Sadly, my corvette has birdcage rust. I have done some research but I would just like another pair of eyes of what I am looking at. Mainly, is there more stuff that should be removed and looked at? Should I try and repair that crossbar or should I just buy a new one and weld it in? Im hoping I dont have to take out the birdcage but sometimes it happens. Also, that orange putty on the driver/passenger door jam, is that on fiberglass or rusted metal? I am trying to pick as little as possible to avoid getting too deep. Any advice would be appreciated. I hope you are having a better day than I am!

-Sam

Body mount on Drivers side. To me, it looks worse in the pictures, almost like I can clean it out and put some POR 15 and call it a day

Body mount on drivers side






Do you think this can just be picked at then coated or a whole new crossbar?

 

My advice is to do a thorough examination of the entire cage as well as the frame on the car. Think carefully about the time and effort you will put in addressing the rust, then decide what you want to do.

This may ruffle some feathers but IMHO, in your case, based on the pictures, POR is not a viable option. It would be like pouring perfume on a pig. You have a LOT of structural degradation going on - what you see is the tip of the iceberg.

Is it repairable? Yes, given copious amounts of skill, energy and dollars. Is it worth it? Depends on a lot of factors but at the end of the day, you’ll still have a 1976 Corvette, which is on the lower end of the C3 value spectrum, irrespective of its condition.

Might be time to put a fork in it.

 

IMO this car is done we can’t save them all. Sure, IT CAN be saved but it is not a financially prudent idea.

 

Go "Lipstick on a Pig" and POR-15 the bad areas than put the car back together and drive it like you stole it.

 

just drive it and use it as intended, its not going to blow up as you drive it, birdcage rust gets over played here, most cars have it in different degrees,
i have see worst and much better, keep it dry stay alive.

 

This really isn't too far gone at all, mine is in similar condition. Rust reformer for now, and when it's time to repaint I'm going to cut out the rust and weld in patches. Most of these cars do have windshield rust, just depends if you want to mess with it or not. Won't hurt anything to keep on driving it as is.

 

It is too far gone to be made perfect. It ain’t that bad. Naval jelly it up real good and JB weld those small holes in the pinch weld. Rust oleum is good enough to seal it up to keep the water out. Windshield urethane sticks good to rust oleum also. Those #2 mounts are not show quality but they ain’t gonna collapse either. Check #3 and 4 mounts too. How much do you have in this beastie? If under 10 or 12 as it sits you are not screwed. If u have 30 in it, that sucks. But even if so, keep the kick panels and windshield trim on and it looks good from here. Paint? If it needs it, Maaco. 500 to 1k and you get it back in a couple days.

 

IMHO pulling apart and fixing Birdcage rust issues is not finacially viable unless the car approaches six figure valuations.

 

I would use something like Phosphour that eats rust and converts it to a solid material again. You didnt state the year but like its been mentioned, unless its a chrome bumper or is a family heirloom that has to be brought back to life, just stop the rust, reassemble and drive it. If you were driving it before you found this then you can continue on knowing she is still a good car but has a few rust issues. You can keep it from collapsing onto the frame just by treating those areas but pouring money into this car is going to make you hate it. If you want to replace all the rusted parts its a frame off and a complete disassemble to get at the birdcage.

it always takes about 2 times longer than you think and 4 times more money than you want to spend. If you do it your self you can save money but it will be a lot of evenings and weekends that you could be enjoying her. I would drive it until it falls apart which could be another 20 years if its out of the weather and use all the money you are going to use on a frame off to buy a rust free car

 

cheapest thing is to buy this, pull the body and drop it on your frame. You can do it 2 ways since you will own both but re-registering the new 71 body would be what everyone here will tell you to do. If yours is a later model you can just get a chrome bumper one piece nose for it. do some frame research as well
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...available.html

 

The windshield area isn't that difficult to fix - this is a common area for rot and there are many patch panels for this. You've done some of the hard part already dis-assembling it. I would be more concerned about the lower birdcage rust in the
kick panel area and most likely further back. Depends on how much you want to put into the car and finding someone skilled in working with this. My car was pretty rust free but had some rot in the windshield area and I went ahead and got it fixed.
Maybe talk to someone in a local Corvette club - they will know a good person skilled in working with this.

