Even though I got my car free I have openned a can of worms. I found this under my windshield trim and am wondering if I should just get a shop to do the work and paint the car while its there. Any suggestions?

here's some more

eeshh!!
That looks pretty rough!! I don't think Maaco can help you on that.I don't know.
I think if you want to save the car its time to find a donor and start cutting/welding in some patch panels or an entire roof as long as the rest of the body is in good shape.

First things first get the windshield completly out. My dad bought a 65 chevelle ss and it had similar problems around the windshield area. The good thing is most of it is hid by the windshield. So sand grind or if you have access to a sandblaster blast that area so you can really see what you got. For his car we blasted then took some sheet metal cut it and bent it to the same contour of the car and welded it back in for the larger spots. The smaller areas we used a 2 part mix called All Metal. It mixes like bondo but actually becomes strong as metal, after all this we sanded it all down worked in some bondo and primed and painted. If you have some knowledge in body work and welding you can fix that yourself no problem. Also since it apears to be a t-top car you could actually remove that entire a-post assembly and weld in another one if your is to far gone.

Ouch.....at least you got it for free.

Since you got the car for free, i would put it back together the ways it is and drive till it dies. Instead of sticking money into this, perhaps you could find a project that isnt that bad.

But you asked how to fix it, i would do as the others said. Sandblasting will remove all the paint including any really rusted metal too, so you'll have a better look at what your dealing with. if the structure of the A pillar isnt bad, fill it in with bondo or that liquid metal.

If you really like the car and want to keep it fix it. Unless you have other major structural issues hows the rear and the floors? Plus if you have some expierence in body repair this would make for great practice. Especially since the car didnt cost you anything to purchase.

part out the car and get wat you can then scrap it

I concur.

since it looks like a t top car, just find another t top car in a yard and cut off that section. it looks a bit too far gone to just weld up, if it wasnt you could just clean that whole area real good and weld up the small holes and grind it all smooth... parting out a car for a little rust, particularly that, is ridiculous.. ive seen cars from where i lived in the northeast get brought back from nothing! no floors, no quarters, fenders and doors gone...

all of you want to just give up that easily?!! WOW, this is the only rust on the whole car!!! The rest is in great shape. I will fix it or at least get it fixed if I cant get it done myself. Thanx for the input though

If it was a desirable car... yeah, do the work. But a 3.1 Firebird, not worth the money you are about to drop on it.

The time and money you will end up putting in it will easily be enough to where you could have bought a nice Formula, TA, Iroc... Etc.

oh and I was kidding about the whole maaco thing ha ha. I wouldn't let them do this kind of work

Collectible cars I can understand. 3rd gens....not so much. Being born/raised/still living in PA I too have seen a lot of automotive rebirths. But a lot nicer 3rd gens then that are still around up here, and you know there are better cars then that rusty car in Texas. So whats the point?? Like said above, I'd either use it as beater or part it out and make a few bucks.

Dustin,
i would replace the hood, they are cheap enough. As far as around the windows, like the others said, the only way to fix that properly is to cut it out and weld in another panel. If you do any kind of grinding, bondo work it will work and look ok for a year or so, but it will come back. If you have to pay to have that work done, it would be cheaper to buy another car, unfortunately.

Once rust has perforated the surface, a permanent fix requires adequately
addressing the backside, or the rust will continue to spread from underneath.
Can you expose those areas by judicious cutting on the inside, and then
weld the internal cuts back in after the external repairs have been made
and adequately sealed? If not, then the new panel method above will be
the most long-lasting solution, and you have to do the cost-benefit
analysis. I would probably fall in on the not worth it side. If the car
was free, you could do some temporary Maaco quality repair, then
turn the car for enough profit to find a better platform for a serious resto
project.

Good luck,
kk

yup

well its a good thing I work with metal everyday and know how to weld. I busted the windshield out last night and got a better look at what I'm dealing with. It is not as bad as I expected. I will be able to do it myself even if I have to cut and reweld. And yes the car was free and If all I do is get good practice and have fun working on this on until I get another, it is well worth it to me.

Save it save it!!! I dont care if it is a v6 bird. Whoever says saving it is a waste just because its a v6 is crazy. If it can be saved...do it. That way, there is another good body rolling around and you can always do a motor swap. You got the car for free? All the more reason to save the thing.

Sheesh...it kills me when people say part it out just because its not a TA or GTA or something special. Save em all!!!!

Too bad you arent closer. I have a mint red GTA hood Ide sell ya that would take care of the hood issues pretty easily. Good luck with whatever you try to do with her!

