Green Thumb Detailing - Part II Cleaning out the door jams I noticed some dirt in the "pocket" where the door meets the fender. I stuck the vacuum hose in there and figured it was just a little dirt. Forget it. There was tons of dirt, leaves, tiny acorns, a rusty nail, etc. - and all of it very damp. I have to admit I immediately panicked, because this is how rust forms! All that stuff just absorbs water and sits there like a wet sponge. I removed the 2 bolts holding the lower portion of the fender and with a putty knife / scraper I reached in there to loosen everything up. What fell out, I took a photo of. I'm just happy the rust in the pocket was minute. Very lucky.
. . . WOW, now thats a stash . . . your secret is out man . . . Its amazing what you can find in those spaces! In my 75' I found about the same thing, except mine was pine needles, leaves and some rocky mountain mud, I cleaned it all out and coated the back of the fender with undercoater after a good rust prevention spray. At the same time, I decided to clean out the bottom of the doors after noticing some old glue remnants laying in the bottom. . .
looks like all your missing is a bee's nest and a kitchen sink if you found that much crap in there i would check out the heater inlet/wiper cavity. the drain is right above where that stash was and there is prolly a lot more leaves in there.
You know, I thought about that as soon as I was done cleaning out both fenders. Just looking through the vents it looked clean. But I know better. I ran out of daylight at the time, but I'll definitely get to it this week. But you're absolutely right. I just hope I don't find a raccoon in there! Or worse - a snake! I bought the truck from a couple who lived in a pretty rural area.
This is just another story of how to live with good ole mother nature. . . after I bought my 75', I swear the Wasps would not leave the door jams alone, I knock em out, clean it up and those lil suckers would make it right back in there, tryed everything, but they were relentless, SOO, I learned to live with them and when it got cooler, they left. I never messed with them while they lived in the front of the door jambs and they never swarmed me, Im figuring, Maybe just Maybe, they were Toyota enthusiasts too. . .
lmfao i bet they loved it. as for the junky stuff that came out, THAT IS ALOT!! my truck doesnt have that much tho