 

I kind of agree with the guys who say, either repair it now, or fill the holes and get back to it when you are ready to.

It's not that far gone. But you'll have to pull the glass to know what the rest looks like. If you have decent fabrication skills, it's not that difficult. Getting the glass out is a piece of cake. About 5 minutes with a wire ...or a little longer with a side cutting window pull-knife. If you use care you can re-use the glass. If you were to sandblast that, you'd end up with a lot of holes, so you want to replace some of those panels.

On mine, it was rusty on the fender corners, but not 'gone'. I got in there with a long sawz-all blade (which is kind of flexible) and cleaned the rust and re-adhered the rear of the fenders. That saved a bunch of work. But you'll have to see how yours look. That orange goo is something someone added, probably to prevent water, or to cover the crack. It obviously didn't work.

If and when you do start doing the work you want to have all the wheels on the ground or on ramps. The frame and car flex when you start doing birdcage work. You want it to be how it would be on all fours. Don't get discouraged by no-can-do'ers. Embrace the 'challenge'!

Best of luck

 

Been watching this but first chance I got to post.
Those number 2 mount wells are really not all that bad. Some of the Corvette vendors sell patch/reinforcement panels just for reinforcement. The windshield frame looks like a bit of a welding project. Get the glass out. Wire wheel the heak out of it. Weld in patch panels, grind it smooth, fill in the defects with JB weld. And paint it. On those tough to get at places get some spray on rust converter. The stuff works great if you get the good stuff.

 

Thank you all for commenting on the thread. Just for some more information, I have only put around 12k into the car but this is also my first corvette so I don't expect perfection. It designed to just tear tires and have fun, so as long as it the birdcage has life, then the likely course is to patch and seal. After reading it all, I am going to pop out the windshield and wire wheel the upper half and see where we are from there. I will post more pictures once I get to that spot. Sadly, my garage is not big enough to allow for a frame off repair, so it will have to stay on or it will have to go. One more question before I get to work, is there a way to check the birdcage rockers? From under the car, the frame looks fine, and the fiberglass covers the top half. I can't seem to find a way to look at it without taking the body off or cutting up the fiberglass. I also haven't seen anything about doing it with the body on in the forums so any help would be appreciated.

 

when pulling windshield do not lose or toss those 10 clips that hold the top trim. and DO NOT lose the holes they screw into. you won't believe they will jst disappear when you clean and paint the pinchweld, but they will. so reinstall the screws or some other same size screws (#6 i am pretty sure) so they can be found later. and if replacing the windshield, you need the rubber dam to keep the newer thinner glass at the correct height so it is not mounted too low for the trim like mine is now. rockers? leave em alone.

 

looking forward to your progress. i have similar issues

 

There are lots of early Corvettes driving around with this level of rust....its just something to repair. May be expensive, may not be easy, but you make the repairs or you don't. Its no reason to get rid of the car.

 

this is what clean body mounts should look like .. hope this helps

 

You know ...for now, rather than pull the windshield, you might want to put the trim all back on, and drive it for the rest of the summer. Enjoy it. Then come back to it in the fall, pull the windshield and sandblast it. Running a wire wheel over it isn't gong to do anything. In fact, I wouldn't even sand blast it right away. It'll just make a mess.

I can save you time and tell you you'll need to replace most (if not all) of the top windshield pieces and probably part (or all) of the side pieces. The region under the fender corners, you'll have to see how it looks when you get there. After everything is repaired, THEN sand-blast ..to clean the welds and remove all black paint from the new panels. Make the repaired area look spick-n-span clean. That will make a great surface to get some good rust-proofing self-etching primer on it. And at that point, sandblast lower rusty areas to see how that area looks. They don't look as bad. I most always clean off my welds and new panels by sandblasting to make a good 'clean' surface before priming/painting.

Either way, it's going to be a lot of work, but certainly do-able. A lot of guys have restored theirs, but again, its not a trivial amount of work. It's the kind of job you want to take your time with. So, you might as well enjoy it for a couple more months while the weather is good.

But if the timing is better for you now, sure, pull the glass and dig in. Read up on the 'right' way to do it. You'll want to take careful measurements so you can correctly place the new windshield frame members ...because once you cut them you won't know exactly where they go. Millimeters matter.