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Hey everyone, I bought a 79 corvette a little over a year ago and have slowly been working on restoring it. I have taken out the dash and all interior panels to remove as much rust as possible and wanted to get someone else's opinion on whether or not the car is too far gone. The bird cage has quite a bit of rust most of it has been coming off rather easily. What worries me now however is that the side pillar interior is full of rust and I am not sure if this is something to worry about or if can simply slide in some rust converter to get it under control. Everything is still solid, even after poking it with a screw driver and the metal still holds. The floor is the only thing has completely rusted but I have already seen that it is possible to cut out the pans and weld in new ones. Regardless, if anyone could give me their more experienced opinion on this as well as give me some tips/advice on how to proceed with all the rust. Attached are pictures. I covered this pillar with rustoleum rust converter just to see if it would hold. This is what it looks like on the passenger side kick panel.
We've seen a LOT worse birdcage rust pictures over the years.
I would personally like to see you find someone who has a 'decent' air compressor where you could sandblast the rust away entirely. At least around the windshield frame. And maybe the lower mount area. Or if you have a sand blaster that can handle it. A hand-blaster like THIS should work ok. And use fine silica sand. Obviously wear the right safety gear too...and use plenty of plastic sheeting to isolate the sand to only your car's windshield frame. Once you've done that, then 1) You can see what you have. Some holes might get larger, maybe not. Remember the A-pillars on some GM cars were foam-filled to prevent drafts...so maybe that is what you are seeing..or at least paritally. 2) Blasting will remove and stop the rust. Grinding some or most away won't.
From what I see, that would be easy welding repair work. See what it looks like once it's blasted. You just cut out the weak metal around the holes to get to 'good' solid metal. Then cut/make a piece with some 18ga (you can buy a sheet of it)...just hand fab what you need to fit the contours of the holes you need to patch. Then weld it in place and grind as necessary. Once your repair work is finished...spray the windshield frame with a true Zinc Chromate primer
. Zinc & Chromate are the key words. Not el-cheapo hardware store primer....invest in and use the real stuff. It's hard to find that stuff anymore. It works and will stop it from rusting back, even if water gets in there and stands in there. Like I say, it works. What you do is spray a couple 3-4 coats of the primer, then topcoat with a couple coats of good black paint (before the Z/C primer fully cures -- wait like 30-45 minutes or so). You want the paint to have a chemical adhesion to the primer. Then you're good on the windshield frame.
Floor: Depends on what you want to do for work on that. You could do spot repair for now, or replace the entire panel. Depends on how much work you want to put into it. You could just toss a piece of flat steel over the floor and come back to it later too. Or do it all at once. The right way to do it ultimately is to put in a new floor panel. You can buy spot weld cutters and a good one (key words there) makes the job go faster. So...what does your tool inventory look like? Do you have a decent air compressor? Wire-feed welder? Air tools? Were you thinking of doing it yourself or farming out?
Nobody wants to find windshield frame rust...but a lot of C3's have some, many are waay worse than what I'm seeing in your pictures.
1st and 3rd photo look really bad. Time to weld in replacement sections I think.
Yes floor pans are shot. Yes they are fairly easy to deal with.
Thank you for the input. I had already been eyeing the windshield kits from zip corvette but had hoped it wouldn't come to that. This is my first ever project car that's in this bad of a state, so honestly not a bad opportunity to learn how to properly weld in new pieces into a car. Thank you again!
We've seen a LOT worse birdcage rust pictures over the years.
I would personally like to see you find someone who has a 'decent' air compressor where you could sandblast the rust away entirely. At least around the windshield frame. And maybe the lower mount area. Or if you have a sand blaster that can handle it. A hand-blaster like THIS should work ok. And use fine silica sand. Obviously wear the right safety gear too...and use plenty of plastic sheeting to isolate the sand to only your car's windshield frame. Once you've done that, then 1) You can see what you have. Some holes might get larger, maybe not. Remember the A-pillars on some GM cars were foam-filled to prevent drafts...so maybe that is what you are seeing..or at least paritally. 2) Blasting will remove and stop the rust. Grinding some or most away won't.
From what I see, that would be easy welding repair work. See what it looks like once it's blasted. You just cut out the weak metal around the holes to get to 'good' solid metal. Then cut/make a piece with some 18ga (you can buy a sheet of it)...just hand fab what you need to fit the contours of the holes you need to patch. Then weld it in place and grind as necessary. Once your repair work is finished...spray the windshield frame with a true Zinc Chromate primer HERE. Zinc & Chromate are the key words. Not el-cheapo hardware store primer....invest in and use the real stuff. It's hard to find that stuff anymore. It works and will stop it from rusting back, even if water gets in there and stands in there. Like I say, it works. What you do is spray a couple 3-4 coats of the primer, then topcoat with a couple coats of good black paint (before the Z/C primer fully cures -- wait like 30-45 minutes or so). You want the paint to have a chemical adhesion to the primer. Then you're good on the windshield frame.
