When do you call it quits?

[Frank V.]

I have a 1971 convertible that I have been trying very hard to restore. I have replaced virtually every part of the car over the last 2 years.The other day I went to replace the rear quarter panel mouldings, and discovered that the #3 body mount on the driver side is supporting nothing. All of the metal support frame in the area of the bolt is missing, and the fiberglass sill panel has a 3" crack in it in this area. The car runs great and is really sharp looking. Can anybody give me ideas about where to go from here? How much will it cost to fix this? Is it fixable?

[Tom M.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

I have a 1971 convertible that I have been trying very hard to restore. I have replaced virtually every part of the car over the last 2 years.The other day I went to replace the rear quarter panel mouldings, and discovered that the #3 body mount on the driver side is supporting nothing. All of the metal support frame in the area of the bolt is missing, and the fiberglass sill panel has a 3" crack in it in this area. The car runs great and is really sharp looking. Can anybody give me ideas about where to go from here? How much will it cost to fix this? Is it fixable?

Pull the body off, And weld the frame, you might find other areas that need repair too.

[Roy B.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

When do you call it quits? NEVER

[Frank V.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Is this type of repair really expensive? It sounds like a big money.
I guess I'am asking if anybody else has been in the same boat, and what did it cost them to do a similiar repair. Would it be cheaper to just find a salvage car with a good birdcage? Near as I can tell, the #1 and #4 mount areas look sound. The bolts for the #2 mounts look pretty sorry, but the ajoining metal looks sound. The "3 passenger side mount looks pretty rusty as well.

[Ridge K.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Pull the body off, And weld the frame, you might find other areas that need repair too.

I think Tom gave some excellent advice.

When first thinking of lifting the body off, one might think it's a nightmare, but it really isn't at all. Is it quite a bit of work?.......yes. But not a nightmare.
I would lift the body off, see exactly what you have, and then get the kind of expert advice, that's given day in, and day out on the TDB, for needed repairs.
What's the alternative? Part out the car? Not a good option. Sell it to someone else who doesn't notice? Obviously, not a good option.

Give Tom's advice some thought, and sleep on it.
Best of luck, whichever way you go. Ridge.

[Steven G.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

I am working on a 72 with same issues, a body lift is the best way to deal with this situation. If I dare keep track of money spend and time required in doing so I probably would be sick in the short term, its probably going to be a loss. I plan to use car as a driver and as corvette prices should increase in the future, I may be o.k. one day, time is the keyword. Steve

[Frank V.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

I have been driving the car 100 miles a week on average. Should I stop driving the car immediately?

[Eric J.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Boy do I know that feeling. If it's not uncovering and unknown then it's the dreaded "while you are there" disease. Then there's user induced challenges. I am currently refreshing a 1963 Porsche 356B. I have replaced all the weatherstripping and window gaskets. Got the driverside rear copletely cleaned and done. The last thing I needed to do was reattach the vent window latch. I did that and used the wrong screws that were 1 mm to long. When installed they cracked the glass in the vent window! ARRRGHHHHHHH This will require undoing everything I had just done plus now I need to replace the original date coded glass with a repop pane. So I turned walked away. Slept on it and ordered the pane today. Well I guess there are three things you can do, Fix it right (frame off, this will lead to the "while you are there" disease), Fix it as it sits (can you fab up a peice that can be wedge in there?) or ignore it. I usually do it in reverse order. Eric

[Frank V.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Does anybody know a body shop in central Florida capable of doing this kind of repair competently? I have tried letting people work on my car, and have usually ended up re-doing the work or fixing it myself. It has been really difficult finding people who know how to work on these cars.

[Tom M.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Is this type of repair really expensive? It sounds like a big money.
I guess I'am asking if anybody else has been in the same boat, and what did it cost them to do a similiar repair. Would it be cheaper to just find a salvage car with a good birdcage? Near as I can tell, the #1 and #4 mount areas look sound. The bolts for the #2 mounts look pretty sorry, but the ajoining metal looks sound. The "3 passenger side mount looks pretty rusty as well.

If you can get the body off in your garage or shop, you can call a welder to do the welding for you on site,that the cheapest way.

Tom

[Tom M.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Does anybody know a body shop in central Florida capable of doing this kind of repair competently? I have tried letting people work on my car, and have usually ended up re-doing the work or fixing it myself. It has been really difficult finding people who know how to work on these cars.

Their has to be a guy in your local NCRS club that can help you out with a name or shop, Ask them

[Jim E.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

I don't know what the area looks like because mine is a '58 but there must be a good muffler shop around your area that could weld in a new mount on the car. Put it on a rack, take some measurments and either make a mount or get an old one, clean up the area and weld the new one on. With some wet cloths or fire retardent material it should't be a major problem.

