Hey guys,

I purchased a 1966 Chevelle last year. It looks good, but there is a fair amount of rust. I am wondering if this car would be worth investing a large amount of money into it. After doing some carefull investigation I got quite discouraged. I have never touched body work before in my life and I'm afraid this is more than I may be able to handle. I don't have a lot of extra free cash laying around to pay a professional to restore it. I'll try to describe what I have going on. I have rust at the bottom of the windshield between the windshield and the wiper cowl area. It looks like someone tried to fix it before with bondo. I have several bubbles under the paint and I have a spot that I touched with a wire brush and it went all the way through. The hole now is about 1/2" x 1-1/2". The windshield leaks on my right foot when it rains. Last winter when I pulled out the dash to fix some wiring problems, I noticed the channel under the windshield has rusted through. There was a rust spot on the passenger door that was about 2" in diameter. Its about 3" above the bottom of the door. I touched it with a scraper to have a look under the paint and there was a hole about 1" in diameter. The bottom 3" of the drivers door has a wavy look to it, so I assume someone applied a lot of bondo to that also. I pulled back the carpet. Both sides of the floor pans have pretty advanced rust. I assume probably from the windshield leaking. The trunk floor has a couple of holes in the bottom of it as well. I think someone replaced the quarter panels, but they didn't have a clue as to what they were doing. After I scraped off a bit of bondo, there were pop rivets there every half inch. They rivited the bottom of the quarter panels to the bottom of the trunk turn downs instead of welding them like they should have. I didn't take too close of a look to see how much rust there was on the inside, because the tears in my eyes made it hard to see. The car's interior is beautiful. It has custom upholstered grey velour seats and headliner. The carpet looks brand new. Mechanically the car is solid. Just the body work is what's freaking me out. Is this amount of rust something that a beginner bodyman could handle, or will this run me broke?

I hate to say it, but when the car is stripped of all the paint and Bondo, what you will see then will be at least 3 times worse than what you see now.

When I bought my "rust free" 66 SS396, I thought I was all set. I spent about $2000-$3000 fixing hidden rust holes, thin panels etc.

When your done cleaning out all of the rust and bondo, paint it with a good primer, slap a 500hp BB, install roll bars and go racing
Think about how much lighter it will be. Low 11's Yee-Haaaaa.... http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Seriously though, a guy gave me a '69 Elcamino less engine & transmission. I planned on throwing in a cheap SB, then do a "scuff-n-buff" paint job and use it as a daily driver. Needless to say I got a little carried away!
$9000 later I was driving a very fast show car. The only work I paid someone else to do was: Upholster the seats, install a headliner, and rebuild the TH350.

I did everything else from a total rebuild on the engine, rearend, complete suspension, plus ALL of the bodywork including a new driver side quarter panel replacement, new floor panels, and cherry'd out inside the bed. A lot of work back there I'll tell you http://www.chevelles.com/forum/eek.gif
Granted I had most of the tools to work with, but most of all I had the drive to complete the project! It was much easier to work on once I got pass the "mental" point of no return. Meaning I spent too much time & money to turn back now. Albeit I had to keep reminding myself to keep the budget within the true value of the car. This in itself is almost an impossible task, nonetheless achievable.

If there is something about your '66 Chevelle that make's it unique, then by all means turn it into a presentable ride.


------------------
Dale
Lowered '67 Elcamino
ZZ430HP / Modified 4L60
"Canyon Carver"
www.chevelles.com/showroom/elkydriveway1.jpeg (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/elkydriveway1.jpeg)

As I see it, you have four options:

(1) Re-bondo the holes up and have Maaco paint the car. Sell it. Come down here to Texas and get a relatively rust free car. Start over.
(2) Sell it as is (probably at a loss) Get bummed-out over your Chevelle experience and walk away from the hobby dissapointed.
(3) Pay somebody 5-6 thousand dollars to repair it and paint it.
(4) Buy a Mig welder, learn how to use it. Maybe take a auto body class at the local community college. Repair all of the rust the right way. Take your time and with patience, you will accomplish a great feat. Restoring a car can be a great and rewarding experience if you are prepared to do it correctly. This means you must have the desire, skills, place, time, tools, patience and means($) to carry it out. Only you can answer those questions. This site has some great people to help you along the way. We're here for you if you need us. Good luck.

I was in and am currently remedying the SAME situation. Here is my thoughts on it.. Buy or borrow the mig welder. Get yourself a good compressor, and some basic body tools. These are the ones I use most.

Cutting Tool
Right angle sanders (hold 2 and 3 inch disks)
A good DA sander
A good body hammer and dolly
and alot of patience.

