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So my 1979 Corvette has birdcage rust. I've looked through the forums to get an idea of the extent of it all but I'd still like to see what you guys think. I'm hoping that it's not that bad and that the car will outlive me. I don't know why but I think the photos make it look worse than it is. Any advice would be appreciated!
Rust looks very low. Very repairable at this stage with patch panels.
At the very least wire brush (Rotary) the heak out of it and a ton of rust converter.
But cutting out and welding in plus rust converter, etching primer and paint sounds better.
How does your windshield frame look? Lower corners of the windshield frame?
Can’t provide much help on the rust issue, but I would also be concerned about those unprotected wires going through the holes in that steel. Vibration over time along with old, brittle coating could cause an issue. You should protect them while you are digging around up in there.
Good luck on your rust repairs.
You have to realize the only way that area can get that rusty is water is getting behind the windshield seal or is entering through rust holes higher up in the birdcage then trickling down and pooling at the no.2 mount recess.
well if it was me.. i would focus more inspection including below... on the pic below..
also remove trim around windshield and inspect there.. take pick of VIN and area around it best you can see..
You have to realize the only way that area can get that rusty is water is getting behind the windshield seal or is entering through rust holes higher up in the birdcage then trickling down and pooling at the no.2 mount recess.
I'm afraid to say from my experience this is very likely the case. My no2 mounts looked similar to yours, but definitely not as bad. This is the only picture I took at the time.
It was only after I had taken out the instrument panel and the windshield that I could see how bad things were. The lower windshield corner outer panel had largely rusted away and I had rust holes in both top corners. I also needed to put reinforcement plates underneath the no2 rubber mounts. This shows what was left of the lower corner outer panel after I'd removed the inner panel.
I hope I'm wrong, but you could have a fair bit of repair work to do.
Rust looks very low. Very repairable at this stage with patch panels.
At the very least wire brush (Rotary) the heak out of it and a ton of rust converter.
But cutting out and welding in plus rust converter, etching primer and paint sounds better.
How does your windshield frame look? Lower corners of the windshield frame?
Lower windshield looks good, I'll get some photos. Those photos here are the "worst" of it. Good to hear I'm way ahead of it. I'll do the preventative measures you say! Thank you!
You have to realize the only way that area can get that rusty is water is getting behind the windshield seal or is entering through rust holes higher up in the birdcage then trickling down and pooling at the no.2 mount recess.
Yep, that's what I've read too so I'm also going to work on sealing that area. I saw someone on here use the same product they use on replacement windshields and it worked perfect for them so that's probably the route I'll take.
I'm afraid to say from my experience this is very likely the case. My no2 mounts looked similar to yours, but definitely not as bad. This is the only picture I took at the time.
It was only after I had taken out the instrument panel and the windshield that I could see how bad things were. The lower windshield corner outer panel had largely rusted away and I had rust holes in both top corners. I also needed to put reinforcement plates underneath the no2 rubber mounts. This shows what was left of the lower corner outer panel after I'd removed the inner panel.
I hope I'm wrong, but you could have a fair bit of repair work to do.
Oh boy... I'll have a look and hope it's all good.
This is what the windshield frame on mine looked like. I still think I have pictures from behind the kick panels... I'm confident there was no primer left for certain.
Sorry, nothing sufficiently close to see, but!!! I'm working on a house project, and I'm having to reverse engineer an item that I no longer have, and buried in the Corvette pictures file I found what may be the only picture of the thing that I have!
Last edited by Dirty Dalton; Oct 31, 2022 at 09:20 PM.
I didn’t know about the “birdcage” till I stumbled across this forum. Since I had the interior kinda apart already, (I was chasing wires down) I decided to look at mine. I already knew the window frame on the Vette I’m working on was rotted to hell already. It’s on my list to replace.
I opened it up and looked and it seemed really bad at first, but most of it was rust that had washed down from the window frame. I vacuumed the “cage” out and it looks like it can be cleaned up and repaired. The drivers side is worse than the passenger side “birdcage” because the drivers side is more rotted out in the bottom left corner of the window frame. So here’s mine. (See Pictures) do you guys think these “birdcages” are ok to clean up the rust and re paint, or does it need more work? Drivers side “birdcage.” Drivers side “birdcage”. Passenger side “birdcage.” Passenger side “birdcage.” Top of window frame. The whole thing leaks tho.
Good Ol' Birdcage Rust
