356 Speedster Restoration

Having decided to keep my floors, it meant needing to remove all the old sealant and nails that held the old seal in place. I also went over everything with a drill and wire brush insert to remove any loose rust, flakes of paint etc. This worked well on the topside but will need a few more applications underside to completely remove the 14 years of road grime and waxoil!

The water hoover and pressure washer came in really handy and made the job alot more do-able.

I've degreased with marine clean, followed with the pressure washer to rinse, then hoover up any remaining water, let the sun dry the remainder off, then repeat the process with metal ready instead of marine clean, finally applying a couple of coats of POR15 and chassis black. This got the topside done, but Ill need to finish off degreasing the undereside another day. Despite my best efforts and wearing marigolds, I still managed to get some POR15 on my feet, hands, arms and face and I only painted the topside!. The POR15 was runnier than I expected, also it has a very shiny finish, i think I would have prefered matt. The chassis black was also quite shiny but looked a bit murky and duller than the POR15. I regret not getting a tin of grey aswell as black POR15 so that applying the 2nd and 3rd coats would be more satisfying to know where I've not been.

Whilst degreasing the underside I found the plugged up drain holes in the floor, I left them plugged as Id already painted the topside the previous day, and had drilled a hole in the marine boards to hoover any collected water through.

With the marine ply boards back in place I'm satisfied that I kept the floors, but from the time it's taken degreasing the underside it would have been cheaper to get new floors if a shop was doing this - but this is 'free time'. I remembered to repack the front beam with grease which squirted some water out in the process.