hello all, i was wondering if anyonre here has had this level of body damage on thier project cars and could give me an idea of what it might cost to get her set up right. other than 2 miner dents on the left fender and rear of the car, its all surface rust. i just got her running 2 days ago but this isn't the motor i intend to use, i'm more concerned about body work, also, this isn't the hood i intend to use either, so don't include the repair work on the hood. its just to keep the rain off for now, lol. i'll get a new hood for the car. i appreciate any help. thanks.

 

if this is the way it looks from the top, id be afraid to see what it looks like from the bottom. mine was pretty much pristene from the top but i still had to replace the floor and do other body work that you just dont see. I personally would recommend you start with a different car especially if you are going to be swapping the motor. unless this is the car that you must restore and has some sort of sentimental value then i wouldnt put more money into it.

 

10 different people will give you 10 different answers. You're best bet is to ask around at your local body shops. You've got some serious surface rust going on there and the real question is how thin the metal is in those spots once the rust is blasted off it.
Too many variables to give you an accurate answer, but I'll start the bidding at 15000.00! LOL

 

actually, the rust is from minor hail damage that chipped the paint and totaled the windshield. the underside is good, i tore the carpet out to be sure. the interior lacks a couple of panels that are easily replacable, so its a decent start. i'm willing to put about 5 grand into it.

 

Yeah like the guy above me said, 10 different people, 10 different answers. If I were you,I'd check out underneath those t-tops to see what it looks like. They harbor rust and easily conceal it, so that would be the first thing I would do. I've never had t-tops so I wouldn't have a first hand experiance with this, but I've read many horror stories about this on this site. Second thing would be to do a thorough investigation of your car's body. Tear the carpet out to check out your floor pan, jack the car up and check everything out from underneath also. Definately check out your quarter panels to make sure no rust is eating through the metal. Fenders and hoods can be replaced easily, but when you have to cut out metal and weld in another peice, grind, etc, it can get frustrating. That's why I won't buy a car that has quarter panel damage. Eventually maybe, so I could widen them to accomidate bigger wheels, but that is out of the question right now.

Basically just do a good investigation to make sure what you say is surface rust, really is just surface rust. If it is, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to sand it down and work from there.

Best thing to do would be to take it around town to a couple of reputable body shops and have them give you some estimates. From there you could either decide on which shop to do the work, or you could always decide to tackle it yourself. Doing it yourself would be significantly cheaper but very time consuming, but also very pleasing as an end result of accomplishing it yourself. The choice is yours to go whichever route you'd like.

 

id say you can make a decent bird for 5g's, i would just do some minor body work like priming and whatnot then go to a shop for any major repair. but the body looks good so good luck man

 

yea your right about fenders an hoods being replacable. that got me thinking so can the doors. that will eliminate alot of the rust problems. but the rear end might be a problem. naturally i want as little bondo as possible. i got out there today and done some sanding, and so far the rust isn't deep. i believe that this car will be okay. of course when it comes to repairing cars, theres always some surprises.

 

yes you are right about there always being some surprises. Especially with our cars, 20 years old, lots of things can happen in that amount of time. Definately make sure that you spray the sanded down area with some primer, particularly something geared more towards rust, and will accept paint when you get around to painting it. maybe some self etching primer. I'd suggest searching "rust primer" or something along those lines to give you a better idea with what other people are doing.

It's true, the doors can also be replaced. It's not an easy task, but yes it can be done and may be worth the work if your doors are in that bad of shape. If you do end up replacing the doors, I'd advise you to go ahead and grab some brand new door pins to put in while you are doing this. It will save alot of time and work, yet alone the hassle of having to go back and do something over, or close to it.

So did you ever check out under the t-top seals?

I know that in my other post I said I've never bought a car with quarter damage, or a t-top for that matter, but I am looking into buying both in one right now. It doesn't have any body damage, but just alittle bit of rust behind the rear wheels. I don't know, I'll see what happens.

 

under the t top seals are fine. it seems to be all outer body damage. i do have some rust under the hood where the car didn't have a hood on it for awile. simple brackets and stuff. i think this car will be right on. i put that brown hood on it last saturday, i kept a tarp over it for awile. now i have a little money to put into it. thank the lord for overtime. lol.

