I'm new to this forum today. I bought an 81 last summer. I have rust in one spot on the frame in front of the drivers side rear tire. Is this a common or easily fixable problem. Does anyone know of anyone in central mass that does this kind of work

thanks

 

Welcome, Where in Mass are you?I'm down in CT. Rust in that area is common for NE cars that were driven everyday. Depends on how bad it is. Could be repairable, maybe more labor then you expect. There are a few guys here who will offer more info, I'm getting tired of typing tonight! Dave from NH has a lot of experience with rusted frames.
Gary

 

Like was said above.... it is fixable but sometimes the extent of the rust the repairs outweigh the cost of replacing the frame.

I chose to go this route simply because mine was to far gone to bother fixing. if this area is rotted there is a good chance that there are other well on their way too.... like the windshield frame, door pillars, rocker channels.

Best check everything before sticking money into repairing the frame rot.

 

Mine has rust there as well (and in some other places as well)... My car was in PA and Chicago most of its life...and will reside in Chicago.

The rust seems to be mostly surface rust...no rust holes or anything. Plus I only have 56,800 miles on a '78, so I doubt it was a daily driver most of its life.

I'm really hoping mine is just a sand, prime and paint job.

 

They usually rust from the inside out.... mine didn't look bad from the outside but it finally rusted through and there was very little left of the corner. Beware!

 

MY 73 WAS 'SOFT'' IN THE SAME PLACE!! thought it could be repaired until we lifted the body NOT ..threw the frame in the sh#t can and got a new one &built a new rollin chassis from the ground up.you may not have that much damage a i... driven in chicago winters was the problem OUCH ,,,if you wanna see how bad it was look thru some photos on this generic web site of mine------http://www.geocities.com/carlclub2/----------

 

Great...this looks like a money pit now

Anyone have an idea at what a "frame off" will cost me? And I thought this would be fairly easy to fix her up, since I thought she was in great shape when I bought her (just needed new paint, and odds/ends in the interior).

 

why not post some photos of your undercarrage so we can play doctor??------where are you located? its not in your profile

 

thanks for all the replies. I'm north worcester county. I'm suppose to take a trip to S Carolina in the car in march. Now I'm nervous about the trip. Some people that have looked at it have said that it's no big deal so I felt good about just getting it fixed. Replacing the frame sounds like it would cost more money than what the car cost.

The car was not driven in the winter at all. it had 65,000 miles when I bought it last summer

 

where is worchester county?? what state?? n.c.??

 

Now you've got me worried about the surface rust areas on my frame.

 

welcome to the wonderful world of the corvette- rust ,the gift that keeps on giving

 

north worcester county is the mount wachusett area of MA.

your car looks great. I don't know if I'll ever achieve that. I put 12,000 miles on it in 3 months driving all over NE this past summer and fall. I just want the car to be safe. I'm having a blast driving the car. I'm putting a new suspension kit on the car in 2 weeks.

the previous owner put on the same mileage over the 10 years he had the car

 

WHY NOT TAKE THE CAR TO A REAL VETTE GUY(SHOP) and get it up on the hoist, the'll show you all the places to look for rust on these cars. i can give you a lot of starters to look at if you want to. i re did my entire car cuz of it,, im on here all day long(on disability until aug or sept)---so ill catch ya here later cuz i gotta hit the hay-doctor tomorrow--------------------------------later carl

 

Hey, you may want to check out www.por-15.com I am about to do my frame with it.

 

any information you can give me is greatly appreciated. I was hoping to learn of people who know what they are talking about when I joined this site yesterday. I love this car and all the fun we are having with it. The trip we are taking in march is to the Pee Dee Street Rodders event in Myrtle Beach S.Carolina. It's a long way to drive and worry about having problems with the frame.

thanks for all your help

 

is the frame (inside at the area of the soft spot)got a bunch of crud could i just be a lot of dirt was in that area and it was just that one spot(dirt+mosture = mud hanging around=rust
o.k ,,so look underneath wwith a flash light at the rocker channels(of the bird cage).,,are there rocker channels(bottom of birdcage) ----

 

lif the rocker area looks good lets move on, can you get the kick panel off on the drivers side(you have to take the screws out of the rocker molding and there should be 1 screw holding on the kick panel(the rocker molding is the one thats next to the seat and under the door when the doors closed not the trim on the outside of the car!!!!) now look in there ,,that bolt is body my # 2 is it all messed up in there??look back at that photo of the birdcage your moving foward on this diagram 1st we looked at the rocker channels the we moved towards the fr of the car to # 2 body mt- ....o.k. so if that looks goo how does it look by the upper hindge of the drivers door? theres a fiberglass cover in that area so dont let that fool ya! look at the hinge area and towards the windshield.... now going up on the birdcage how does the windshield trim look can you see up in there i know you dont wanna take out the windshield to look but you can tke off some trim if you want & look real good around the pillar posts --- if thats all good move on to the same thing on the other side of the car -body mt# 2 on passenger side then under the car at the rocker area of the bird cage-- if thts o.k lets move on( so now you just checked a lot of rust prone areas in the bird cage lets look at the frame now) now start checkin the frame for rust --- remember where you said the frame was soft? look at the oppisate side of the car is it the same way?? if not maby its just that one area --look at the kick ups of the frame where the rear tires are---where the horz. part of the frame ''kicks up'' tp go around the rear wheels'' look at that frame rail plate where the trailering arm bolts thru(where the shims go) thats a rust prone area in the frame.. did you look at the frame photo on my cheesy as@ web site-????all that rust was hidden in the top of the frame rails body my # 3 just before the kick ups you'll never see up there unless you can get it up on a hoist and look up there with angle /mirrors--- well thats enough to get you going in the right direction.....check in with uncle carl later and lets here what you found out!!!! class dismissed

 

The cost for a shop to do a frame change or build a rolling chassis would be more then a '81 is worth. Hopefully it's not that bad, get it on a lift and check every part of the frame,radiator support area, birdcage,etc. Don;t put any more money into it until you're sure of what you want to do.
Gary

 

thanks for all the advice. I found a couple of places in the area that say they work on corvettes/frame repair. So I'm making calls today and trying to see if I can get the vette in to have them check it out. I'll update you when I get the news.

thanks again