I had the much of the interior torn removed while working on some other parts of the interior and decided to tackle something that had long been on my to-do list: the metal mounting tray for the electrical area was in need of restoration. I could see several rust spots when I looked at the fuse box area. A replacement and restoration of the rear interior quarter panel quickly turned into a big project:
To remove the tray, it's a fairly straightforward job with disconnecting several wires, but leaving all of the fuses and relays in place, but removing the bolts that attach them to the tray. I took a lot of pictures so I could make sure I got everything hooked back up correctly. Here are several "before" photos:
I discovered that he tray was in much worse shape than I thought once I got it out and started chipping off the flaking paint.
The two bolts that hold the mounting tray to the body were also stripped and stuck in the rivnuts. I cleaned up the area under the mounting tray and drilled out the old rivnuts before putting in new ones.
I sandblasted the mounting tray to see if I could salvage the tray instead of dropping a lot of money on a stainless steel reproduction. It looked pretty good with the exception of one edge that had rotted pretty good. I decided that since I'll be the only one that ever sees this part, I'd be okay with restoring it.
After sandblasting, I applied a couple of coats of POR-15 over a couple of days, then a coat of Rustoleum black before installing the brackets and putting it back in the car.
Everything looks nice and clean and I'll find out when I get the car back together if I introduced any new electrical gremlins.
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