[Harmon C.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

I have a 1971 convertible that I have been trying very hard to restore. I have replaced virtually every part of the car over the last 2 years.The other day I went to replace the rear quarter panel mouldings, and discovered that the #3 body mount on the driver side is supporting nothing. All of the metal support frame in the area of the bolt is missing, and the fiberglass sill panel has a 3" crack in it in this area. The car runs great and is really sharp looking. Can anybody give me ideas about where to go from here? How much will it cost to fix this? Is it fixable?

Frank
The correct way is to remove the body and fix the channel above the mount on the frame. You don't need a bird cage if this is the only rust.

When buying a shark corvette with an IBM card you can slip it between the rocker molding and the frame until it bottoms out and draw a line on the card at the rocker trim bottom. Use this tool at #2&#3 body mounts on both sides of the car and see if a mount has punched through.

To fix the mount fast to make the car set level again till you have time to do the job right. Remove the sill plate and peal the carpet back.Cut a hole in the fiberglass just to the inside of the body mount that is pushed through. Jack up just the body in that area. Use an old metal body mount spacer or a piece of flat stock to shim the body up through the hole you cut. Glass back in the cut out. It's an easy one day job and with one bolt missing it is not any more unsafe than before you blocked it up.
This is a common problem in shark cars in the rust belt. I see one out of five for sale have this problem. Pull the body take a year to fix. Cut a hole fix it on a Sunday the choice is yours.
Lyle

[Terry B.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Frank,

I had the same problem with my '68 and was uneasy about what to do. The problem did not surface until my friend (Greg Gorniak) and I (he was the brains to the operation) were sprucing up the rear suspension and trailing arms. A ton of rust falling from the frame as we were removing the trailing arms was an omen. After we removed one of the trailing arms we looked into the frame pocket were it was attached and we saw a huge rust whole. I felt taking off the body was an automatic $10K in expense for sure. I went through a check list of alternatives. I had portable welding services come out an give their opinions. I even visited a frame shop to see what they could repair with the body still on the car. Everyone said that most likely there would be other repair areas that we could not see with the body on and removing the body from the frame was the best thing to do.

I would have never attempted this type of project without my friend Greg's help. If you are a member of a local Chapter you will have a network of members to rely on who can give you advice or assist you in the repair. We did the work in Greg's garage.

After we took the body off, there was no doubt I had made the right decision. The rear dog leg was patched with body puddy to conceal the damage by a previous owner. The car had been so dangerous to drive and I had no idea of the damage.

The frame was so bad that it had to be replaced. While the body was off I had the engine and transmission rebuilt and other little problems corrected. I could have never have done it with out the help of Greg and the friends from the Chapter.

The car has been completed for 2 years now and Top Flighted in 2007. Yes, I did spend more than 10K on the restoration but I feel that it was worth it because I love the car and the hobby.

I have attached pictures below. Let me know if I can help you.

Terry

[Tom M.]

Re: When do you call it quits?

Frank,

I had the same problem with my '68 and was uneasy about what to do. The problem did not surface until my friend (Greg Gorniak) and I (he was the brains to the operation) were sprucing up the rear suspension and trailing arms. A ton of rust falling from the frame as we were removing the trailing arms was an omen. After we removed one of the trailing arms we looked into the frame pocket were it was attached and we saw a huge rust whole. I felt taking off the body was an automatic $10K in expense for sure. I went through a check list of alternatives. I had portable welding services come out an give their opinions. I even visited a frame shop to see what they could repair with the body still on the car. Everyone said that most likely there would be other repair areas that we could not see with the body on and removing the body from the frame was the best thing to do.

I would have never attempted this type of project without my friend Greg's help. If you are a member of a local Chapter you will have a network of members to rely on who can give you advice or assist you in the repair. We did the work in Greg's garage.

After we took the body off, there was no doubt I had made the right decision. The rear dog leg was patched with body puddy to conceal the damage by a previous owner. The car had been so dangerous to drive and I had no idea of the damage.

The frame was so bad that it had to be replaced. While the body was off I had the engine and transmission rebuilt and other little problems corrected. I could have never have done it with out the help of Greg and the friends from the Chapter.

The car has been completed for 2 years now and Top Flighted in 2007. Yes, I did spend more than 10K on the restoration but I feel that it was worth it because I love the car and the hobby.

I have attached pictures below. Let me know if I can help you.

Terry

Lyle & Terry, That will give Frank some great choices on what type repair he want to do on his car,
That's why the NCRS forum is the best, Just Corvette nuts like us.