 

wow, i can't figure how to post more pics. i wanted to show you what she looked like a year ago when i got her. she sat under a tarp for a good ten months before i started lookin at her. in a few minutes i'll have pics of her that made me think i could build her up.

 

Yeah I have no idea how to post any pics, but once I figure it out I'm going to post progress of my own car. I'm not sure if a tarp is the right thing to use, that might have made it worse than it already was. I could be wrong, but I'm under the impression that it would keep the moisture around and build it up more underneath. Now again, I could be wrong, but that's what my take is on it. I've always used a cheap car cover underneath of a california car cover, which may not be the right way itself. But now my car is in the garage.....now if only I can get my garage heated.

 

here it goes, i remembered how to upload now. i have pics of the motor i'll upload next time, cuz it told me i had a max of 3 uploads.

 

on ebay the ground effects alone go for what i gave for this car, so far i'm not out any money, so i'm sure it'll work out. and yes, legal disaster i checked under the t-tops, and there is some rust, but i believe i can do away with it. i hate that i let it set for almost a year, but i've only recently had the money to put into it.

 

Hey that looks like a good restorable car to me. If it isn't all rusty underneath, AND the bottoms of the doors aren't swollen, then it looks like you should keep the body panels you have. I restored my 84 TA which had rust spots like that. That rust can be completely removed very quickly with a portable sand blaster. I used a simple siphon setup from sears ( about 50 bucks) with a 5 hp compressor. No 1 sand can be bought from some auto parts stores, or maybe your local building supply co.Just blast the spots to white metal. i don't think you should NEED to spend 5 k on the paint alone- one of the other guys suggested getting a few estimates from local shops- I think that is a good idea. I would give the car a really good washing before you bring it to a shop- no sense bringing it over there looking all hopeless..............Pat

 

well hotrodin, these are the only 2 pics i have of the underside. "dang lowriders" lol. but i have been under there, and it looks pretty sweet for a 20 odd something year old car. but your right about the washing before i take it to the bodyshop for estimates. my first pics are takin in my backyard a few days ago after it sat under a tarp for awhile. my latest pics are from when i looked at the car and bought it. i saw potential when i bought it, now that i got some money to spend, i took the tarp off and actually questioned if its worth it or not. the last couple of days have been around freezing lately, so i don't get alot of chances to look at it and figure out the best way to go.

 

Hey SpyderTA.... I've done body work for at least 30 yrs just so you know, you're going about that rust the wrong way unless you sandblasted the rust off those spots first. By just coving up the rust. it will look great for a few months then it will come back again. TRUST ME! Best thing you can do is get a small sandblaster and get all the rust you can off, them Sem has a rust killer you can put on then do your putty work. Prime the spots as fast as you can since it looks like you live in a high humidity state
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I guess I can't spell so good sometimes lol Where do you live?

 

I know where you are coming from, I got a free firebird last year with the same damage. Rust spots all over the body, but pristine underbody. The car def has potential! Have at it.

 

I don't know about where you are, but here in houston I see thirdgens all over the place in much better condition to start off with for a lot less than it would cost to do all that work. But assuming the rust is very minor, just make sure you take care of all of it in the proper manner so it doesn't come back.

 

yeah from what I can see it looks pretty good underneath. I kept my 84 under a tarp outside for about 4 years before i had time to work on it. The difference was that I sand blasted every rust spot on the car first, then primed and painted ( with spray cans) before I put the tarp on it. When I did the bodywork, i reblasted those spots to remove any rust that might have been coming back. If I did this right, there should be a before and after shots of my 84.........

 

Notice the filter setup. Previous owner had ram air hood which is why he took it off. Why not just get a bucket of bondo and a sander. Sand and prime same day.

 

actually, the previous owner had a stock 85 hood with the vents on it. after he blew his tpi 305, he took the hood of to drop another tpi in it which he then decided to go with carb. but didn't complete it. the manifold, carb and filter is all mine. somehow he misplaced the hood. which is why i got that plain hood on it now.
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let me get a pic of the motor right quick, i thought i had a recent pic

 

no, lol that bondo job on the car was there when i bought it. i know better than to just cover rust up. i knew i would have to sand all of it off.