Hog throughs

[ken1007]

The 63 R2 that will be resored this winter, has good hog throughs, as seen from under the car. There is probably unseen rust inside. Has anyone cut holes from the top side (throught the glass floor) and injected rust inhibitor down into the hog throughs or is that even worth the effort? Ken, Deltaville, Va

Added 6-22: Thanks to all for your input I will, most likely, do the same thinkg avanti81 did, only I use a chemical called "OSPHO". It's a rust inhibitor chemical that is used by waterman in my area to protect their gear and boat. I have used it on all of my cars or the last 16 years with good results, in fact when a buy new steel for body work the first thing I do is coat it with ospho. It's a chemical and you have to be very carful when using it. I have not yet started on restoration except to "get the stink" out of the car, it was in storage for about 35 years and several mice thought is belonged to them. Ken, Deltaville Va

Addd 6-23: Driled four 2" holes in floor above hog througs, got about 1 cubic foot of mouse house stuffing, also drllled same hole in front of through immediately in back of front wheel, and small 1" hole in back of through thru metal to clean out the last 6" of through. vacuumed it out, and pressure washed. The last of the decades of storage stink is gone. Inside of throughs was in remarkable condition, no serious rust, will treat with OSPHO in a day or two. Has anyone heard of the inside of the through being undercoated at the factory, it looks like that was done and the left side botton of the through had weep holes in the front and back. Right side did not, but both sides are quite solid. ken, Deltaville, Va

Edited June 23, 2011 by ken1007

[p schmidt]

like they say 'can't hurt' if you cut the floor all you need to do is couple 2" sq. pieces, save the piece and re glue it back when your done, you would need to get a long reach sprayer hose to get reach to the ends of the troughs also look for any drain holes that you can get into you may want to cut a hole in the back wheel well to get the very end of the trough... I made a sprayer out of a garden fertilizer pump sprayer and made a hose attachment for long reach then used it to spray the inside of my frame with it diluted mix

if you cut the holes you may want to blow the troughs out before spraying

[Gunslinger]

You could also drill a couple of 1" or so holes in the hog troughs themselves...it can allow any moisture or collected water to drain out, then you can use a sprayer to add rust inhibitor to them. Then you can use removable caps to close them up...and you can also remove them on occasion to allow moisture to dry again.

It's too bad Avanti Motors didn't do something like that when they make sun roofs optional...the sun roof drains went directly into the hog troughs with no place for the water to go. I guess it's no wonder how few late '70s and early '80s Avanti have survived due to bad hogs. It seems many Avanti's (at least I've seen) being parted out are from that era.

[Avanti83]

If you really want to do a great job you need to brush in POR15 or some other rust inhibiter.

This is a shot of my 83 after I finished drilling 3" holes in the floor, using POR15 and resealing the holes by taking the round plugs I removed, adding a thin aluminum disc to the top to allow the plugs to be put in place in the holes with sheet metal screws.

Here is a link to the SDC forum that I posted on what I did. It worked out quite well as you can't see the holes with the carpet in place.

http://forum.studeba...k-Bige-s-advice

Bob

[stupak]

Avanti83: What did the troughs look like inside, looking thru the holes you drilled? Looks like a neat idea. I also like Gunslingers idea of drilling the bottom and inserting removeable plugs. Probably more serviceable than 'outting' the carpet to check each time.

[Avanti83]

Avanti83: What did the troughs look like inside, looking thru the holes you drilled? Looks like a neat idea. I also like Gunslingers idea of drilling the bottom and inserting removeable plugs. Probably more serviceable than 'outting' the carpet to check each time.

The reason I chose this approach was the rear of each hog trough had a soft section that I repaired with new metal. It was difficult (impossible) to get far enough forward to see and treat the rest of area. ErnieR had posted previously on the SDC forum about doing the same thing.

When I opened up the floor area, I found the usual mouse storage of nuts and fluffy stuff which I removed. The hog troughs had flaky rust but seemed to be solid otherwise. I brushed the rust out as much as possible and slathered on the POR15.

The reason I used POR15 was it's reputation for encapsulating and stopping rust. I used a lot of it inside with the brushes you see in the writeup.

Realistically, I don't plan to open them in the future but I guess I could if necessary.

As far as drilling into the bottom, be sure you do this before you treat the hog troughs. You need to provide drains to allow any moisture out and leave them open.

I will say that the only way to know that you have covered the entire interior surface is to open them up enough to get you eyes and possibly a mirror inside.

Bob

[Gunslinger]

I will say that the only way to know that you have covered the entire interior surface is to open them up enough to get you eyes and possibly a mirror inside.

Bob

I recently purchased a boroscope and it's great for seeing what's inside places like hog troughs, under the dash where you can't get eyes on anything, etc. I bought it more or less on a whim but it is quite handy. On cars like an Avanti where everything is packed in tight and rarely visible, this tool can be a big help...and not hatefully expensive. While I am very careful about buying tools from Harbor Freight...this was on sale and I also used one of those 20% off one item coupons they put in every advertisement. That made it an easier decision to buy one.

[Avanti83]

I recently purchased a boroscope and it's great for seeing what's inside places like hog troughs, under the dash where you can't get eyes on anything, etc. I bought it more or less on a whim but it is quite handy. On cars like an Avanti where everything is packed in tight and rarely visible, this tool can be a big help...and not hatefully expensive. While I am very careful about buying tools from Harbor Freight...this was on sale and I also used one of those 20% off one item coupons they put in every advertisement. That made it an easier decision to buy one.

That could work well, particularly if one chose to use the newer style spray on/in undercoatings with the wands available to change spray directions.

Bob