well after digging deeper, it turns out that the rotted floor pans has gone into the rocker panel as well. is it worth trying to repair this much rot? id be doing the job myself, as i have access to a welder and such. anyone ever attemp this, or send it to the crusher? im thinking the easiest way would be to section out some good steel from a donor car. any thoughts, Jim.

drivers side floor pan, note crappy fiberglass repair.

drivers side rocker, floor pan seam

passenger side, near fender seam

passenger side rocker panel

 

I think you should just find another car and put your parts on it instead.

 

I agree. It's not like it's just one flat spot on the floor pan, there are multiple layers of sheet metal there in that rocker seam, and may bends and contours.

 

Holy Crap ..... Pull the gas cap off and put it on another car .....

 

but dont junk it...try to see if someone else with alot of time and money would like to restore it...i hate to see these cars get crushed

 

i would say that you have a lot of parts to sell . too bad looks like new england winters have gotten to it . sorry !!!!!!!!!!!

 

yeah...its looking pretty hopeless. im only out $750. maybe i can still sell it as a running parts car. my first 3rd gen too.

i think the best part was driving around a corner the other day, and hearing loose change hitting the road.

 

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.....no reason to fix a rotted 3rd gen. There are plenty of rust free/good ones still around.


-Derth

 

agreed. by another car, but make sure it doesnt turn into that car. i have a 89 rs from north carolina. very clean car, and it doesnt ever ever touch salt. if someone where to as much sprinkle a salt shaker on it id punch them square in the jaw. i live in buffalo drive my car everyday from april until october. but i take the plates off at first sign of snow, park the car in the garage and start it up weekly. i take the plates off so the temptation to drive it is removed. i miss my car in the winter, but in the long run the car thanks me.

 

Unfortunately, that looks pretty bad, but anythign is repairable. It's all about money and time. Anything can be fixed. These cars are getting less numerous though and I hate seeing them get crushed as well. Many are around but have rust hiding or hacked wiring or other trashable conditions that I think will leave these cars rapidly declining in number in the next 10 years. If the car has no sentimental value or will cost you more to fix than you can spend, then move on I would say.

I temporarily repaired a car pretty close to that bad and will eventually be tearing out all the cancer and fixing it right in a few years. I just wanted it to get me by while I broke the new motor in. But I just decided to take a stand and fix this one. And I have a lot of time and the car can be a driving work in progress so it's not a big deal. I think rust scares a lot of people because they can't fix it themselves properly. So the cars with anything other than surface rust get trashed prematurely.

 

 

Third gens are so cheap and easy to find, that thing is trashed. Start fresh. You can find a $300 3rd gen as a rolling shell that will be a million times better than that. It's not like this is a 67-69 Camaro that would make the massive expense to fix that kind of damage worth it in the end. That car is for the crusher.

 

around here finding a rust-free car is actually very hard.

 

I lived in CT, which is definitely in the rust belt, but I still managed to score a free Firebird that was nearly totally rust free. Don't ask how, I know it was driven in the snow and such, but the undercarriage and body stayed painted and free from any corrosion. It's worth lookin around

 

Ya, it certainly is. I passed up on some nice v8 F-bodies and eventually settled on my v6 because it had never been driven in the winter and it was rust free.

 

That sort of thinking is what made the 67-69 and now 70's T/As and Camaros rare and worth more than they should be in good condition. These third gen cars were slightly more popular manufacturing wise than the 2nd gens, but so many rusted out and got crushed that now there are not too many left for a reasonable price. The ones that are are either astronomical because they had original 400 shakers or something or aren't worth that much really but are sold for more because they had a 400 put in them or something of that nature. The whole, "it's a 305, trash that and put a carb'd 350 in that baby" and "too much rust in that one body panel, crush it" mentality is what is going to make these cars the same deal as the 2nd gens and so on and so forth in a decade or so.