you can bring a philips screw driver with you and use it to poke at suspected areas and use the handle as a tuning fork to tap and listen for dull thump spots. Those you poke at. Look around the windshield frame like you did on the first one and look at all the body mounts. A honesst seller should let you take off the front kick panels to look at the body mounts or hopefully get it in the air to get an Idea from the outside

 

Ok lets see, I had some surface rust on my C3's, do not want to pull the body off right now and really not needed anyway, so I spray can the frame everywhere I can get too and hook a small hose to the spray can and spray as much as possible inside the frame. Isn't this common sense and trying to take care of and maintain my Corvette? Not much different than changing the oil to maintain my Corvette, IMHO, ha!

Now if I am trying to hide something, that is a totally different ballgame. So, I think if you study up on where to look for killer deal rust and check and inspect carefully and talk with the owner about what he did and why that is the best course of action. I will happily discuss with a potential buyer what I did and why. Of course not all sellers are like that, but if you look you can find them. In fact a seller I do not get good "vibes" about I walk away from regardless of the what the Corvette looks like, LOL's!

Your photos to me do not look very bad at all and would not stop me from going and doing a more detailed inspection. Like most things in life, experience is invaluable, bringing an knowledgeable person with you would be very helpful.

Hope this might help and good luck with the hunt. I start out with the premise that all C3's have rust, just how bad and how manageable is the question.

 

Hi Rescue,
I wondered about that and thought about posting a question. Should sellers expect to remove kick panels for bird cage inspection, how much disassembly for inspection should I be comfortable asking for?

John Rogers

 

Does spraying over rust fix anything or just cover it up? My understanding is that you have to remove the rust before you can protect the metal.

 

Good point!

I wire brushed, degunked and washed and washed and then sprayed the rust convertor that you can buy in a spray can. I doubt you can get 100%+ of the rust off unless you dip it (even then who knows if a cranny held a dirt ball), so all of this is "degrees of good". Doing whatever you are able and can do is steps I think towards "good" and a worthwhile endeavor.

Even the best inspector can not see everything, so he sees as much as he can practically see and then makes a judgement all based on his experience as to how likely the rust is to be "manageable" or a "show stopper".

 

Painting over rust like that is basically locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen.

 

Nothing at all wrong with a rattle can restoration done properly. I know someone who does better work using spray paint than some professional shops.

 

To me when done with care an on frame restoration will look great.

I pulled the motor, exhaust and suspension.

Then sprayed Ospho converter, on all my metal parts. Wire brushed, and degreased everything. Then taped and masked off everything.

VHT Paint on the frame and VHT epoxy paint in the suspension parts.

Just painting over the rust isn't enough.

 

"THE FRAME AND UNDERCARRIAGE ARE AS NICE AS YOU CAN ASK FOR."

Yup.