Well dang

[Doba76]

So I was under the rear of the Cordoba the other day getting ready to put the new shocks on and as I slid out from underneath it, I noticed something off about the rear leaf spring perch on the drivers side. It was getting dark so I grabbed my flashlight and what I saw made my heart sink. The perch is rotted out and damn near ready to punch it's way through the trunk. It's nothing that I can't fix, but sure puts a damper on having the old girl on the road here anytime soon. About a 7"x7" patch of the trunk floor will also need replaced that the perch is actually spot welded to.
It's such a small, localized area that has gone bad and the rest of the car, minus the quarters, is perfectly fine. The right hand perch is mint, as is the trunk on that side so at least I have a frame of reference to get measurements off of.

 

[multipleBs]

Wow, that's bad news. Time to break out the welder. Years ago such a find would really bug me, but as time goes on less things bother me. I thought you guys were salt free in Alberta?

 

[Doba76]

Wow, that's bad news. Time to break out the welder. Years ago such a find would really bug me, but as time goes on less things bother me. I thought you guys were salt free in Alberta?

Totally salt free lol, it's the only spot that's rotten on the whole underside of the car, it's bloody weird. Measured the area the other night and it's roughly an 8x8 area that's shot. I'm thinking that it got packed full of mud somehow as it looks like it's rotted from the inside out.

 

[multipleBs]

The steel they were using in 76 had virtually zero rust resistance. I also have a 76. It's seen no winters (here in the salt capital of Canada, Quebec). It was well undercoated by it's original owner, but even with no salt exposure there are a few minor spots on the under body where they missed with undercoating. Some slight surface rust is evident. If your problem area is 8x8, it
won't be bad. Water trapping dirt does tend to collect near the spring perch mounts and other sharp bends. The inner fenders in the rear don't protect those areas at all.

 

[Doba76]

The steel they were using in 76 had virtually zero rust resistance. I also have a 76. It's seen no winters (here in the salt capital of Canada, Quebec). It was well undercoated by it's original owner, but even with no salt exposure there are a few minor spots on the under body where they missed with undercoating. Some slight surface rust is evident. If your problem area is 8x8, it
won't be bad. Water trapping dirt does tend to collect near the spring perch mounts and other sharp bends. The inner fenders in the rear don't protect those areas at all.

The more I look at it, the more I think the car saw a lot of gravel roads in the past. The front 3/4 of the car has quite a liberal coat of original undercoating still left, whereas from about the axle back, it's quite sporadic and virtually non-existent around the bad area. When I'm finished the repair, I'll re-coat the whole car again.

 

[multipleBs]

I like the heavy duty anti-rust that Eastwood sells. Nothing they have is cheap but this stuff is pretty good. I dries to a waxy coating that never really gets dry. If it's scratched to bare metal it can sometimes "self heal", it remains soft and sort of flows into areas where removed. It's great for coating new gas tanks, steel fuel or brake lines. It can't guarantee no rust for winter use with lots of salt, but in a dry climates or for summer only use it literally lasts decades. It looks like caramel, but doesn't taste so good.