Hello - I'm new to the forum, so I may be posting this incorrectly, but I will be looking at a 71 LT-1 tomorrow that has some rust on the passenger side A-pillar. I wanted to get opinions on whether or not this is something I should walk away from:
Rust along passenger side A-pillar. Bottom of A-pillar is at the top of the photo.
The rest of the a-pillar as well as the driver's side are clean. I will be removing the door sill and kick panel tomorrow to view the lower body mount.

The car has been in my family since 1981 (My relative, 2nd owner, purchased with 18,000 miles) so I know the history and it has been well cared for and garaged for 99% of it's life. But that doesn't mean that it is safe from rust.

I am also including a pictures of the frame below, which show some surface rust, but no holes and sounds good when hit with a hammer. This is the worst section of the frame, the rest of it has very minor surface rust or none at all:


Driver's side
Passenger's side.Please let me know what you think. I will try to update with more photos of the mounts when I pull apart the car tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

WELCOME to the Corvette Forum!

There is rust at the A-pillar...but how bad it is can not be determined by that photo.

On another note...just so you can get good feedback. Always put your year model just like you did in this thread.

Also..when you post photos. Try to orientate them correctly so we do not have to spin on our heads to try to get the photo correct...or with it being so hard to tell actually where the problem is actually located. I know it is easy for you because you are there and can see it and know...but consider those who are not there. So often times (not always) taking a photo at the same angle but further away and then a close of that area helps greatly.

ALSO..know you are using a flash. Sometimes having an additional light source to really light up and area helps ...because lets face it..the flash in these cameras can not do it all.

DUB

 

Remove the kick panels (inside of passenger compartment, in front of the doors). They're easily removed after removing the sill plates (4 screws). Look at the #2 body mount now visible and look for rust flakes. When the windshield frame rusts out the flakes gather in the #2 body mount cavity.

 

It appears that there was a leak around the windshield that let water in and it ran down inside the A pillar molding. If it were me, I'd remove the a-pillar molding and take a closer look. If it were person that you did not know and you and asked to take the a-pillar molding off there's a good chance that they would tell you no but given that it's family they will likely let you remove it so you can better examine that pillar. Be careful not to damage the molding during removal.

 

With all due respect, you have no idea if the frame is good. The limited areas you photographed are not the areas that rust the worst. The birdcage is also likely compromised. Since it is an LT1 and assuming the car is all original, it’s worth fixing anyway.

All it takes is time and money!

 

My 69 had and still has rust im working on and ive already had a frame swap out,

The issue is yours might be limited to just the rust you posted might be the pillars look like swiss cheese, cant tell at this point with what you provided,

One of my #3 frame mounts on bird cage was toast,
That didnt show until pulling body off frame, my pillars are low level bad, lots of scale and pits a few smaller holes, other rust could only be seen with body off,

Im in the boat of having to buy what my budget allowed this works well since i like modding too, some of us do not want turn keys or stock,
Even with a frame swap im still way way less than a turn key restored 69 convertible base model goes for,

Now big blocks and LT 1s are far more sought after and get higher prices than my base model but that doesnt mean you can fully restore this car correctly which means stock to keep it highest value for less than a stock turn key lt1 might be bought for,

Doesnt mean you cant do it either a lot has to play in starting with how much of the work will you do yourself,
If you hair it done , big money there.

Like in my case to get one of these cars up to par there also has to be some affection for the car itself, labor of love some call it, getting your money back by driving and enjoying it.

Even with what you did show the car needs a fair amout of rust repairs, because i will bet you a coke more rust is hiding , waiting , just waiting.....

 

It may be "worth it" because it is an LT1, but the price has to be adjusted accordingly.
Just giving you my experience. I started chasing the #2 body mount rust in the pillar. Tried to fix that with the body on the frame. When I got the rusted pieces out I noticed the the rocker channel was rusted through. This was on both sides. I went to the #3 mount and saw both of those rusted badly. I tried to find where the water was coming from and I think the water in the #2 mounts came from the windshield. With all this rust, i decided on a Frame off repair.

On the windshield I had three tiny holes that were not visible with the T top chrome on. I pulled the chrome found and tried to repair those. The more I dug the more I found and I would up rebuilding the underside of the top windshield support across the entire windshield as well as both corners and some pieces on the top. All were rusted from the inside and were only exposed when i started probing.

Right now, I did a complete frame off and did virtually all the work myself. I am about 75% finished and have over $30,000 in parts and about 1 year of full time labor into my 73 454 4 spd that Haggerty lists as worth about $25,000. Had I known about the damage and the amount of work required earlier I would not have bought the car.

Note that the right rocker channel was available about 2 years ago, but the left was not. I built the left from a box beam. I made a CAD drawing of the left that I am willing to share with anybody that needs it. Also, the NOS right side was much thinner gage than the original I took out.

 

sorry.. posted the wrong stuff in the wrong thread.