J.

finaly someone with some sense. That was exactly my thoughts. The hood will eventually be replaced so for now I'll just try to smooth it out til I get the hood I want. As for around the ws, I am going to try and do it myself so it really won't cost anything but supplies and time. All these people ARE crazy. Thanks for the post!

fix it, fix it, fix it, it a few more years with that junk it mentallity and there will really be a shortage of thirdgens. if it can be fixed do it.

You could always make a convertible out of it with a Sawzall....

I kid, I kid.

You posted....you need to expect (and respect) the opinions of the masses.

hey to each their own

look guys it HIS car and what HE wants to do to HIS car is up to HIM!!!

he wants to fix it, its a free car so right now he has nothing tied up into it

ok say it was 1989 right now and someone had a 69 camaro in this shape and people said part it or trash it.....well dang flash foward only 20 years and if that same person told that guy to junk the 69 they would be crazy, what im getting at is the car aint a total rust bucket, and later down the road our cars will be like the 69's are now..you do good work to it and dont put 200,000 miles on it it will still look good in 15-20 years.

we should be here to help him not insult him for what he wants to do, unless its something thats like a sin, like putting huge wheels on a 3rd or a huge wing or fart cannon, now thats a diffrent story

I think he does... I think its just weird that some opinions say to part it out when this is a thirdgen enthusiast's forum and the car isnt that terrible. We should all be scraping up any half decent thirdgen we can and saving them from the crusher.

They'll never be like the 1st gens...atleast not in the same time frame. But it doesnt matter. My thirdgen is just as special to me as those guys' 69s.

Either way...looking forward to some progress pics! If you dont want to try to fix it...I know someone that would take a free thirdgen!! haha.

J.

I always thought changing that entire exterior part on a t-top car with one from a rust free donor car, or new if anyone is making them, would be a pretty straight forward repair. Cutting and forming your own pieces and welding them in would be a lot of work. Having the entire panel off would allow you to clean and prime the back side before you weld it back on.

that would actually be a big pain in the ***, trying to skin that complete top would be to much work, either replace a small section or replace the whole top itself. it would be easier and less work to replace the whole top than it would be trying to skin the whole roof. check out my thread on topping a car and you will see that it is pretty easy to cut a whole roof off and replace it. trying to skin one, even if you could get it seperated from the roof frame itself, it would be so mangled that you wouldn;t be able to use one off of a donor car

I could do it ... but thats what I do for a living.

but don't you think that it would be easier to just replace the whole roof, than just skin it.

Not saying you are wrong by any means, i am not a body guy, i converted my hard to to t-top, and replacing the roof seemed to be very easy and not very time consuming, i was just thinking that there are alot of bends, body lines, and attachment points to the roof frame that would have to be cut free, and i think that it would suck to have to try to take all that apart while at the same time trying no to destroy it.

i could see cutting small parts of the skin out to use as a preformed patch panel, i just think that it would be easier to do a whole roof, that just a whole roof skin. I could be wrong though, it happens quite a bit i find.

Any ways back to the topic on hand as far a Dustins problem goes, i wouldn't worry about doing the whole roof, i would just replace the section that needs it.

here are some more pics from today I started grinding down to see exactly what I'm dealing with

I checked out your thread on replacing the roof... you did good! And I understand what you're saying about not destroying the part you are trying to save, but if you had a whole used windshield frame, you could destroy the inside to save the outside. It's my opinion that I would rather replace just the affected area and not do the whole roof. But like you said ... I also run into a lot of people that think I'm wrong around here.

In Dustin's first pics it looked like the outer skin was pretty much gone all the way around the windshield. Piecing it all back together would be a challenge. In his latest pics it may not be as bad as I originally thought.

There is a product sold by a site sponsor here "rust bullet" (Banner pops up pretty often). This stuff is awesome, it's a thick, rock-hard coating. The structure of you car looks fine, the rust is minimal compared to a lot of other cars I've seen fixed. Use the rust bullet and just plain bondo. Bondo does not rust, the problem is that the rusted metal will continue rusting under it until it starts to seperate, so make sure the rust bullet coats INSIDE THE PANEL AS WELL (through the rust holes) Finish sand and paint as normal. Even if you don't do a perfect job, it will be under the windshield moulding, and the rust will NOT come back.

When I was a teenager, everybody crushed straight 6 and even "joe regular" v8 first gen camaros, they were EVERYWHERE. Now they're gold. Don't think it won't happen to our cars, it will, just give it time.

TA

i thought that you ment replacing the skin on the whole roof and not just the windshield frame. so ya i agree with you 100% less is sometimes more.

exactly what i was getting at, you are shaving with some first gen camarosbeacuse thats what they were turned into

I agree. I don't care what he does. If it makes him happy, so be it.

Never saw any insults being thrown around. Just people giving opinions based on what they saw.

this is a repost just so you guys can check out the next thread with newer pics