I have made a potentially very expensive mistake. I bought a 1974 Corvette that seemed to be in decent shape, or so I thought. I inspected the frame more closely and found that it is severely rusted at the kickup in front of the rear axle. I know. I know. I should have been more careful and inspected the car better, but the damage is done. Now I need to figure out the best way forward. I can think of 3 options.

1. Dump the car at a loss and find something new.
2. Replace the entire frame
3. Repair the frame, assuming the rest of it is not too bad. I was looking at the repair kits that Ecklers carries.

I wanted to get opinions on the repair option. I do not have any experience with welding, so I would have to find someone to make the repairs. Is this a worthwhile option or would it just be a band aid fix?

This weekend I am going to go over every inch of the car to make sure there are no other surprises.

 

Pictures would help a lot for an evaluation of the rust damage.

 

I'll add some soon. My phone was dead when I crawled under the car the other day.

 

if it is not prying, how much do you have in it? makes a diff on the doability of the repair. and where are you? a 200 dollar frame 1000 miles away is an expensive frame. roll down to post 107. read.

 

It is all fixable!!

 

with the body no longer in the way it is much more doable. but possibly all over the frame and cage. if sold by a dealer, frame damage, rust through included has to be announced. if private party no ability to complain.

 

Replace the entire frame, easy button.

 

IMHO, before I decide what to do I would:
*check the windshield frame for bad rust, hard to tell sometimes under the glass.
*check the rest of the birdcage frame for bad rust.
*get an idea of what 74's in great shape are going for.

My logic, figure out what the rest of the birdcage looks like before deciding. If the rest of the birdcage is rotted out too, then part it out and move on. If the rest of the birdcage looks pretty good, I agree with Mr. D, I would go find another replacement frame. Since it is a 74, unless a big block, you could easily and quickly spend more to fix than what you could buy another one in good shape for. So forget what you have already spent on this one, that is sunk cost, over with and in the past. And compare cost to fix vrs cost to acquire another one. Hope this might help. As for the repair option, all can be fixed with time and money, ha!, Unless you weld, I would get an estimate from an experienced Corvette shop.

 

one can buy a welder and start watching videos. if one does not have an empty 3 car garage, an engine hoist and a body dolly it is biting off too much...

 

20mercury is spot-on. Investigate the birdcage thoroughly before looking at the frame. This will involve a bit of disassembly to do it correctly.

Replacing the frame, while technically an unbolt/bolt exercise, is fertile grounds for scope creep.

If the birdcage is bad, put a fork in it.

 

It really does depend on the extent of the rust. It's a steel frame, easy to weld. I agree, the rest of the car needs a very good inspection.

 

Just repair it. They are all worth saving. Rust in the kickup area is the most common area. Of course, if the entire frame is rot......it is junk.

 

i am sorry but not all 74-82 are worth saving. not all 63-82 are worth saving. but most 63-72 have to be looked at hard before giving up.

 

It seems to me the cars that have frame and or bird cage rust and or some rot can be used and driven with out concern
I would not race them or beat on them use them and drive them for there intended purpose, just keep them dry and
stored in dry conditions. i know there are exceptions,

 

With few exceptions, frame rot also = birdcage rot.
cheap non comprehensive repairs in these cars are all over the place.

A 74 has a price ceiling that a comprehensive repair of this rust would never be worthwhile from a financial standpoint, or even the effort standpoint.
unless you have the skillset to want to take on a project like this, ( and that is OK too) dump the car for what you can get out of it.
a couple grand loss in resale is peanuts compared to what you would be taking on, and then you would be much more massively underwater,
rusted cars do sell, they just sell at a different price.

or... just drive it without putting too much into it.. sell it in a year or 2.

i bought a rusted out 70 with the same story that you have, drove it, sold it 13 years later for 20% more than I paid for it.
then I bought a zero rust 70( because now I know better ), drove it, sold it 14 yeas later for 14% more than I paid for it... Go figure....

several intangible factors exist in both of my examples, but rust doesn't seem to factor into the appreciation curve unless you buy in at the wrong price.

 

So what?! Life isn't perfect. Car's aren't either. You've done what I and a lot of other people have one which is made a decision where you didn't know 'everything' (and that happens...ever buy a house?? LOL). I wouldn't let it get you down. You OWN a Corvette man!! he he

Drive it for the summer, go on with life as you had planned. Just don't beat it too much. Cars can run with very rusted frames. My plow Jeep is so rusted underneath ...the whole thing's like pie-crust! I don't know what is holding the leaf springs to the perches. Yet it plows snow great for my property ..and has for the last 12 years. Evaluate and enjoy what you have. Kick the can down the road for a few months. Then evaluate your game-plan in the fall. If you don't like the car for other reasons, pass it on. If you do, maybe now is the time to gain some new skills and try something you haven't done before? Get out of your box. Collect info and tools in the summer. Make a good winter project. It's highly satisfying work. Very cathartic. Not rocket surgery. Just a series of small steps which you do one at a time.

Or if you don't want to do it, or just don't have the time, perhaps between now and fall or next spring, all the corvette or classic car guys you'll meet, you might meet (or be introduced to) a competent fabricator whom you can partner with who CAN repair it at a reasonable cost ..and perhaps you help with the frame drop. Replacing the entire frame is a lot more work than it sounds. Then you just made the project a WHOLE lot larger. The kind of car project that gets taken apart, sits in the garage and never gets finished. I guess it depends on the extent of the damage.

_

 

I disagree. All C3 Corvettes are 90% the same car. Chrome cosmetic bumpers don't change that fact.

 

but it does change the value. which changes the amount of effort and expense that is justified.

 

Yes... Been there, done that... A few times.

As bad as it may seem, it can be fixed.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

 

csh1138 are you going to post pics so we can help you decide whether to fix, sell or just drive it?