There are probably lots of ways to weld in a new upright.

 

Thanks guys.

Still thinking it over, but my first choice would be to replace the entire frame. We have a Corvette salvage yard in Phoenix. I think I'll head down there next week and see if they have a frame. Regardless the body has to come off.

I'd rather not spend big money on a trick frame, just get a good factory frame. I've also considered back halving the car if I can't find a frame, but that would be a last resort.

 

Looks like it needs more repairs than just the trailing arm pocket It appears the differential cross member is heavily rusted. May be thin ?

Have you checked the bottom of the frame directly below the trailing arm pocket? There's an area where dirt gets trapped along with moisture which rots the bottom of the frame from the inside out. Directly in front of the rear wheel.

How thick is the metal around the keyholes, bottom rear of the side rail?

Possible you may need a partial side rail as well.

I've seen talented people fix rust worse than yours, a lot of work.

You may be better off buying a clean replacement frame.

Either way you need a strong solid frame to work with. Best of luck with your project.

 

I haven't done a lot of inspection on it since finding the major rust. My first thoughts were,... well lets just go to my second thought, that I would want to replace the entire frame. I contacted the Corvette salavage yard in Phoenix, they have a '69 that had an engine fire. They're going to take a look at it and see what the frame looks like. They want $1500 for a frame.

 

With offset trailing arms, you can tuck some pretty big boots onto the rear wheels without flaring the body.

For my 70, I bought a lot of aftermarket strong rear suspension parts from Tom's Differential. They look like stock.

 

I think that's the route I'm taking, no flares, offset arms with as much tire as will fit. I'm pretty stuck on the wheels being American Racing Torque Thrust II's or Coys C5's for wheel style. But, I haven't bought them yet so I might change my mind. Of course backspacing and wheel width options will determine a lot of what I can use for a tire.

 

After the frame issues I decided to take a look at the birdcage to see how sound it was. I was surprised, and not surprised.

 

The car was obviously blue originally, the birdcage has been repaired from a white car (poorly). I looked at the pillars for a splice but didn't see an apparent place where it was done. With the poor quality of the T bar weld I figured the other welds would be as bad. Any suggestion where the splice might be? Also, the VIN tag on the driver's side pillar matches the title. Any thoughts on that?

 

Could be spliced in the rocker channels? Maybe somewhere around the lower windshield corners or just below if the windshield frame was replaced.

 

Looking at the pic showing the bottom of the birdcage where it bolts to the frame, does that look like white overspray to you? I'm wondering about a splice in the rocker as well? Maybe the whole front part of the birdcage was replaced?

Also, are those original rivets holding down the VIN plate on the windshield pillar? The body data plate is missing (probably not a coincindence) I wonder if the VIN is to the white car or the blue car? The engine that came in the car matched the VIN, I wonder what the frame says?

 

The vin tag rivets should be rosette type, at least that is how my 72 are. Everything was original and matched. Eng, frame, vin tag, trans. I bought my 72 in Phoenix 3.5 yrs ago, it was a CA and AZ car and extremely rust free. Your original pix showed a really nice looking car, I was shocked to see what you've found. Sorry.

 

Thanks for the info and the sympathy.

I bought the car before I discovered this forum and didn't know about the 10 rules. I've owned many GM A body cars over the years, but these C3 Corvettes are unique to themselves and they have their own quirks. I had no idea rusted frames were such a big deal. I have a '79 Cutlass and the car looks brand new underneath.

I bought the car off of Ebay, sight unseen, from a guy with something like 350 reviews with 100% positive feedback. The car is from Indiana, the PO told me the car had been in his family since 1979 and was always kept in a heated garage.

I was totally ignorant about these cars, and the guy lied through his teeth. So what I have is a rusted out and hacked together car. At this point I'm not even sure what to do with it. I've talked to two of my best car guy friends about the car and they both suggest I part it out or sell it to someone with full disclosure of its condition. I would have never sold this car to someone, it is totally unsafe to drive.

If there is a silver lining it's if I keep the car I'll have no guilt about modifying it.

 

Yeah I can fully understand your feelings about it now. My wife told me I was looking at my car with "rose colored glasses". Not really though, I saw a very solid, yet very dirty chrome bumper car that I could pay cash for. Not many out there for under 10k. Also it was all together. I dont know what you have in it, so not sure what you would recoup if parted out.
As in everything, car parts buyers are extremely frugal, I'm no different. Maybe the resto mod project would be better, I dont know. My car is in the paint shop now, a mix of updates and original pieces. If you decide to part it out, shoot me a pm. Ive toyed with the idea of steeroids and aftermarket brakes so we may be able to work something out there, at least you wouldnt take a bath on that stuff too.

