Heres some pics of my 85 Trans am Rust...

Driver side Strut tower..






Pass Side good...


Under car driver side...



Nightmare or Nice project?

 

More...

Driver Rear Quarter...



Ttop...

 

Anything is repairable but that looks like alot of work! Its hard to believe how much rust I see on this site from cars in the midwest and east coast! Over here on the west coast I NEVER see rusty cars (it doesnt snow here so they dont put salt on the roads)....3rd gens here are all rust free.

 

a lot of the rust buckets are owned by peeps who dont give a crap. there are a couple of thirdgen folks who DD theirs all year and they look good no rust. its all in how well you care for your ride. i wash my truck after each snowfall if the carwashes are running. the underside looks new. my 01 TA was purchaed from a guy in cleveland. he took immaculate care of it its in like new condition, the only signs of wear are the seat bolsters.

 

Most of it looks very repairable.

Its the strut towers that worry me. Take a wirewheel and grind off the rust on the strut tower to see how bad it actually is, that is a structural part, so you can't be too careful.

 

Thirdgenranch had a strut tower for sale, and I think its driver side as well. Contact them.

As if its fixable, if your a good welder, yes.

 

HHHOOOOOOLLLLYYYYYY COW!!! That is going to be a lot of hard work. Sure its repairable. Take a battery powered angle grinder and cut out the whole fender well of another Camaro. Then take the cut piece and Camaro to a well known body shop and have them cut out and weld in the new piece. As for the rust in the T-Top area, call Chip Foose and send him the pics. Just kidding. Dude, Ive seen a member that cut off his hard top and put in a T-Top on and the end result was IMACULATE. I forgot the thread but it can be done if you know what your doing. Good Luck.

 

You guys made alot of good points. As of right now,My state of mind is im just gonna enjoy this one and ride it till the wheels fall off (or through, literally?),find a clean roller/whole car in like florida and swap my drivetrain over to the roller and pull any good parts off and scrap it.

When im on CL, I see alot of no rust cheap car vut,99% of them are auto.
Since mine is a 5 speed,the swap should be painless,correct? WOuld I have to cut anything out/off?

 

Does she have anymore problems besides this? Would be a waste to switch over if this is all the damage it has.

Edit: Whoops thinking of the wrong thread, and Yea a body swap would be nice, as for the T5, you would need to cut to make the pedals fit and maybe shifter, not sure on that or anything else.

 

I think you meant valvetrain. Or am I in the clouds?

 

I agree with what's been said. I would find a donor car and swap the good parts over. Take off good parts off the old one cause you never know when you may need them. I like to have a spare car or two laying around if I ever need parts lol.

Nope he means drivetrain(Engine, Tranny, possibly rear)

 

Got it. Thanks bro. I never heard that one before.