Floor: Depends on what you want to do for work on that. You could do spot repair for now, or replace the entire panel. Depends on how much work you want to put into it. You could just toss a piece of flat steel over the floor and come back to it later too. Or do it all at once. The right way to do it ultimately is to put in a new floor panel. You can buy spot weld cutters and a good one (key words there) makes the job go faster. So...what does your tool inventory look like? Do you have a decent air compressor? Wire-feed welder? Air tools? Were you thinking of doing it yourself or farming out?
Nobody wants to find windshield frame rust...but a lot of C3's have some, many are waay worse than what I'm seeing in your pictures.
My toolset is very very basic. I do have an air compressor but nothing related to this. Worked on it today and managed to clean it up a bit more but you are absolutely right, I will be picking a sandblaster and diving further into primers and such to do these repairs properly. I mentioned this in another reply but this is my first project car that's in this state, so this will definitely be a good opportunity to properly learn how to weld pieces into a car as well as learn how to do fab work. I'm going to look the links you've given me and reorganize my tool set. Thank you for the valuable insight, I bought the car for fairly cheap and knew it would need work, and although I had hoped it wouldn't be too much I am glad it's forcing me to learn more about cars and automotive work. Again, thank you for the information!
I really like using 50/40 grade silica sand. That's the fine stuff. Gentler on the rust. AND....it gets inside rust pits whereas the more course stuff doesn't. When you get done, you don't want one single micron of rust inside a rust pit (ideally). I mean..ya want to do as good as you can. If you call up your local brick, block and mortar place....they might not stock the 50/40, but they should be able to get it from like a warehouse. Plan ahead because it could take a few days...sometimes. Or you could try coal slag too from the home center. Coal slag isn't quite as dangerous on the lungs (obviously research and make sure you wear the right PPE so you don't breathe in silica dust (and get Silicosis)). And coal slag cuts really well too. Not as gentle as the 50/40...but maybe that makes sense. And get a sand blasting hood. I use a Tyvek suit, P100 respirator heavy (long) blasting rubber gloves ear plugs, tight safety glasses, and of course a blasting hood. Notice I didn't say paint respirator or N95 mask -- not good enough. The above is not a recommendation, just what I use. Do your own research.
How big is your air compressor? Guys tend to go cheap on air compressors and for a lot of guys it's a limiting factor. You just can't have too much compressed air in a shop! It's the heart of the shop. There are often good deals on used ones....Marketplace...if you feel you need to step up to something industrial. A 60gal 15cfm compressor (at 100psi) is about the minimum I would ever consider. A "quality" slow RPM cast-iron compressor can literally last a lifetime of good air tool work and paint jobs. So when you look at it that way, it's a worthwhile investment to get something good. I know a couple guys who are on their 2nd or 3rd el-cheapo Home Depot compressors. Adding in my one buddy's down-time, the time he's spent coaxing them along and changing the import pump valves, and chasing down new compressors, he couldda bought one really nice Ingersol Rand (or other) industrial compressor. I see good used ones though for a pretty reasonable amt on Marketplace. I bought a good one 30 yrs ago and it was the best investment. Just throwing it out there if you find what you have needs to be upgraded. I'm really good at spending other people's money....ha ha...
2025 C3 ('68-'73) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
Way too much rust, time & $$$$$ for me on a very common, mass produced, 1979. Unless it had an emotional tie like it was my fathers etc,
It would be a parts car, just my .02
I admire you taking on this project, I wish you the best & look forward to seeing it's completion. Keep us posted
Trying to weld in new panels to panels that have been thinned by rust is not fun. Lots of blow thru that can really test you.
For sand blasting media I use "Black Beauty". Mostly because a friend at local company that was building some equipment for them gave 12 60 LB bags. Still have ten left. What ever you use as said above a quality face mask and shield is very important. Not just a N95 mask. My set up is a bit bubba but I use a baclava the covers my whole head and neck. It's long enough to go over the stand up collar on my old army coat. Media will get into every nook and cranny if you let it.
Air compressor wise a quality (not cheap) 2 stage 80 gallon tank will last a life time.
If possible I sand blast out in the back yard on the grass and the media just kind of goes away. Other wise plan to a lot sweeping cleaning up the media.
79 Rust Opinions/Help
. A person needs to read up on it & use the proper PPE (as I stated above). Or use other products or don't do it.
