[panman54]

Hows it going. I'm building a 48 Anglia that everyone told me to junk because it was rotted to death. But ANYTHING can be fixed. I took it one section at a time,not to get overwhelmed. Took me quite a while and plenty of mig wire. But I got it together. Had to make most of the patches, wanted to keep it all steel. I would take it one panel at a time, strip it down to metal, patch the rot and move to the next one. I owned a few TAs over the years, those cars are worth fixing. I am also pretty sure you can get most patch panels for that body. Also check the rear frame rails above the rear. Make sure they are solid. Good luck with your project! Jim

[bigdog7373]

Thanks
It's definitely getting fixed, no doubt about that. I'm gonna go through everything now that i found out it was this rusty.

[luckyfasteddie]

Many times when looking at a veh at a car show , one of will say " wonder if its metal or fiber glass " . Then we discretely try to feel it to find out . Conclusion , if we can't tell with out touching , what does it really matter . You have had this car - up close - for a while and you didn't "know" till you started digging . Conclusion , what does it really matter ? . As long as you don't miss represent when you sell it and you drive it and have fun doing it - after all it's all about having fun isn't it - bondo it back up and drive on . If you can't drive it "as is " then patch away till your having fun .

[bigdog7373]

I'm very ocd about stuff like rust. I wont be able to drive it knowing there's a hole here, and rust there, covered by bondo. My thinking is to either do it right or don't do it at all. I want the car done right so I can enjoy it and be proud of the quality of the work I've put into the restoration.

[panman54]

I am the same way. When I am satisfied with the work. I am doing, only then will I move forward. Its a classic , it's. worth investing the time.

[C20Runnie]

...if the original "repairer" had even a cheap welder and even a rudimentary knowledge of how to use it, it would have cheaper and easier to tack in new metal the first time instead of mudding it as if he were hanging drywall.

I made my first patch panel about 20 years ago and had no knowledge of it at all. I watched a video of it and went out and gave it a shot.

We learn by doing.

[hardhatz]

I see rust-free (Really!) bodies popping up in places like Pick-a-Part all the time. Why not find a nice solid donor shell?...

[1971BB427]

Sorry if I missed this, but what is this car model anyway?

[bigdog7373]

78 firebird

[crazycuda]

The next thing you should do is pull the rear bumper off and check the rear valance. Those are know for rotting out where the bumper bolts. If that is gone then then id start to rethink the plan. NPD and a few other companies have full 1/4's for that car but the rear valance is usually on back ordered. By the amount of mud i see in the picts you also want to make sure the inner 1/4's arent rotted. ( Just my 2cts after restoring a bunch of ta's) If you found a good donor shell for $500-600 (f-birds are fairly common) it be easier and cheaper to just swap everything over if your doing it yourself.

[bigdog7373]

I can't do anything more with the car until november so I'll have to get back to you on that haha. Can't have the car torn apart when I'm trying to move either.

[dually502]

I wouldnt do a thing to that car until you have a chance to get a good idea of how much rust is in the car.. You probably havent found all of it yet.

I will bet you that that car right there probably is more time and money in body repair ,then just buying another body.. But if you must have a go at it? I have seen replacement pieces before, I could have sworn LMC or JC Whitney sold the patch pieces and entire panels.

You need a descent Mig with a bottle setup if your gonna do it right. The price of that setup is pretty close to what Crazycuda said the price of a donor or good shell would be..

[bigdog7373]

I'm fixing this car. The car has a lot of sentimental value to me. I went through hoops to track it down simply because i knew it's a solid car. Besides the body stuff which coulsnt have been spotted unless i stripped the paint off. The car is solid. In my opinion there's no reason to ditch the car because of some body rust. I'll check it out thoroughly but i doubt i'm gonna find anything majorly wrong with it.

[farna]

How much you do really depends on you and what you want to do -- how much you want to put in it. There's nothing wrong with a little bondo. Many new cars have it right off the showroom. You think they pull a quarter panel that gets a few dings before leaving the factory or coming off the truck at the dealer? No, they repair it.

That car had a lot though, in some critical areas. The rear quarters DID have a drain hole from the factory. The people who "repaired" that one didn't put one in, probably covered the factory hole. The factory usually just leaves a small gap where the lower panels come together, there's a raised section from 1/2" to 1" long that has maybe a 1/16" gap, the rest mates together.

