Hello, this i my first corvette and I'm a young mechanic. I'm looking to take the body off of my vette and have noticed some birdcage rust. What I am wondering is: how severe is it, how can it be repaired, approximately how much time/work would it be, and if I was to not repair it and it is garage kept and never driven in the rain or winter how bad will the rust get over time?

 

Keen Corvette has most of the upper Bird Cage sections pieces you can buy the the actual piece you need or piece enough of it to make the whole upper section . , the top looks bad but the bottom doesn't look too bad , with the body off you can buy complete bird cages but I have no idea how hard they are to change

 

I agree, the header bar piece looks the worst, all the rest looks just like surface rust.

You're never going to know the full extent of it unless you get the wire wheel on it and take it back a bit to see what's underneath.

If you're going to the extent of taking the body off, I'd go a little further and take the windscreen out and check out the windscreen frame, then clean all the rust up with a wire wheel and repair what you need too and re paint with KBS rust seal.

Yours looks a lot better than what mine did!

 

Go to the top of the hill and let it roll in to the nearest tree, but make sure you have stated value on it. Then you will have enough for a down payment on a one owner vette maybe a new KIA

 

I agree...does not look too bad except for the top parts. Clean it up...replace some of the worst top parts and then coat the metal. I used Pour 15 myself and happy with the results. As far as leaving it alone...even a protected environment will eventually cause more rust over time due to the small amounts of moisture and oxygen in the air.

Besides...you have the car apart already so why not go for it.

 

It doesn't look that bad.

 

Here’s another opinion that agrees, it’s OK and pretty normal. Replace or patch the perforated upper windshield frame after a thorough cleanup, treat everything you can reach with a rust neutralizer, paint it and move on.

 

Hey 72J: first of all, welcome aboard!!! You'll find that, aside from a few attempts at humor, the members of this forum can be a great source of help and advice. I applaud your desire to save another C3. It looks like there is some cage work to do, but it also seems as though you have the skills and enthusiasm to get it done. Do it in sections and don't get discouraged. I've seen a LOT worse. Since this is your first vette, just know that there will be more surprises - and not all of them will be negative. C3s are beautiful cars and great to drive. Keep us informed and enjoy! Paul

 

If it makes you feel better, here are the number 2 body mounts of a C3 I looked at recently....

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Not Stated, Agreed.

 

For a 50 year old car, that isn't that bad.

 

You may not take it out in the rain but surely it will leak when washing it.

Jim

 

First of all welcome to the Corvette Forum. I hope you find the comments helpful and productive.

I restored a 1971 Brands Hatch Green barn find called "Sparty" here on the CF and tried to document it fairly thoroughly. It wasn't until I dug into it that I discovered the severity of the rust around the windshield area. I had it professionally repaired and it cost just about $5,000 to have the old parts removed, and new parts welded back up to fix that area including 1/2 of the t-top cross bar.

One thing about rust is it never gets better on its own. All you need is moisture, even in the form of humidity, and the rust will just keep on eating up your car. For me and Sparty is was a safety issue. The Corvette Coupe doesn't offer a lot of support in a roll over anyway but once the windshield is rusted like that it offers you far less, or no safety support at all. You can patch it but when you do you will always wonder "is it safe" or "is it still rusting under there" and if and when you go to sell it and the next buyer discovers it you will get far less for your car. I am a proponent of fix it as a first priority. If you chose not to fix it then disclose it and sell it and take your loss now, lick your wounds, and move on with your car purchases. If the person that sold that car to you did not disclose that rust to you then you have something to be upset about. I was quite upset with mine, but I fixed it and moved on.

Never an easy thing to discover but fortunately it is something that can be repaired.

Again welcome to the forum and good luck with your decision.

David Howard
AllVettes4Me

 

This post goes to show that the #2 body mounts behind the kick panels don't tell the whole story. Those look pretty good but the upper T-Top section has issues and I bet the lower corners behind the windshield will show rust holes as well.

Good luck with your project.

Brian

 

72J,
Like some said, it really isn’t as bad as it seems. I had to do a complete cage replacement on mine. Here are before and after pics.


After replacement.

What I started with.

 

At some point I have the passenger side corner and upper frame section to do on mine , my body mounts were pretty clean so hopefully mine doesn’t get worse once totally disassembled