soulbounder

After thoroughly inspecting the shell of my project car, I found only two concentrated areas of rust. They seem pretty bad to me but I am not a body repair guy, so I'd like to get some opinions, recommendations, etc.

soulbounder

Just in case the first pic is confusing, it is the passenger side upper windshield frame. The next one should be pretty easy to recognize. Also, if anyone knows, how structural important are the battery tray and that front panel with the rust hole. I'm thinking of trimming the centers out for intake and cooling ducts so maybe that is an easy workaround.

ffvetteman

Ive seen the rust around the windshield. It is from water sitting on the top of the windshield and attacking the metal up there. It is repairable, but never done it myself.

As for the second pic, is that where your battery was? Mine is on the passenger side and had a lot of rust but I cleaned it up when I repainted the engine comp. On my car the charcoal canister is in the location of that pic. If yours has the charcoal canister there, it should be ok if the metal is weaker than it was because that thing is so light.

ffvetteman

I would weld in a repair for that hole on the front . Not sure how much structure that is, but I would play it safe.

Klortho

2nd pic is where the battery sits on the Firebirds, the charcoal canister goes on the passenger side. That spot is also where the headlights mount and I would say that eventually with the motors going up and down it could cause that hole to crack out more, plus the radiator support takes a lot of vibration when driving down the road. Might want to find a car that has a good headlight bucket and cut it out and put it in your project.

soulbounder

I'll probably just end up buying a replacement panel from GM, removing the spot welds and putting the new one in. I've seen others cut the section to run intercooling tubing so I'll have to see how it all works out.

Does anyone know how the top would be repaired? I will be blasting every square inch of the car pretty much so I'm thinking it will have to be welded, lead filled, etc.