I just found my '85 IROC after 20 years. This car still runs and is of great value to me. I knew it was rusty and was going to be a challenge, but this is what I found. The tunnel looks to have collapsed and the center frame channels have several spots rusted thru. The doors still seem to be aligned and have proper gaps. The rocker panels seem solid. I have an '85 donor car that is perfect from firewall back and I had planned to use the entire floor and quarter panels out of it. It was hit hard on the front so thats why its a parts car. I was just wanting opinions and find a plan of attack. I probably need to get it on a frame machine and get it reinforced before doing anything?

im not a body man but that looks scary...

Too far gone is a relative term..
It is relative to your bodywork/welding skills or the size of your budget.
The car is saveable, it just comes down to how much time or money you are willing to spend to do it.

I agree w/both, money will be the issue if someone does the work. I would run away fast, emotional attachments are killer w/cars, best wishes

Big $$$ To Repair That.

The bodyman I used to be an apprentice for had a saying - anything is fixable with enough skill and/or money. But personally I will never attempt to fix anything that far gone.

To me that is too far. My 85 was the same and I fixed it as best as I could but it was just too little too late as the body already started to shift. The floor that far gone and the frame basically tied into nothing I would just let it go. Thats me tho. If you want to fix it and have the bank roll to do so then do it up

It might be easier to fix the donor car and make that your IROC.

Without any kind of frame the body would be bowed in the center I would think, if you do decide to fix it I think it would be best to cross brace it before you start cutting away anything. That's my opinion anyway. Good luck

Wonder what he decided on?

I'm a sucker for basket cases, but these pics made even my *** pucker.

I would walk, no run, away.

thought my rs had problems man i hope the op has a good sized bank account cause the bonding of the two cars will cost some money if he has someone else doing it, as for me im poor but good thing for the scraps that i find lol. i have to put new floor on the driverside and passenger rear luckily the torque boxes was not gone, the metal i have is diamond plate. New floor pans are outragouse in price and i don't think that they even come with the seat mounting braces but any way wish the op the best of luck

Sorry guys, Ive been busy and I guess I didn't think I would get much input, but I should have known better with third gen owners. This car means a lot to me so Im going to do what I can. The donor car has a perfect floor pan so Im pretty sure it will work well. It was fate that this car came back to me. I traded it off 300 miles from where I found it just by chance. It was great to see it just 2 months shy of twenty years, but also sad to see what condition it was in. The last several owners only put 40,000 miles on it, when I put that many on it in 2 years. I guess the best thing to do would be get it to a frame shop and get it true and then have it braced before I start cutting and weld back up. I was very afraid of it sagging, but the doors are still closing great and the gaps are even. The rear trunk area that normally rusts is very good yet. The problem was that someone stole the driver T-top and swapped it with a cracked plastic one. It sat outside and just kept water on the floor. My wife knows it will not be cheap to fix, but she is good with it, so I have that going for me.

theres a similar thread like this, where a guy found his first car in the junk yard, and it was prolly just as bad as yours, and hes fixing it. he has a thread on it, i think his user name i andrew91z or something like that.

I have taken many pictures and plan on taking this car all the way down and starting over. So it may be a good story. I'm sure I will need advice. I couldn't get the stereo to work or I would have put my Winger cassette in.

I have restored cars in a lot worse shape then your car what cost so much is labor then parts if you have the parts and the time you can fix the car cheap you will need a good welder and a good spot weld drill bit

Yes, I do, a Millermatic 252. It was a repo after 3 months old at a bankruptcy sale. I plan on taking my engine stands I used for tractor engines and making a rotisserie for it. I owe this car for abandoning it. The guy that had it was going to pull drivetrain out of it , but never got around to it. If he had it would have been in china by now or back to the US as a futon.

I'm interested in seeing how this goes especially because of the emotional connection. Good luck and keep us informed.

I wouldnt put the car on a rotisserie just yet you need to put the car on jack stands on the rocker panels the make sure you doors open and close right and make sure you door hinges are good before you start

Yes, after the frame shop, with the body braced, doors aligned, car on the suspension, then take out floor out, recheck doors, tack in floor, then I can strip and rotate it. Am I thinking correctly? Again thanks for the input guys.

i thought my car was bad it looks like you need to replace part of the frame rail. reinforce it tp no end if nessecary get a 4x4 and jack it up from the middle of the car to make it sit right before bracing

Is that the main part of the rust? Floorpans (even that far gone) seem fairly easy to replace if you can keep it from spreading. How are the wheel wells, trunk, and frame?

