1980 frame

[houstoncajun]

i have a 1980 corvette with t tops...under the doors the frame is rusted through all the way to the firewall basically.under the coating the metal is mostly gone. can i fix this without getting a new frame?

 

[matchframe]

Welcome to CAC houstoncajun!

Is it the frame under the car, or just under the skin of the fiberglass at the door frame?

Any rust will be difficult to work with, but the frame under the car is probably more easily dealt with than whats called the birdcage. The birdcage actually forms the windshield pillars, down to the lower door frame, then back up to form the t-top area.

There is a guy here that goes by 69MyWay that is doing a project right now to replace the birdcage in a '70 Vette. Here is a link to what he is doing: http://mcspeed.homestead.com/Vacation.html


Bill

 

[houstoncajun]

Thanks bill, I think the birdcase is ok except the front bottom but i think i can patch that.... i will do more inspection on that but the frame underneath is almost gone(only the top part and about 1 inch of the sides have decent metal) on driver side runing the lenght of the door. The door is starting to sag and be misaligned. I was thinking how i could reinforce it without having to do a frame off job. can i run 2 1/2 inch square bar and weld to the good metal? or just some 1/8 inch flat bar? the car drives ok and i need it to keep driving. I just want to keep the structure sound and I'm scared to even move it looking like that!! Any help would be appreciated

 

[matchframe]

If the frame has rust on top, you may not be able to just patch it up and last for very long. The quickest and sure way of repairing it, is to find another donor frame, and move everything over. That is a very doable job, but time intensive. If you try to weld it with the body in place you run a high risk of the body catching fire. Once fiberglass ignites, it can be very bad. You might take it to Corvettes of Houston on the north side and have them look at it. They might be able give you a better idea what you are up against. Or if you know of another place that has a specialty in Corvettes. Hope things go well for you! Let us know how it goes.

Bill