3.8TransAM

So doing the LS1 swap on the Formula and cleaning up the engine bay, of course I found rust.

Repaired the strut tower and was on my merry way. While stripping/cleaning the rest of the engine bay down, found a spot on the firewall above the bulkhead connector on the drivers side.

I hit it with the wire wheel and my worst fear was realized, it wasn't surface rust, but it was a hole......................

So I pulled the entire wiper assembly out today and sucked it out with the shop vac. It's pretty ugly in there. I can reach in and feel the jute behind the dash above the drivers foot area. I can blame it all on a frikkin mouse nest too. Drain holes on driver side were plugged solid basically. It may have been there since I bought the car, either way it has been there a long long time to do what it did.

Also the front corner of the drivers floor board is also gone since water was leaking in from the cowl.

I am not afraid of work, but where do you draw the line? I can pull the dash and strip the interior out and get hopefully good patch panels off a friend, but it will be a pretty big job.

I won't lie, the car is sentimental to me lol.

It has tons of good stuff on it already.

So inspire me and give me pointers.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Fix it, fuel it and floor it !!!!!

Banks4004

fix it no other car will be the same. you will be happy you did. or you will hate the car hah

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Fix it.

RedLeader289

iTrader: (2)

Fix it, if you have the emotional attachment then you'll kick yourself for not doing it.

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

I probably wouldn't fix it. Firewall and cowl rot are deal breakers for me on these cars. Sure. It can be fixed, but to get it as strong as original you basically have to replace the heart of the unibody, pretty much rebuilding .
Too much labor for something that can be replaced much more easily.

Dakota W.

Fix it, why would you throw away a car that has lots of stuff done to it, and has a clean body everywhere else?

rusty vango

I would fix it. you say you are half way done anyway. and in that context. you may as well. even if you got a rust free shell ,it would be more work to swap everything over. so if you like it. fix it. OR think of it this way, at least it isn't a KIA!!!

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

you can never take the emotional side out of it. I've held on to my 67 wayyyy too long for my own good and it's only rusting away and now needs all new floorboards and trunk pan from the firewall to the tail lamps. That said, objectively, is it cheaper/less labor intensive to buy another car with a solid body and swap over all or most of the "upgrades" that have been done?

Dakota W.

Man if I had your 67 my 91 would never get driven...

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

I don't know anything about Body work, so it's been sitting now since 2000 in a garage back home. The upside is the motor still turns over (only 30K miles on the rebuild) and the paint is still good.

hrspwr

iTrader: (3)

Cut out what is rotten, find a donor car and replace what you need.

3.8TransAM

Best estimates by me as it stands currently:

Cowl under windshield will need to be replaced about 20 inches in from the fender.

Fire wall face will need maybe-ish? 6 inches from top of cowl.

Driver floor pan is shot, it ran down the seam where it is joined from the factory on the door side of it. Damage to rear of floor pan as well and as bad as front is, it would only make sense to do it as well.

Now driver kick panel area is a frikkin mess.....its a mess of rot underneath where the relay sits for the VAT system.

But hey, the passenger side is awesome looking............I do so love irony

I can also get my hands on all metal needed as well.

So with that update, give me some more opinions and anyone have any pics of them tackling a mess like this?

Dakota W.

I was literally depressed while I was doing my engine swap, I'm sure you'd miss your car if you got rid of it.

Restrorob

iTrader: (7)

I'm a welder fabricator but never done body work until jump'n on my 74 C10, I just started cutting and grinding all the bad out then stitched in the new. I focused on one area at a time until I made my way around, Both rockers-both floor pans and both cab corners.

Take one area at a time and;

3.8TransAM

$%^#$&#$ just got real.

Menard's has a decent Campbell Hausfeld plasma cutter on sale, so it came home with me after work.

I needed and excuse to pick one up, anyhow damned things are handy.

It's not a powerhouse by any means, but will be more than enough for sheet metal and body work along with some subframe repair duties on my daily beaters.

mmadden55

Fix it.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

HNTD!

(Happy New Tool Day!)

sleepsinshed

iTrader: (10)

Well now you HAVE to fix it!

RSValor91

Just Fix It!!! Money comes and goes!!! True Love Is Forever!!! LOL

Cars'n'Guitars

Hows this going? I just discovered the same type of problem on my car.

tom3

Can you post a couple pictures of this deal? Is it visible without removing stuff? Wondering if I need to investigate this on my car. Sure hope not. Sounds like a tough deal, remove windshield?

prostar3898

I would fix it but I'm the type that's gets attached and can't let go one nice thing about metal even if you screw it up it always can be fixed and least it'll be new with another body who says you won't have the same problem in a couple years

3.8TransAM

Interior i s stripped out to the sail panels and upper back seats, as in gone, only harnesses left in car from that point forward. It's been tough getting anything done with stupid work hours. Have free time coming up and I will be doing it with or without help lol Guess I'm gonna get friendly with a MIG welder any way I slice it

I have pics of it buried somewhere on camera or computer, not sure where.

Inspect our firewall for rust, pull cowl cover and get a light in there and see what you find. You can also try going in from under the dash on the drivers side and looking up, going to have to pull some stuff out and get the jute out from behind the dash to look.



Carpet went out to the garbage tonight, nothing worth saving on it so off it went.

3.8TransAM

He helps me for about 20 minutes or until something shiny pops up Getting good at passing me tools, not too bad for being four. When he patted the fender and said "I want to see this baby run" out of the blue almost made me cry man tears.


The area you cannot see above the hole for the firewall harness connector and to the left of the column area is what is gone. Denny from thirdgen ranch already has the area cut out of a car for me, how much I use will be the question lol Any body guys care to chime in here for a plan of attack, I would appreciate it.


Driver floor is rusted pretty bad, but most is still intact which will help me out a lot. Can cut and replace versus doing a whole pan or large sections.


Going to have to fix some spots on the rear floor pan area as well. It shall not be fun, but it shall be done

Cars'n'Guitars

Looks way better than mine does...

aramirez121

my old man used to do body itts best to tackle the big ones first and if the metal is salvageable save it if not cut it and replace it would be a good idea to re enforce it on the major areas of the body were it takes more stress then you would idk say the trunk area for example

3.8TransAM

Planning on yanking the windshield and doing the cowl repairs first as they are definitely a bigger pain in the rear.

Going to be fun...................

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Floor doesnt look that bad. Is it through rust or just surface? Screwdriver test it

If it is damaging, the area is so small Id patch panel it

Theres a good thread on here somewhere of a blue firebird rust repair where the fellow bent up his own patches with a hammer/vice

WTR388

I wish my floor looked like that... The original and the two patches that followed have large sections of holes... I have no choice but to do a full floor on the drivers side.

3.8TransAM

Drivers front corner where it comes together is gone lol.

Down the seam is gone about 1-2 inches in almost to the front seat brace/reinforcement. Screwdrivered it all followed by !$@#%!@#$!@ and $%$%% and some @#$%#$^.

Could care less about the floor pans, that part is going to be easy compared to the cowl/firewall. Cut the rot, trim the patches and go, probably need some help welding it so its nice and clean, but I can do that more or less.

Cowl has a lot more work to it, let alone access for cutting to get to it and access to weld it after I cut it out to weld it........

That is the one I need ideas on from body guys.

phasevariance

Subscribed.

I can see why it's a deal breaker to some. Is the engine out of it? I'm guessing it will have to come out or it will just be a major pain in the ***.

I agree with you on the floorpans, that will be a walk in the park compared to the cowl.