Hey guys,
I'm considering having the body and paint done before the motor and trans and etc. Before the car leaves it will be a rolling chassis and completely stripped. Rot however leaves some questions. My car is shockingly clean for a car that sat and lived in the northeast all its life. The quarters only have surface rust and tiny holes, the door area has a hole behind the front fender, and there is a hole under the driver's rear seat. and behind the rockers on both sides there are also holes.

Now the holes I mentioned are easily fixed with some flat sheetmetal from any metal shop. Doors can be changed out for rust free ones. Finally, the floors can be spot welded to be sealed shut. The problem however lies with the battery tray. My battery tray is rotted to the point where it needs to be cut out and replaced. Rumors have been floating around that there is a replacement piece out there but I haven't found it. So is there a replacement piece out there?

The idea I have is disassembly and reassembly will take place in my garage, as well as stripping the decals and failed paint. The doors might be replaced in the meantime as well here. The once all done, maybe I'll cut out the rot so they have a clean canvas for the rot repair. Shoot the car for me, maybe install the decals, and I bring it back and put the car back together. Installing the motor and trans later. In theory that would save me the labor of the disassembly and reassembly as well as the inital stripping. But also it would eliminate the rot before it got too bad.

People have been surprised at how clean the car is. My lower front fenders are pristine, my rockers are pristine. Just little things. If I could just find that info on sheetmetal I might be set to go. Thanks

 

About the only option there is for the battery tray is to find a Camaro in the junkyard and drill the spot welds out to remove it, since their battery is on the pass side of the car. Which is why about the only replacement tray that can be readily found is the pass side tray. There is a site where the driver's side is listed, but it's call-only (which I would think means they don't have very many or none at all by now).

As for the rest, get the paint off and then see what needs to be done. Rust has a tendency to put out little "tendrils" and spread like cancer under the paint. More than likely, if your car sat for a while in a grassy or non-paved area, those floor pans are worse off than you think. And don't just spot weld the holes shut, cut out the metal around them for a little ways and then patch the hole to make sure the cancer doesn't spread and you got it all out.

 

Shocking how far it spreads and grows, why I ended up stripping my whole car plus it was easy with AirCraft stripper [autozone] in about 3 sec all the paint on your car curles up n falls off.

But I found that amazing how it spreads and grows under good paint.
Looking like the root system for a tree. A tiny rust spot form a rock chip had a good 12in dia root spread under good paint. Rust is alive, alive!!!!!!!!

 

Yep, I'm gonna use that airplane paint stripper, my cousin used it on his valve covers and said it was awesome. And I agree about the rust spreading, which is why I might abandon the idea of making it run first and fix the rot now while I'm mostly ahead of it. I am open to replacing the floor pans, its just more work that might not need to be done. I'll talk to the guy I was referred to and see what he thinks. Will bring pics ofc.

As for where the car sat....it sat on pavement. Which I think helped save the project, and the only organic stuff that got in there was mold, mice, wasps, and dirt/leaves that gathered under the car. However seeing as it was in the air on ramps and jackstands that also saved it.

My T top bar is pristine, my front fenders are perfect, I mean I'd be stupid not to save this one. Also afaik its never been wrecked, and doesn't look like it ever was. Just the dent in the fender from a hungry bear who threw the garbage cans against the car.