protect the car body from it, but other types of damage will still manifest themselves someday.

The main reason that influences the development of the poor condition of the body is poor-quality road surface. A car that is more than a dozen years old will sooner or later require do-it-yourself underbody repair. We will learn about all kinds of methods that can be carried out without welding.

It should be noted right away that all the operations that are carried out with the car body without using welding methods are called unprofessional by experts, in other words, "garage". This is due primarily to the fact that they do not represent the result of any innovative idea implemented in action, most often the properties of the materials or other substances used in the work serve as the basis for independent work.

Such repair of the underside of the car does not have any specific technology that would be checked by the corresponding qualified people or special organizations, it is not burdened by norms and standards. The idea of self-repairing the body, most likely, came to experienced car owners who had ingenuity and were adapted to specific domestic conditions. It is worth noting that in no European country a self-respecting citizen will engage in such actions, moreover, such an idea will not even occur to him. Abroad, damaged body parts are not repaired, a damaged or old car is simply replaced with a new one. The methods of car repair described below allow for the most part to eliminate or hide the through damage to the upper parts of the body or the bottom of the car.

Starting the repair of the underbody of a car, you should take into account some requirements and basic rules by which almost all bodywork is carried out:

you must have a grinder with you, with its help it will be possible to cut out a rusted area or expand a damaged area;
the section of the body or bottom, which will be repaired by hand, is pre-cleaned of all unnecessary things, in particular, of old paint, lumps of dirt or rust;
the prepared place must be degreased and treated with anticorrosive;
the hole with the "patch" must be given a primary look, that is, at the end of the repair work, a surface with the original configuration should be formed. Painting putty for cars can be a great helper in this matter;
as a result, the repaired body must be prepared for painting.

To repair the bottom without welding, you will need several galvanized sheets, as well as bolts of a certain size. The damaged body element must be cut out with a grinder. Then you should cut out two measured galvanized sheets, which will cover the leaky area from the outside and inside. The bottom should be treated from all sides with a special bitumen mastic, the substance applied for insulation should dry well. Do not forget about the processing of prepared sheets with mastic before starting their installation.

The first thing to do is to adjust the lower element, it is best to fix it with self-tapping screws, the galvanized sections that protrude must be cut off. The remaining inner metal sheet must then be applied. The resulting structure is fixed with M5 × 15 bolts. For a uniform coverage, it is better to fix it sequentially, strictly along the perimeter.

If the threshold has acquired many dents during operation and needs to be replaced, it is worth trying to save money and repair it yourself. To do this, it is necessary to drill as many holes in the threshold as is needed to adapt a special tool with which the bent sections are straightened. At the end of the work, all holes must be repaired, and the car must be prepared for painting.

Naturally, with free time and at least minimal knowledge, almost any motorist can repair minor damage to the body that occurs during the operation of the car. However, it is worth remembering that it is better to entrust the overhaul of the body to specialists who will help the car return its attractive appearance.

Assessing the current state of the car is largely possible through the analysis of the body. If all kinds of consumables are to be replaced, the suspension is really even possible to sort out with your own hands and even install a new engine, then restoring a completely rusted body is expensive and pointless.Nobody will tune, modify, invest a lot of money in a car if its body is already living out its last years. This significantly reduces the cost of the car, even if the engine is in perfect condition.Therefore, if you want to keep the attractive appearance of your VAZ 2110, extend its service life, if necessary, sell it for good money, keep an eye on the body and periodically carry out repair or preventive body work aimed at combating corrosion. Image - Do-it-yourself car bottom repair

The first versions of the VAZ 2110 were characterized by the fact that their paintwork began to peel off in the area of the windshield frame. The problem began to develop from the seal and gradually spread to the entire body element.

Soon the manufacturer changed the painting and installation technology, but still the problem of the body unstable to corrosion could not be completely overcome.

We will consider the main reasons for the likely appearance of rust on the sills, bottom, arches, side members. We will also give some tips on how to deal with them.

Prevention measures

After 5-7 years, traces of corrosion may appear on the body and bottom. There are no remedies against age, so listen to the following protection measures

It is easy to advise avoiding accidents. In this case, this is the only recommendation.

Do not try to save money on body repair, as an unqualified specialist will not really do anything, but will only take your time and money. Choose experienced, proven craftsmen and service stations

The worst is snow and rain. Try to knock down and wash away the snow adhering under the bottom. Especially if you frequently drive on roads sprinkled with salt or ice and snow melting agents

Think about the issues of moisture protection of the room, in winter periodically turn on the heater, heat fan in the garage in order to at least partially combat the high level of rust

Small stones destroy the anti-gravel coating within a year, after which corrosion begins to appear. Avoid these roads, carry out periodic preventive maintenance

It gets into the car through wet shoes and snow. From this, the bottom begins to rot from the inside. Be sure to lay rubber mats with sides in winter, carefully make sure that water does not get inside the cabin during rain or washing

To prolong the life of your own car's underbody, periodically do anti-corrosion treatments. Pay particular attention to the hidden cavities of the side members and sills.

Determining the presence of rust on the bottom is not difficult. Although if you bought a car hand-held, these problems can be carefully disguised.

