Heat problem fix!

[ryanprins13]

Spray foam always traps moisture and accelerates the rusting in a big way. It's never a good idea unless you plan on crushing or junking your car within the next year.

I thought your car looked bad enough in the initial pics 3 years ago that it should be crushed. I can't imagine how it looks now. I'm sure it's legally unsafe.

Its not legally unsafe, but it hasnt been on the road for about a year now.

For winter driving I set the heater on defrost and fan on lowest speed just to keep the windshield clear. And the vent open to let in outside air otherwise condensation from my breath just recirculates and gets blown onto the wind shield. For heat I wear a coat, scarf, and mitts.

Yeah, but i want to be warm in the car when its -40 out :/ maybe i am too picky but last week i drove both cars on the same day. So outside temps both at -27c and my festiva got the inside of the car up to -4c and the civic about +20c in the same distance. Thats a big difference. You feel warm in the civic, not the festiva. Even when i drove the civic in -40 the other day the inside got reasonably warm, the festiva doesnt.
I wear thick winter clothes but i commute 2hrs a day or more for work and its nice to be warm.

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[WmWatt]

For winter driving I set the heater on defrost and fan on lowest speed just to keep the windshield clear. And the vent open to let in outside air otherwise condensation from my breath just recirculates and gets blown onto the wind shield. For heat I wear a coat, scarf, and mitts.

[93FestyEh]

Spray foam always traps moisture and accelerates the rusting in a big way. It's never a good idea unless you plan on crushing or junking your car within the next year.

I thought your car looked bad enough in the initial pics 3 years ago that it should be crushed. I can't imagine how it looks now. I'm sure it's legally unsafe.

[ryanprins13]

So this sprayfoam i did totally rusted the car out really fast. That was a terrible idea. This helped my cars heat a fair bit but it still wasnt good when things actually got cold. I am working on new theories now

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[meyek91974]

I have thought of spraying in bed liner or rubber coating after cleaning rust. Then filling void spaces with expandi-foam

[nitrofarm]

I dont have holes in my Car but I run Corrugated Plastic in front of my Rad. I have it cut so if need be I can block all but 1/4 pf the rad.Or if it suddenly gets warm I can slide it over for more cooling. Heat works great but fuel mileage sucks at -10. The narrow Band & IAT sensor just kill stoichiometric when the Ambient gets below 20 degs. I'm seriously contemplating relocating my IAT sensor to the inside of the car in winter. Its the only thing I think Mazda missed the mark with concerning the Engine controls. The computer always thinks the engine is cold-

[WmWatt]

Oh, right, not worth the trouble. Mine's clean but not pristine. I used to chip and paint underside every 5 years but spray now and that's effective and less work.

[TominMO]

I put the foam strips in the headliner for noise reduction, along with inside the body cavities behind the rear seat plastic. Anything that fills up a space that can vibrate like a drum is good to do. Of course it would help for warmth too. What would probably be even better is thick felt padding.

I have an old, cheap bulky sleeping bag I put in the car today, in place of the rear seat (which I sold last year). Draped it over the parcel cover too. Definitely helped with noise, and probably with warmth as well; but it wasn't very cold today, just low 30s.

[ryanprins13]

Heat problem fix!

I got some foam rubber in sheet form, I think at the big-box hardware store, and cut it into strips that fit in between the ribbing on the roof panel.

Oh i see. Cool! Did you do that for warmth or noise reduction? And do you think it helped much?

Effective fix but will likely shorten life of car as foam traps moisture and speeds up rust. That's the problem with the factory installed foam in the rear quarter panels where they meet the fender well. Would be better to grind rust down to bare metal and patch and coat before installing insulation. Can even brush on phosphoric acid solution before coating to convert rust to phosphate. Surprized you didn't notice any water coming in driving in wet weather. At least you got an economy car for winter now. Yeah, good snow tires really help too. Don't forget to knock the slush out of the wheel wells when you get home. I do to keep the garage floor clean(er) and it helps reduce rust as well. I keep a long stick or wood just inside the garage door to do it with.

