I have an absolutely gorgeous appearing '70 LT-1 clone. I don't mind it being a clone, I drive it regularly from car pool lane, grocery store and wherever- so stone chips and minor repairs from use are to be expected. Not looking to celebrate NCRS ribbons just love having and driving it. Everyone tells me how beautiful it is... including Corvette people. Clone was done "right" with engine built by a PO to mimic an LT-1 with the addition of headers. It runs & drives amazing. The "restoration/conversion" was done in the early '90s as i undersand. Paint & body are great and underside looks like it has just a 1000 easy road miles since.

My father purchased the car about 12 years ago and recently gave it to me last fall because he doesn't mix so well with a four speed anymore. I've been doing minor and mostly cosmetic maintenance (t-top weather strip, front grill replacement, under hood detailing, etc). My list has included plans to disassemble and re-dye interior. The interior was originally saddle and converted to black... saddle color has worn through on rub areas like the light switch surround and map pocket corner.

Well, that's when it happened. Started taking off trim pieces and discovered rust around passenger a-pillar and windshield corner extending across windshield center.

All the advice says don't buy one with bird cage rust. And now than I have one WITH bird cage rust (without buying, mind you)... WHAT DO I DO?

Put it back together and ignore it? Clean it up somehow? Suggestions?

 

Can you post some photos of the rusty area?
Is it rusted through like Swiss cheese and crumbles when you poke it with a screwdriver? Or might it be surface rust?
What's the climate environment like where you live?

 

Photo of the rusted corner. Down the A-pillar is clean, driver's A-pillar corner looks good. I'm hesitant to take the center interior molding off. Its spongy underneath.

Rust fell to the floor as I was taking off the A-pillar trim. I would call it in your terms Swiss cheese for sure.

 

It's not something I'd put back together and ignore. Have you checked the lower bird cage, behind the kick panels at the base of the A frame?

 

Pull the kick panels and the access plates in the front of the rear wheel wells and assess the mounts before you spend any time on the windshield frame.

 

I have the entire dash & front interior out right now (that whole re-dye the interior thing, remember...) and nothing on lower than the A-pillar corner has any rust.

 

Rookie suggestion: You can buy replacement sections for the rusty spots and weld them in place yourself or have a qualified welder do the work.

 

There have been many members who have had that type of rust on the windshield frames, welded in the replacement pieces with great success.

 

OP here...

Upon further inspection, it is not as bad (far from great though) as I thought. Walked away from the car and went about my business re-dying the interior panels as planned. Put my focus on what I could get done now and started this thread for information.

Of course, read everyone's comments and did a deeper dive with more information.

I believe I'm safe overall. Why with that ugly picture?
*​​​​​100% clean everywhere else.
*The metal is solid behind the soft surface rust.
*And, my best indicator... the metal backing if the A-pillar trim is rusted away at the top corner. The soft surface is the metal from the trim stuck to the windshield frame.

Some relief, and more work.

Scrape away the transfered trim material, rust inhibitors, paint & reassemble.

Get it ready to go get groceries and enjoy driving!

 

Sell/Auction

 

Birdcage rust is bad. You can fix what you can. The main thing to keep in mind is to not to throw a bunch of money at it making "improvements". You don't want to toss money into a bottomless pit.

 

does not look that bad, drive enjoy it, keep it dry should last a long time

 

That's my view overall on the car!

 

After clean up, you're exactly right. Though not 100% perfect, top of bird cage is solid- and no issues down the pillars to the body mounts.

What you see on surface is just what is stuck on the frame that transfered from the trim pieces. Center trim piece is absolutely trashed. Much rather a simple replacement order from Al Knoch than have the pain of the alternative!

 

BTW... thanks for all the help everyone!

 

Yep, the trim pieces have metal cores that rust away much more quickly and severely than the birdcage structure. I'd still want to wire brush all of the structural metal to be sure it's not compromised. Maybe brush on some rust converter afterwards, if nothing else, to make me feel better!

 

Back in the day, I had to replace the windshield in my 72LT1, and had no idea it was rusted at the top corners of the windshield. Everything else was rust free. We removed all the rust, welded in two new corner pieces and hit everything with POR 15. Reinstalled the windshield and off to the races.

 

I would wire brush it, then hand sand the entire windshield frame to remove as much rust as possible, apply some rust converter then paint the entire frame with POR 15.
I bought a quart can and brushed on three coats.
Its thin so cover everything and apply a little at a time.
I only used a few ounces to completely cover the frame.
Doing so will help preserve the metal and the frame

 

OCB, I don't want to hijack Rambo's thread, but when you POR15d your windshield frame, did you coat the entire frame including the windshield mating surfaces? I've read that some finishes don't "play well" with the sealants used to install windshields. Just curious...