Oh man, I was feeling around under my 64 convertible and was pressing around the frame when I discovered a little rust hole (about the size of a dime once I was done poking around) on the frame under the front drivers door. I looked everywhere else on the frame and the rest of the frame seems pretty solid. How worried should I be? Do I have to have this repaired immediately? Should I treat the frame with POR15 to stop the rust process? Thanks, any and all advice is appreciated.

Hey, I'm no expert but I do all my own work and have restored a number of cars with frame rust.

When I check frames for rust, I use the sharp tip point of a welding hammer to look for weak spots. If you managed to make a dime sized hole poking around with your fingers (is that what you meant?), then things are probably worse than you realize. I'm not saying it'll fail or anything like that, only that you can't gauge the metal thickness without applying more force than with your hand.

The frame is the skeleton of the car. It's even more structurally important with convertibles since there is no roof and the frame takes more stress.

Holes in the "face" of the rail and in the center of the face will weaken the structure the least. Holes on the edges or at joining pts will need attention sooner.

Are you sure it isn't a factory hole that has rusted to a larger diameter?

If you aren't comfortable with this type of work, get a few opinions at local frame shops. Small sections of rust damaged areas can be patched without removing the body, if they are accessible. The question is, what is the true extent of the rust damage?

How soon should you attend to it? Rust never sleeps and it never gets better with time.