Uncorvettable

I am looking at a c3 that has some rust issues. Confined to the back end. The usual place by the kick up. NOT STRUCTURAL, but there is rust on the inside of the frame rails and on the surface. Significant corrosion on the leaf spring and the surrounding nuts and bolts. The half shafts are corroded especially around the u joings. However other parts of the frame are virtually clean.

It's a typical northern car in general good shape, but it was obviously exposed to salt early in it's life and is now showing it.

Does this require a lot of $ to fix? Do you have to take the body off and fully treat the back end, or are there cheaper (decent) solutions?

What would this cost?

I will try to post a picture.

Thanks!

joewill

NOT STRUCTURAL is a pretty far fetched statement.. what you see is usually the tip of the iceberg from what is really there...
there is no real way to fix without lifting the body and cutting out the bad and welding in replacement frame pieces...

it is probably cheaper to just find you a good no rust used frame ( maybe 1500$) or buy an aftermarket new one (3500$ plus)and replace it all....

and then the 'while it is apart' disease sets in and hits your wallet hard...

Uncorvettable

Thanks for the reply. Soooo, if I had to pay a competent person to lift it off and put a new frame under...nothing else, what would that run?

OR...if I can somehow treat the offending parts to delay any further detioration for 5 years or so to justify the big "frame off" money pit...what might that cost.

I do appreciate the expertise....and I wish your car was for sale!

Alan 71

Hi UC,
Everyones definition of rust is different.
Rusty frames can be hiding incredible problems or can be surface rust. You really need to know what to look for and where. Some pictures of what you're seeing would help people give you some advice.
Regards,
Alan

PS: this is surface rust,... no new parts except bushings.

Uncorvettable

I am trying to post pics, but can't figure it out.

However that looks like that is some serious surface rust. Worst than what I am seeing. Did you have to dissassemble and paint everything to get it to that point?

wer2xu

Alan,
your pics always bring a tear to my eye...
OP,
post picture on photobucket, then copy bb tag into post....it is actually easier then I just made it sound.

Uncorvettable

For some reason this just does not look right.

wills670

Be carefull around rust issues. I did not think my car was very bad until I got into it and then it was too late. A lot of times like others have sad it is the rust you can't see that will cost you.

I went from seeing this.

To this.

And some of the hidden issues you may run into.

And the end result.


Unless you have a very big pocket book or can do the work yourself be carefull and make sure you know what you are looking at. I learned the hard way.

Uncorvettable

http://s710.photobucket.com/albums/w...albumview=grid[IMG]

http://s710.photobucket.com/albums/ww102/stuckmann/?albumview=grid[/IMG]

mrmarchuk

sorry man but that looks a bit more than surface rust :S

razman

based on those pics.......i would say that you have a case of more than just "surface rust" on that car. probably alot worse than you might think. JMO

tfi racing

From what I could see from those pics,that is more than surface rust.You definitely need to have someone familiar with these cars and their rust issues check it out for you.

wills670

Looking at your pics. below. The frame on the car you are looking at is a lot worse than the frame on my car in was in the same area. You need to look at it a lot closer or forget about the car and move on to another.

joewill

The car I owned previously had spots that were perfect, must have been shielded by oil/grease/ziebart...
but at the usual spots it was rusted really all the way through..
It was not too bad at the start, but 15 years later it was totally shot.
It originally looked like your does, but believe me , they rust from the inside out..
I had bought a used replacement frame off of EBAY for 1800 or so back 6 years ago that was near perfect... intending to restore the car..I got it all apart and the overwhelming project hit me hard.
Rust on the frame means probably rust everywhere else, and that was my case too..

ultimately I found a buyer for my restoration project and now he has the money pit and thousands of hours away from his home and family to work on it... 3 months later I found my current C3 almost totally done for not a whole lot more than I sold my basket case for..
there is alot of advice out there to buy a car totally done for alot cheaper than the money you would put in repairing your existing one....
From a financial standpoint also, some would say that even if the car was for free, you still would not break even after you fixed it and then sold the car..

having someone else do it would require huge amounts of labor... most of the bolts will break comming out and you really don't want to replace the rear end and front end with the same old bushings.. therefor the 'while it is apart and while I am at it' disease starts to take over..

Run Forrest, Run

wcsinx

It's too hard to say just from pics. You've got to get under there with a hammer and screwdriver and bang and prod everywhere. And even if that checks out, you might still end up finding corrosion pockets. Look at the rear body mounts and the t-arm pockets. Those are usually the worst hit spots.

Uncorvettable

The advice and pictures explaining this are great. THANK YOU!!!

I did talk to someone who has restored cars to NCRS Top Flight. He told me that just about every midwest car suffers some rust if it has been there for any time and has not been restored. He thinks that it's inevitable and just resign yourself to the cost of doing it ....someday. Otherwise enjoy the car for a while.

He said to make sure the car is very solid at the key points, is priced right and has decent appreciation potential. All three otherwise move on.

I will have to put some expert eyes on this one.