 

Regardless of your decision Steve.
I have Body lifting straps and a overhead crane if I can be of assistance.
To find the splice areas Lightly sand the areas down to bare steel.
Then after a little oxidation occurs(either forced or naturally occurring) the welds will become readily apparent

 

Sunstroked, I've decided I'm not going to part it out. I'm in way deep on this car I paid market value for a nice car. So, what I think I'll do is place a Craig's list ad and see what kind of local response I get. If I can't get what I think I need out of the car I'll move forward with it. I might be willing to sell the brakes depending on whether or not I find a good frame. If I can't find a frame I might back halve the car using the existing frame and make a Pro Street car out of it. If I go that direction I won't be able to use the brakes, shocks or composite rear spring.

Phil, I appreciate your offer! I might take you up on it. Over the next few weeks I'll see how the ad goes and if I don't sell it I'll start getting ready to pull the body. I don't think I'll need to go though the process you described to find the welds at the bottom of the birdcage. If the top welds are any indication they should easy to spot. I'll just need to look for the bird sh*t. I'd like to know where they are so I can grind them out and re-weld the joints. Am I going to need to cut out pieces of the fiberglass body at the rockers to get to the welds?

 

I'm thinking the left hand A pillar was cut and welded just below the VIN Tag. From your picture that doesn't look like a factory seam right there

 

Hi Steve, sorry to see all the rust issues. Boy do I know how you feel. I was not part of the forum when I got my 69. Rust on the upkick rails. Had to replace the #3 pockets. The big surprise was with the windshield. How do you go and look at a car and say "gee can I pull of the windshield trim to check for rust". Ain't going to happen. Anyway good luck with whatever direction you choose. Not easy.
Roger

 

Hi Roger, sorry for the problems you've run into with your car. I respect you for taking on the challenge and making the repairs! I was pretty surprised when I got the trailing arms out of the car and found all that rust, especially on the left side. After seeing the frame rust I knew I had to check the windshield. Apparently, that had rusted out earlier since the metal has been replaced (and not very well). Of course I haven't pulled the windshield so who knows what is under that?

I've had a few days to step back and think about what I have going on with the car. Originally I bought what I thought was a nice low mile 2 owner car that just needed a little detailing to finish it off. And, that is what I paid for. I have a lot of money in this car. I can move forward and put another $15,000 into the car and maybe get it finished, or I can sell it for 35-50 cents on the dollar and chalk it up to a really hard lesson learned and move on. I'm 4 1/2 years from retirement and I have other things I need to take care of, so spending thousands more on the car isn't very appealing and really doesn't play into getting ready for retirement very well.

When I bought this car I was looking at three others as well, a 68 Olds 442, a 70 Olds Rallye 350 and a 72 Camaro SS. I bought the Corvette for several reasons, one of my best friends has a 68 Corvette, I'd never owned a Corvette, and I thought that after retirement along with the Cutlass and Mustang GT that I own I could spend some of my time being involved in different clubs and attending different events and enjoying the hobby from different view points. I didn't want a big restoration project. I have about 50 photos of the Rallye 350 that a private collector sent me of a car he was selling. After the big rust discovery I went and looked back through all those photos thinking to myself that I should have just stuck with what I knew. Man, talk about buyers remorse!!

Since I'm on the fence about what to do with the car, I'm going to put an ad on Craig's list for a little more than what I have spent in parts. At that price I'd get about 55 cents on the dollar for it. If I can find a buyer I'll sell it and move on, if not I'll continue to work on the car until it is finished.

 

I was wondering that myself about the left pillar. But, the right side of the birdcage where it bolts to the frame is in pretty good shape. Considering the condition of the rest of the car it makes me wonder if the entire front of the birdcage was changed out? And, really I guess I should hope it has been since the steel from the white donor car looks good. If the other welds are of the same quality as the T bar welds I need to redo them.

I need to get the left side kick panel out and see what it looks like in there. Unfortunately the car is positioned where I can't get the driver's door open far enough to get to the front sill plate screw. I need to make a sharp bend in a screw driver and see if I can get the sill plate screw loose.

 

Hi Steve, it is a very depressing moment that really deflates you when you see things that you were caught off guard with. Your car does not appear to all apart like of the frame so it sounds like you may have a few more options then me. I was so far down the road that I am really stuck. I don't know if what I am doing is right and it is hard to continue with such a damaged car. I can only hope that when completed its safe , looks and runs well and go from there.
Good Luck
I am in full support for what you are going thru.
Roger