Like anything, there is a proper way to use body filler and there is a hack job. At least the guy who filled those places at the top of the quarter used a metal underlayment instead of stuffing with newspaper and slathering bondo over it. The metal underneath meant the bondo wasn't real thick. Since the hole was so big I'd call that a hack and not a proper repair. That small corner on the other side could be repaired with bondo, or better a product called "kitty hair", which is a fiberglass jell with fine chopped up strand of fiberglass in it. Some thing large needs metal welded back in though.

Another tip on the body panels -- if you have a friend that works at a body shop see what they can get the panels for. Sometimes they can get them, even antique panels, way cheaper than the restoration houses sell for. Even if they can't save you on the panel, they can usually save you a lot on shipping.

Check under the rockers and the vertical inside panel of the rockers. The rockers are the main support for the body. Often northern cars (and west/mid west -- winter salt country!!) with that much rust have the inner rockers rusted out. There are patch covers for the outer rockers that may have been used on yours. Looks like salt ate the top of the right rear rocker out. The tire slings it up. I thought those bodies had plastic wheel well liners, but that one may have been removed or got damaged.

You'll have to talk to the guys who make the patch panels/quarters and see just how much needs to be cut and where. It would be nice to get a factory service manual (body manual -- I think GM usually had a Body and Mechanical manual). That will show you exactly where to cut the panel and/or drill the spot welds out. The panel maker may have an illustration for that too -- check!

Definitely replace badly damaged panels that bolt off, like the front fenders. Small holes I'd weld patches in, but if more than a little rust underneath replace it! Even if you don't replace the front fenders PULL THEM OFF!! They may be hiding extensive rust. Before you put much money in that car check it ALL OVER for rust. Take "inventory" of how much needs to be repaired, and tally up parts costs. You might find that you can get another body cheaper, even if having it shipped from the south or dry states out west.

Technically it's illegal to "rebody" a car (use a rusted car for the serial number and some mechanicals, transfer to a rust-free/more repairable body). Practically it's done all the time. Federal law says a VIN can't be altered, once it's on a car it stays. The thing is it's not enforced unless someone complains. If you know you have clear title to the rusty car and you're sure the "donor" isn't stolen or otherwise illegally obtained, it can be done. The only time this might be a real problem (other than the obvious -- the donor is stolen) is if the car in question was a really rare car or rarely optioned. I mean like a rusted/trashed late 60s Mustang Shelby GT350 VIN/parts transferred to a run of the mill Mustang fastback. That's done more often than you think, but it's a real gray area. If you totaled a 66 GT350 early in the model year you could order a factory "body in white" (non-serialed body shell, usually in white paint for protection, hence "body in white") and legally transfer all the parts. Or a 67 shell (I think the 66 and 67 shells are practially the same...). Do you still have an "original" Gt350? It's a rebodied car, not the original body shell... so I call it a gray area. When you change the VIN over the car practically becomes the car the VIN was made for, assuming all the original parts (or suitable replacement parts) are used. But now we're back to technically it's illegal to "rebody" a car.... Your car, your decision. I'm doing this now -- but it's on an old Jeep J-10 truck. I have a good cab and frame from one with no title (I knew the original owner, I could probably do a lot of paperwork ad get a legal title, but...). I have a rusty one that I have a title to and will use a few parts from, but even the frame is so rusty it has flakes coming off, even the engine block does! I certainly don't trust it enough to put money in! So the VIN plate is coming off and going on the good cab.
Technically illegal, but nobody cares, and it's not a real collectible vehicle. No harm done.

[Too Many Projects]

If sentiment is driving this forward, go for it but....it is NOT a solid car. What I've seen from the pics indicates MAJOR structural damage and more to come. It may be mechanically sound but that is a different topic altogether. I'm having a hard time believing it's been in FL it's whole life. I looks more like a MN car from the rust belt. Rust holes thru the hood, fenders and quarters is major damage and weakens the whole body. I would be looking for cut-off quarters from a donor and a better, original hood. The rear package tray is a donor only part too. I'm not trying to offend you but you seem to be minimizing a seriously rusted out car. I'm including a link to a '67 GTO basket case I've been working on for too long. Look at the pics and see how deep the rust issues get. If the surface is that bad, there's even more down deep. The best way to really know what you have is to strip it to a bare shell and have it media blasted. That will show you what is left of the original body and how much it will take to bring it back. By the time you're done replacing half the body, a clean donor shell from TX, AZ, NM, CA would be a MUCH better place to start from. I wish I had done that...

GTO pics. The best amateur photography lives on Webshots