It is mainly the floor. The rear quarters have surface rust as well as the door bottoms, under spoiler, and battery tray. But nothing that cant be easily fixed. The spare tire well has no holes and would just need minor surface rust removed, which is surprising. The frames look great compared to the floor, towers are good. The rest of the car isn't too bad compared to the floor. It must have had water sitting in it for 10 yrs.

Yeah check all other areas and you need to sandblast those areas or use a wire wheel to strip all the paint and as much rust as you can if you still have any rust Pitts then you need to apply some SEM rustmort to kill the rest of the rust then epoxy prime also check around the edges of your doors and see if they are puffy if they are then you will need to put need door skins or replace the door

the bottom of my door looked like surface rust now im gonna be pulling the skins off repairing the frames and attaching new skins to them

I would find a rust free shell and build the car just the way you like it .recreate what you had ,only better!!

yes indeed, you can fix it, just depends on how much value it is to you... i had been searching for my original 88 sport coupe for a long time and finally found it in a junk yard... in a lot worse shape than i hoped, but making for a great father / son project https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...inal-88-a.html obviously this is not an economics based decision to rebuild 3rd gens in this condition at this point... remember it is just a car, but it is your car, so if this fits with what works for your family's balance of time, finance, recreational interests go for it! in some ways you have actually done the hardest part, you found it!

I repaired mine. Took about six months. The only option is to cut and weld in new. I also had help from a pro metal fab guy in key areas.

Look on Craigslist for a car from the South that has little to no rust and go from there.

Wow!! I just got done reading that link. That looks awesome. Good job on the work. Looks like you have taken the time to do it right the first time. Any progress lately? Makes me feel like I am making the right decision with mine. Sentimental feelings to a car make you do crazy things, but my car represents a great carefree time in my life. From what I can tell so far its just the floor that is gone. The rest is surface rust that just needs attending to.

Mine was just as bad but I started on the floors in it about 4 months ago it don't take much time just had to stay with it. Now she is getting new paint this coming weekend. I used old hoods from a junk yard to fix mine. And bought rockers off eBay. Coated the bottom of the car in truck bed spray liner after sealing the welds and sealed and painted the inside

I did a car worse than that back in the late 90's, a firebird. Both pans were gone like fred flintstone gone. Cut it all out, ground it down, sandblasted a few spots that didn't need to be cut out and welded in new pans.

Took a weekend.

If some of the structural part is rotted, you'll need to weld in some 3/16 flat stock. Get some nice boxed subframe connectors and weld it along the drip edge and bottom of the floor and it will be better than new.


-- Joe

Frame rack, bracing, strip car to bare shell. Put on rotisserie. Cut out what you know is garbage, media blast everything (interior, hood fenders as well), primer of your choice (Epoxy, or self etch). Metal work, body work, mock up assembly. Fill primer, block sanding (X number of times, generally 3 times). Paint, wet sand, buff, final assembly.

Notes/advice:

It is illegal to switch vin #s.

It would be easier to switch vin #s with a donor, and "it would still be your original car".

Have a shop double check on frame rack, and install bracing. You do not have to recheck doors, you need to be confident in the bracing that the car will not shift.

Bag, label, pictures, store, organize, all parts well.

Never square, sub-frame connectors, floor pan, a car with the suspension loaded.

Pay to have the windshield cut out, money well spent.

Tell the tow company you need a flat bed. The tow truck driver will cry and whine that the car is on a rotisserie (and in pieces). When he is done, he will load the car. When he asks you to push it on, kindly remind him the truck is equipped with a winch.

Have it media blasted, trust me.

After metal/body work, assemble the body exactly how you want it in final assembly. Now is the time to get the doors and gaps exactly how you want them.

Before disassembling from mock up drill 3/32" (welding rod thickness) holes in hinges for easy alignment in final assembly. When final assembling use welding rods in the holes to aling the hinges.

For blocking, generally the first block will be with Slick Sand primer, 120-180 grit. Followed by PPG 3055 primer, 320 grit, 3055 again, 400 grit (500 grit for heavy metalics, ect.).

If you want a show car look, block with the car completely assembled. For factory appearance block all the panels separate.

Use PPG products.

Sounds like a good plan of attack and makes sense. I just sold my latest Iroc project car so now I have funds to get a start. Also found a local frame shop that came highly recommended so that's the next stop.