Hey,

Just got myself into my first Corvette restoration. Its a '74 and it is currently sitting in my garage 4 feet off the ground with the frame sitting outside. My first step is fixing a small hole in the frame near the rear of the driver side door. Secondly I have to repair the body mounts on the frame. And thirdly (this is where im getting a little lost) is fix the metal plates on the bottom of the body. Now these plates are shot and i need new ones. The only issue is i have yet to find them anywhere. Two trays that run along the sides, beneath the seats and various other small ones throughout the bottom of the body. Where can I get these and are they worth buying or should i just fabricate them?

Thanks

 

I am not sure if anybody actually makes them or not. You can make some, but that would be a pain in the ***.

Do you have a local Corvette salvage yard in your area. There are a few big shops where I am, but there are also a few small shops around here too.

These are the kind of parts that I am sure the bigger shops would have a ton of. That does not mean they will be cheap though.

Just call a few of the Corvette wreckers in your area. Then, figure the number of rivets you need to re-install them and order the rivets from any one of the big vendors that carry them

You can either buy the tool to put in the in an air chisel, or you can make one really easy. But you will need something to smash the rivets to hold all the plates on.

I actually have five or six rivets to replace on my 63. They just fell out over the fifty years of the car hanging around.

Hope this helps a bit. Sounds like you have quite a project there. I hope these are the few things that are wrong with the car. Either way, have fun.

 

The "two trays that run along the side" is the birdcage if I am understanding you correctly. If so, you should do some more investigating and make sure the whole thing isn't wasted.

 

You mean these?
http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb....Z5Z5Z50000050G

 

If Ibanez has it right and these are the "C" that are on top of the whole side rail, you need to look and make sure it is worth.

You are talking about holes in the frame. The usual rust that ends a cars life is just in front of the rear tires.

Also, before you start fixing the birdcage, you should check things like the window frames. If these are rusted out at all, it is not worth the head ache.

This big rust is what sends cars to the junk yard every day. The shame is the can look really nice from the outside.
Rust is why when buying a Corvette you should ALWAYS take someone who knows what to look for can check. A lot of guys have been burned just to drive the car to the wreching yard. There is a guy parting out a 71 on this site that bought a car too far gone.

I have a 63 also. From California. No rust. Last year we finally decided to try to bring back another 63 a friend bought years ago. It was so rusty that he was just not going to ever do anything with it or part it out.
Anyway, we figure it will be about $20,000 to fix the frame and birdcage. Now that the 63 will be worth about $75,000 when it is done, it is worth restoring.

It always costs three times as much as you think it will to do these things. I learned this the hard way.

The best thing you can do is post some pictures of the frame and the car. Maybe we can save you a few headaches that we learned the hard way.

I wish you the best and hope you are talking about body mounts like in the picture. If it is a "C" channel under the door, you better rethink this whole thing.

It is a 74. What options does it have. Is it a big block? Does it have A/C?

Pictures when you get a chance.