Well i made sure it was dry before spraying the foam in. It was dry to the touch and then i blew compressed air in there for a long time to dry anything left out. The sprayfoam forms a skin on the outside thats supposed to be watertight, it only soaks up moisture if you cut or puncture it. Any water that gets in there now can still drain ahead of the foam as i didnt fill the rockers with it, i just put it where the rust holes were.
I do realize that would be a lot better. I was going to fully restore the body of the car about 5 1/2 years ago when i was still working at an autobody shop but decided it would cost too much. This car is on its last legs bodywise. It was in a bad accident before i bought it and the quarter panels are basically entirely rust with bodyfiller overtop. I think it hit somethin hard in the front then rolled on its side... The body is really beat and ive been hard on the underside. Ive done a lot of off-roading, hit a ton of big rocks, bottomed out a lot. All my floorboards are pushed way up, gas tank has big dents, exhaust is more like 1 in diameter around the gas tank, fake framerails are mostly flat and my fuel and brake lines are pretty mangled.
I did notice water coming in but the story with this car was i bought it from someone who thought it was almost dead, drove it for a long time taking real good care of it, then decided i would just stop maintaining it and drive it till it died. After 3 years of no maintenance, no breakdowns and no signs of death and it being more reliable than my other cars i started fixing it and putting money into it again in spring 2014. But the body is beyond reasonable repair.
I do always kick the slush off my cars when i get home.
The reason i said earlier sprayfoam wasnt a great idea is that it says not to use on gaps bigger than 1 inch. The rockers are obviously way bigger than that and it took forever for it to dry. The middle of it may not be dry even now. I should have stuck other stuff up there to take up space then used foam.
But as far as for other people wanting to do this a much better option is obviously repairing the rust or patching it or preventing the rust in the first place by spraying rock gaurd in those areas and painting to prevent stone chipping and filling the rockers with wax oil, rust preventer or used oil.

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[WmWatt]

Effective fix but will likely shorten life of car as foam traps moisture and speeds up rust. That's the problem with the factory installed foam in the rear quarter panels where they meet the fender well. Would be better to grind rust down to bare metal and patch and coat before installing insulation. Can even brush on phosphoric acid solution before coating to convert rust to phosphate. Surprized you didn't notice any water coming in driving in wet weather. At least you got an economy car for winter now. Yeah, good snow tires really help too. Don't forget to knock the slush out of the wheel wells when you get home. I do to keep the garage floor clean(er) and it helps reduce rust as well. I keep a long stick or wood just inside the garage door to do it with.

[TominMO]

I cant picture what you mean with foam rubber strips above the headliner. What are they?

I got some foam rubber in sheet form, I think at the big-box hardware store, and cut it into strips that fit in between the ribbing on the roof panel.

[william]

I've ran a queen size blanket in the rear of my festiva for years it helps a lot! I put it in there for hauling stuff and noticed how much road noise it killed so I just left it. I bet the foam helps a lot as well .

[ryanprins13]

I want to know where you got those tires from!

Lol, i drove 5 or 6 hours to get those! Second hand, $50 for 5 tires. Couldn't pass it up.

Good job! I like that quilt idea too. Might get a cheap army blanket or something to do the same thing. I have my rear seat out but the rear seat plastic is in. The body cavities behind the rear seat plastic are filled with foam rubber pieces for noise reduction, and of course that also will help some with insulation. The headliner also has foam rubber strips between it and the metal roof. The 1990+ headliners are easier to work with to do this. I have removed the plastic in the trunk area tho, to make it easier to get at the rear strut tops & rear lights. I will drape the blanket over where the rear seat was, and the rear parcel shelf.

Thanks! I think the quilt reduced the road noise a lot too. I got it at one of those discount stores for like $20.
I cant picture what you mean with foam rubber strips above the headliner. What are they?


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[TominMO]

Good job! I like that quilt idea too. Might get a cheap army blanket or something to do the same thing. I have my rear seat out but the rear seat plastic is in. The body cavities behind the rear seat plastic are filled with foam rubber pieces for noise reduction, and of course that also will help some with insulation. The headliner also has foam rubber strips between it and the metal roof. The 1990+ headliners are easier to work with to do this. I have removed the plastic in the trunk area tho, to make it easier to get at the rear strut tops & rear lights. I will drape the blanket over where the rear seat was, and the rear parcel shelf.

[clphipps79]

I want to know where you got those tires from!