i just bought a camaro well a few months ago and havent really got to be underneath it a whole lot or really see how bad the rust really was. I didnt pay a lot for the car but was just wondering if there is ways to tell if it is too bad to fix or what i can do. Is there any certain points under the car i should look at more than the rest. Any help would be great. Thanks. I will be posting pics prolly if that will help within the week.

 

Even though this picture is off of http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#Dal_and_Jason this sites background, and it's fourth gen, it still gets the point across. The white arrows show all the places to look for rust. The arrows pointing at the roof are good places to look if you've got a t-top. but the two arrows pointing at the floor are the places you'll wanna look for rust. The one in the front is the place where the seams meet and it's right about where the pedals are at. Hope this helped.

 

I'd also like to point out that you should check out the fire wall. It seems that there is a LOT of rust there on cars in junkyards over here. IDK why people don't mention it on the boards though...perhaps it's only a problem in Hawaii?

 

Check the floor boards, the corners of the Drivers and passenger sides alot of the time along factory welds and you should also check line they build up alot of rust if they have been sitting,


Good luck with your bodywork

 

how about the frame. I figured out that there is holes in the front floor boards. Passenger not bad at all but drivers is. How bad would be too bad for the frame. Im looking it all over to see if i wanna start a project with this car or not and trying to make sure its worth it. Thanks

 

humid, salty air makes cars rust A LOT faster.

 

ah that is true. But does anyone else have rust on the firewall? I was lucky and got one with just a little, but the cars i see all have a lot of cancerous rust all along the back of the engine on the firewall.

 

Must be a Hawaii exclusive problem.... Just kidding. but really, i've never seen one with rust on the firewall....hmmmm

 

yeah i dont think i really have any rust on my firewall either but the underbody def does. If there is any holes in the frame thats prolly a sign that the frame is bad?

 

I've seen plenty of f-bods with rust on the firewall. Near the heater box and across the seam about midway down the firewall. No salt water anywhere around here but the roads get lots of salt in the winter.

 

Quite a few of otherwise nice cars are rotted where the rear of the strut tower/wheel well meets the firewall, especially below the heater box where it seems like crud just gets in and doesn’t go anywhere. Also, check under the battery, the bottom of the pare tire well, and the rear seat foot wells if it has/had leaking t-tops.

 

very good call. These are the exact spots i was going to mention.

 

underbody rust was a standard option on 91-92 camaros, they all have it

i had the same problem, read this post https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...53#post2367853

take a drill and sand it down and POR-15 it. After that i used about 3 cans of rubberized underbody coat. I used clear POR-15 so that i can scrape away the underbody coating and check to see if the rust is getting worse. So far no problems


you are screwed on the side with holes, pull up the carpet and see if its rusted through

 

Take off those plastic inner wheel well covers. Rust hides there. Car rusted where the long bracket from the fender attaches to the body. The rear 1/4's are famous for wheel well rust. I also had a lot of rust on my 86 where the frame in the rear connected with the rear floorboard. Just a stupid, stupid design. also got A pillar rust on my '86, I think because of the T Tops, yet no rust by the tops. Wierd.

My 92 has almost no rust except for the thing that holds the rear bumper cover. This car is pretty rust free underneath, so no winters for it (or my '86) ever again. Next summer I am going underneath and pors it to death followed by rust proof. My hood has a Rusty Jones sticker. I thought that stuff didn't work.

 

geez, as soon as this car rusts out im buying an 87-93 fox body convertible

 

your car looks to be in pretty good shape to think about it rustin out now. Id keep a good looking car like that.

 

thanks man, but i havent checked the wheel wells or anything

it was pretty but on the floorpans