Be sure to inspect the body from below. Traces of corrosion can be hidden behind a layer of anti-gravel coating or putty. Use a hammer or awl to strike lightly in these areas. If rust is present, you will see it.
Check the condition of the body along the sills, in the cabin at the feet of the driver and front passenger. It is these places that are quite weak in the case of the VAZ 2110.
If the bottom is rotten, you can see this by the flexing of the floor under your feet under load.
When the driver's seat breaks off or cannot be moved, a rotten body can also be the cause.
One of the most unpleasant situations is rotten thrust pads designed for lifting a car on a jack. But in this way you will immediately determine that there are problems and they need to be solved.

In order to repair the bottom with your own hands, for this you first need to prepare in a certain way. You will need a set of tools, a room, a lot of time, experience and a desire to do such things.It is especially important to prepare the following components from tools:

Welding machine. In the case of repairing the bottom of the car, it is better to use a semiautomatic device with wire and carbon dioxide. It is better, more efficient and more reliable than gas and electrodes;

Angle grinder. It will come in handy if necessary to remove rust from the floor, to fit elements and patches, to clean seams and surfaces;

Car stands. Various items can be used here. So look for what you have;

The rest of the kit is standard and includes components such as anti-corrosion solution, joint compound, welding wire, sandpaper, primer, soundproofing sheets, paint, etc.

Now you need to drive the car into a garage or other equipment in the room, put it on stands.The machine should be positioned in such a way that it is convenient and safe to work underneath it.Disconnect the battery, then remove the doors. In this case, experts advise to provide for the presence of spacers for doorways in order to maintain the rigidity of the body and the required geometry.Since the underbody needs to be repaired not only under the car, but also from the inside, you will have to completely disassemble the interior. This is a difficult and time-consuming task. Be prepared for this psychologically. You will have to dismantle:

Armchairs;

Floor tunnel lining;

Carpets;

Air ducts;

Soundproofing layer.

Collect all the wiring carefully, combine it into bundles, if they are not assembled, so that later there will be no problems with the assembly. Collect all fasteners, distribute them in boxes or bags, sign. This is extremely important as you can run into serious problems later on.If you plan to completely replace the bottom or weld the panel to the floor, then the dashboard and beard will have to be removed in order to create open access to the engine shield.So, you have disassembled your VAZ 2110, so now you can really assess the condition of the bottom, as well as analyze the required amount of work. The most optimal situation is one that does not require replacement of elements. Rust spots are cleaned to obtain high-quality metal, after which they are reinforced with patches. But not everyone is able to face such a situation.

mechanical damage resulting from contact with other vehicles or as a result of impacts of stones and gravel particles;

corrosive effect on the material, leading to the formation of rusty cracks and cavities, the protective treatment of which does not bring tangible results.

The first group of malfunctions is associated with the peculiarities of domestic roads and leads to the loss of the vehicle's strength characteristics, and, as a consequence, the impossibility of operating in the previous modes. With a large number of them and damage to the spar, it becomes completely unsafe to drive a car.

Corrosion processes also pose a serious threat to the supporting structure, which increases over time. Despite the many ways to combat corrosion, they, nevertheless, do not allow you to stop the process of destruction, which ultimately leads to the need to replace rotted elements.

With non-removable body parts, the only way out of this situation is the use of welding thresholds by any known method.

The technologies for restoring violations in the structure of these parts are different both in the techniques used in this case and in the cost of the materials used in welding.

The choice of the method of restoring the thresholds and the bottom depends on the nature of the damage received and can be reduced to the following options:

classic welding of non-removable body parts;
straightening of small dents on removable and non-removable elements, for which the former must be dismantled from the car;
replacement for new products (in case of severe damage or rust damage);
do-it-yourself threshold repair without welding using non-standard restoration techniques.

Non-standard applications include fiberglass with epoxy adhesive, as well as a method that allows the thresholds to be pulled out by means of special mechanisms. The latter method allows you to completely restore the previous form of products of any car (including the well-known brand VAZ).

One of the varieties of pulling the thresholds involves the use of special vacuum inverters, with the help of which any deformation (dent, for example) is straightened out due to the pressure difference inside and outside the structure.

Repairing the bottom without the help of welding can consist in regular inspection of the straightening, cleaning and painting.

The restoration of the thresholds of a non-removable type and the bottom can be started only after placing the car on a repair ramp or on a pit with a size sufficient for welding. The bottom is inspected by tapping with a hammer.In case of severe rust damage, it is necessary to clean the surface around the cut-in place using sandpaper or a grinding tool.Body repair by means of welding, including bottom welding, is reduced to installing a small patch of metal of the same structure and thickness on the damaged place. Image - Do-it-yourself car bottom repair

But first, you should prepare the problem area, namely, carefully cut out the rusted metal.

If painting after welding is not expected, then the appropriate color of the patch should be selected in advance, which, together with the threshold after repair, should be carefully sanded and treated with an anti-corrosion compound.

Video (click to play).

If you have a certain skill and the necessary tool (semi-automatic or gas welding), everyone can repair the thresholds and the bottom with their own hands. In addition to tools and materials, you only need a little free time and desire.