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I know I should have checked sooner but I guess I just didn't want to know if I made a bad call when buying her. Needless to say what I found left me feeling a little sick Is this an acceptable amount of rust? I'm trying to not do a full restoration just fix her up enough that I can have a fun driver and something to take to car shows.
I have seen much worse on eastern, southern and rust belt cars. This is NOT a death knell for your car. Get a hand held media blaster that you can connect to an air line. Blast it clean then paint it with POR15. You should be OK.
Greg
I have seen worse and I have seen better....Poke around and see if it's all still solid.....The upper cage seems to rust quicker than the area behind the kick panels. I would do some more looking before dropping any big bucks on cosmetic issues.
Hi 73,
I can imagine your surprise and disappointment when you saw that rust in the hinge pillars and at the #2 body mount bolt.
There are certainly ways to deal with what's shown in your photos.
Remember the water that causes the rust in the bottom of the hinge pillars enters SOMEWHERE ELSE higher up on the hinge pillar, cowl, or windshield frame and runs down to the point in your photos.
I think it would be wise to try to find where that 'leak' is and deal with that too so the source of the water can be stopped.
If you take off the passenger's side dash pad, and the a-pillar interior trim piece, you can get a good look at that area of the birdcage. You may then be able to see the source of the leak, or at least how high up on the birdcage it is.
I think locating the source of the water will be time and effort well spent.
Regards,
Alan
It's this area that you're trying to get a look at.
That does not look promising. As my grandfather used to say, “Buy in haste, regret at leisure.” That isn’t going to get better as you explore further up. Hope you are into body off, body disassembly, to repair rust.
I have seen much worse on eastern, southern and rust belt cars. This is NOT a death knell for your car.
I agree with Greg. But if I were you, I'd pop off the inside A pillar and header trim so you can assess the windshield frame condition. Take your time and don't force anything off when removing these pieces because with age the become brittle.
A rocker repair panel will probably be needed. Looks like the last one is just gone completely.
I faced the same issue, 30 hours of cutting and welding later (stick!!) its all fine. Not the prettiest, but stronger than when it came out the factory.
IMHO, if it were mine, I would take the windshield glass out too as sometimes you can not really tell the extent of the rust damage unless the glass is out. Also, rust expands 7 to 8 times the original metal thickness, so sometimes it looks bad, but hopefully you have some solid metal left. Clean and tap with a small hammer and see the extent of the damage. And as said above, reseal to stop the water coming in.
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Rust in the Birdcage
Needless to say what I found left me feeling a little sick 
Is this an acceptable amount of rust? I'm trying to not do a full restoration just fix her up enough that I can have a fun driver and something to take to car shows.
