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Took my wife for a Sunday drive in my 1980, and she noticed a rust spot where the windshield frame meets the body behind the passenger‑side door. That caught my attention because the car is otherwise immaculate. I can’t poke through the rust spot, but when I pulled the kick panel, my worst fear was confirmed — a pile of rust inside.
I peeled back the windshield trim. The frame itself doesn’t appear rusty, but the trim has rust stains. (See attached pictures.) The car was restored at least ten years ago, so I’m assuming the birdcage leak happened before that and the rust was painted over during the restoration.
What should my next steps be?
Also wondering if a couple of items on my to‑do list might be related:
Driver‑side window sits too high at full up and needs adjustment
Passenger‑side T‑top takes extra force to line up the rear pin when reinstalling
I can't really tell where the first pic is showing in the car. The other pics are pretty typical.
With the interior upper and side trim off, poke around the metal structure and see how solid the channels feel. If there are not rust-through holes, heavy flaking, and rust jacking going on, I'd not worry about it.
I can't really tell where the first pic is showing in the car. The other pics are pretty typical.
With the interior upper and side trim off, poke around the metal structure and see how solid the channels feel. If there are not rust-through holes, heavy flaking, and rust jacking going on, I'd not worry about it.
The first picture is a rust spot on base of the windshield frame behind the door.
The top of the frame windshield frame is solid. I think the side trim is glued to the frame so stopped my disassembly for the time being.
The first picture is a rust spot on base of the windshield frame behind the door.
The top of the frame windshield frame is solid. I think the side trim is glued to the frame so stopped my disassembly for the time being.
Being a white car, the area above the hinges is going to show rust staining worse (better?) than other colors. This spot is pretty ugly in the best of cars and is exposed to environmental moisture, so a bit of rusting here is very common. I wouldn't say it indicates birdcage issues, especially since your windshield frame seems solid.
My '72 requires that the side trim is removed before the upper - GM must have changed the way the pieces fit.
Thanks all for calming my fears! For context, here's the first picture zoomed out for reference since I didn't think it was typical. The brown all around the rust spot is excess weather adhesive. I poked the rust hard with a screw driver and it felt solid.
That seems to me quite a lot of rust to have come just from the washer and it does also beg the question if it is just from the washer, where did the water come from to cause that? I had a similar amount of rust behind the kick panel and my windshield frame looked solid until I removed the dash and the windshield. I would clean out the rust, drive the car and see if you continue to collect more rust particles in there. If so, you likely have an issue higher up.
brushmor
Peel the trim off the inside surrounding the inside of the windshield. If it was me I'd remove the dash (of course I've done mine many times)..... that way you can inspect it fairly well. Buy some Eastwood inside-the-frame rust encapsulator and spray the crap of out of all the internals. If you plan on keep the car then you might as well. No use kidding yourself if it's worse than what you so far.
From: Loud, Raw and Dangerous 1968 327 4S in Southern California
Doesn't look too bad and quite typical. Vacuum the foot wells and then slam the doors. If there is not any rust flakes your upper birdcage is likely OK. I painted the usual C3 rust areas with POR15 several times and that seems to work well. Car is covered, garaged and never driven in the rain, also I only use the waterless cleaner/wax.
I think it looks really good.
When I disassembled my car I found slight amounts of rust dust in the same areas as on your car.
There was a little surface rust along the top of the windshield frame where I believe the t top seals allowed some moisture to seep through and a little surface rust in the body mount areas.
The body mounts looked much better after I cleaned them out and I discovered it was more like 50 years of dust, dirt, and old leaves than actual rust.
Clean it up, brush on some POR15 and be done.
I was panicked as well, but after a little sanding and POR 15 it came out perfect.
I think it looks really good.
When I disassembled my car I found slight amounts of rust dust in the same areas as on your car.
There was a little surface rust along the top of the windshield frame where I believe the t top seals allowed some moisture to seep through and a little surface rust in the body mount areas.
The body mounts looked much better after I cleaned them out and I discovered it was more like 50 years of dust, dirt, and old leaves than actual rust.
Clean it up, brush on some POR15 and be done.
I was panicked as well, but after a little sanding and POR 15 it came out perfect.
Thanks @OldCarBum ! That's what I was hoping to hear. This car is really solid overall and not a spot of rust anywhere on the frame. I see the surface rust being the culprit.
A thorough clean up and mitigation with rust convertor/por15 and I would be cool as a cucumber with it.
Bird Cage Rust, now what?
