Hello all,
As I continue to shop for a bumper car I would like to ask some of the veterans if you could share some information on how to check the birdcage when looking at a potential purchase. Do you need to take anything apart? Can you do a decent inspection visually or do you poke around with something.
I read some of the posts on the forum but they show the birdcage by itself and not on the car. I am sensitive to the fact that a seller is not going to be too keen of dissassembling his car to prove it is clean.
any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Paul

 

Great question. I too would love to hear this answer so I will wait, watch , and listen.

David

 

A good place to start is the kick panels, pull them off and look there. Look at the frame in front of the rear wheels. Those are the two places that will have rust if there is any. Beyond that just give it a good visual inspection, look around the windshield area too.

Rob

 

Birdcage:
-from outside the car, look through the windshield at the windshield frame pillars for signs of rust
-with your head laying on the passenger floor, take a flashlight and look up at the lower portion of the windshield frame/cowl for rust; obviously much easier done with the seat removed and/or the passenger side lower dash pad removed. This inspection is more difficult to do on the driver's side due to all the obstructions visually in the way.
-remove kick panels and inspect body mount #2 area for rust damage
-remove rocker trims under the doors, and with a flashlight look up at the lower birdcage from the front body mount #1 all the way back to body mount #3. Do this with the car lifted in the air so you can also inspect this area from the inboard sides of the frame. Pay close attention to the forward portion between body mount #1 & 2. If your windshield seal is leaking and/or your windshield frame is rotten from rust, water will have traveled down the forward part of the birdcage and rusted either the body mount #2 area and/or the area between body mount #1 & 2.

Frame:
-inspect the area where the lower control arms are mounted to the crossmember
-inspect the area of the frame around body mounts #1 & 2; if the birdcage is rust damaged in this area badly enough, then the frame also likely has rust damage, usually on the top of the frame rail where it is hard to detect with the body on
-inspect the entire area of the rear kick-ups on the frame in front of the rear wheels, this includes the inside corner where the side frame rail is joined to the crossmember


I speak from experience; I had to replace my entire windshield frame from the lower hinge bolts up to the center of the t-roof bar because it was so rotten in so many spots! I decided it was faster to do that than do all the spot repairs. The factory windshield sealant had long dried out allowing water to pass. I replaced the windshield frame before I lifted the body, and that's when I discovered the rust damage on the top of the frame rails in the body mount #1 & 2 area that happened because of the rust damage to the birdcage that I didn't see before I lifted the body! I also discovered after the body lift that the passenger side lower birdcage area of body mount #1 & 2 was rotted in an area that is very difficult to see with the body on, it is the area circled in yellow in the pic below of the donor piece I welded in.....the circled area was completely missing!!!! The weird part is that the lower birdcage area of body mount #2 behind the kick panels looked absolutely fine on both sides!

donor piece


existing damage


removed


removed


donor piece welded in


windshield frame removed


windshield frame removed



If I had know what to look for, I probably would not have bought my car! Hope this helps you in your quest for a nice bumper car.

 

Hi 7T2,
That's a great description and great pictures. You really relate how serious rust problems can be.
I think a buyer needs to walk away from a car that they can't determine, for sure, what it's rust situation is.
Thanks for taking the time to post!!!!
Regards,
Alan

 

You know its responses like this one that keep me coming back to this forum.
Thank you so very much for the education, I am looking at a 71 next week. This instruction will be excellent to take with me.
Regards,
Paul

 

Excellent description and pics of an ugly situation! Caveat emptor. Very nice repair job.

 

Glad to help someone out.

 

7t2vette
You are a dude of all Dudes. Very well put, and described.

 

I agree - where else but this forum would you get that advice - experience and knowledge with photographic help as well - very well done 7t2vette, thats invaluable help to anyone wanting to look over a C3, well done.

 

Glad I found this thread.

I'll be looking at a '76 on Tuesday and it's nice to have an idea of where the damage can be...

Thanks.

SteveO

 

I'm looking at a '69 on Tuesday. If solid, it could be my first classic 'Vette. This thread is what I needed.

 

I'm with everyone else. Nice write up and cool avatar too

 

look at some of these pics you will see what it looked like when I bought it and then see what they had covered up.http://photobucket.com/bertpayne

 

Important part is not to get Vette fever and buy on impulse. They can detail up pretty nice and be an absolute disaster under the skin.
If the seller is not willing to remove a few screws to pop off an inspection plate or kick panel just say thanks but no thanks.
If the car is as nice as sellers say then it shouldn't be a problem.

Also check up front by the header bar and rad support, another popular place for rust.
more rust pictures...

 

Wow, does that bring back (bad) memories. Mine were as bad if not worse than that.

 

Some of mine we gone completly

 

At least they reproduce all this stuff, all they're missing is a complete birdcage kit

 

I'll bump this one back to the top since this was one of my questions. Where exactly is the "birdcage". Any more info if you got is welcome.
TNX Eljay

 

It is better to open a new thread than to dig up old ones. The birdcage is the welded-up metal structure beneath the fiberglass on all C3s. These two are 81s in the basement at St. Louis. The firewalls are fiberglass; everything else you see is metal.



This one is an earlier coupe.