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Hi Jim. I would say you want to get the problem solved before the next wet season arrives. Even a few months of salty dampness can make a huge difference on an already rusty area.
Just finished a major rust project in an 85 240. The most important thing you want to determine is how much rust is in the side "frame" rail. I say this because any amount of work on the floor is not a big issue. The car will stay straight and square while you cut out bad areas and replace them. However if you have to cut the side rail, the car must be properly supported while it is replaced or you'll have door problems etc. That said, the rust I removed from this 240 was, from the sound of things, far worse than what you have and the results were excellent. Are you going to do the work yourself? For mine, I removed the entire interior of the car and used a reciprocating saw to remove all of the damaged floor area. This cars floor was damaged from just behind the jacking point to the middle of the rear floor well and from the side rail inward past the subframe. Not all of that was destroyed, but if you are going to do it, you might as well get all the affected metal out, even if some is just surface rusted. From there I went to the yards with a battery powered recip and found a super dry donor and cut out way more floor than I needed. Before any more cutting, I wire brushed off all the paint and undercoat inside and out of the existing and donor metal. Biggest and baddest part of the task was lifting the new section in and out of the car 50 times to get the fit just right. Template got me in the ballpark, but the ability to weld it in correctly is in the details. The patch crossed the subframe rails in two places and butted up against the side rail for the entire length. In one section I reinforced the joint to the side rail with a piece of flat steel. I did the entire thing with my gasless wire welder. Lots of small welds to avoid warping the metal. Ground it smooth, smeared it with elastomeric sealant for any pinholes (inside and out) and coated with Rust-O-Leum.
DS
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