Start working on one area at a time.. get it perfect or as near as you can, give it a light coat of primer, and move too the next spot. It may take a while but if you look at it this way it will help. If you sell the car now you'll lose money, if you give up, you lose money and the car, if you work on it a little at a time you gain knowledge, experience, and a nice car when done. you can't mess it up any worse than it is now.. either way someone is going too have too cut and replace the stuff one way or another.. If it becomes too much for you too do (which I doubt) you'll end up spending the same amount of money getting it done.. Good Luck.. don't lose faith.. it's not as hard as it seems.. just be patient.. and read ALOT

From what I have seen of old cars from areas with wheather and/or road salt like you may encounter (I used to live in the Northeast, years ago it seemed like everything two years old or so had real rust problems), your car actually sounds quite mild.

Seriously, if you consider yourself to be reasonably talented with tools, you will find all the repairs achievable. Best of all, not only will you save a ton of money over a pro resto shop, but you will end up with some neat tools that you can use on other projects.

Somewhere in the great stack of car mags that I have, there are some issues of Hot Rod?/Pop Hot Rodding? that have articles with a good picture essay on the replacement of rusted out front windshield and rear window channels on Chevelles/ElCaminos. This is a spot that even rusts out on cars in dry western climes - it was a bad trim design that trapped water (put a nice bead of silicone sealer on the edges of your mouldings when reinstalling). Although both my Elkys are original California cars, both have several rustout spots that I will be repairing. Even a lot of people who think they have a rust free car would be suprised what rust and rot can be found if you know how to look. Nobody at Chevrolet really ever thought of these cars being on the road some 30 or so years later, so double side galvanized steel body panels weren't important until more recent cars (when new car customers just would tolerate any rust at all, even after the warranty had expired).

Go for it!

Thomas

------------------
"Bomber" '67 El Camino, Beater comes back to life.
Was 350/TH350 14.90 @ 93mph, 360,000+ miles on car
Now 406 roller, 340rwhp, more hp coming, 3.08 gears
Street radials, left in drive, 13.20 e.t.@108.35 mph
8/1/01 added Plum Mist '67 to collection
*New* 468 on its way - going Big Block!

Dont feel bad. I bought my 71 and thought it was almost rust free.After I stipped it Ive had to cut the WHOLE rear off just ahead of the rear set. Am currantly rebuilding a new trunk section from doner cars and new quarters. Never used a mig in my life, cant say Im great at it yet but Im a hellofa grinder.So far Im reel pleased with my progress and look forward to getting the metal work done. Its a great hobbie. good luck.

Hey again,

Thanks again for your wonderful responses. I have more confidence now than I did when I first posted this question. I concider myself to be rather mechanically inclined so I think I can do this. I found out yesterday that I work with some people that have restored cars in the past, and these people are mechanically challenged. Are there any good "How to" video's and books on how to do this job? I want to be fairly well informed before I try to tackle this. I called to a local tech college and they said they don't have any short classes that would cover a restoration without going in for a whole degree. Is it realistic or worth while to find a used mig welder? I like the car too damn much to get rid of it. My wife absolutely loves the car too so it would really be a shame to get rid of it then. Bomber 67, what issues covered the windshield channel replacement? I would like to read those. Are there any other tools I may need outside of a mechanics tool set and what Normie recommended?

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin, I'm glad to see that you are ready to make that 66 a looker! Pawn shops are a good place to shop for tools. I'd search as many of them as you can before buying retail.
Here's a short list of tools to get started.

Mig-welder with Gas. Definately GAS! You can use a flux core wire, but it's much harder to use and generates more heat and warpage.

High speed side grinder. Get some cut off wheels, a heavy wire brush cup and some regular grinding discs.

A good air compressor with a minimum 60 gallon tank. A little over $300 for a new one.

Auto body tool kit. Hammers and dollies.

Air board sander. This will make straighter panels and save LOTS of time. Also a 16" board sander - elbow grease powered.

DA sander. You'll use it all the way through the project.

Air metal shears. Need them to cut your metal pieces out.

Buy a good used paint gun for primering. For the finish, buy a good Brand new gun. You'll always have it and it could make or break the entire paint job. I wouldn't skimp here.

The great thing about doing it yourself is that you will gain valuable skills and will always have the tools!

ALWAYS buy and use quality products when it comes to sand paper, paints, fillers and primers. Urethane, urethane, urethane.

Always have a gallon of lacquer thinner and plenty of clean rags on hand for clean up.

A good place to buy auto body supplys is a place called PIVCO. You can mail order all of your supplies.812-479-1117 ask for a catalog.

Good luck!!!!

I've also learned that there are a few good on line places too buy tools too.
www.autobodysupply.net (http://www.autobodysupply.net) www.harborfreight.com (http://www.harborfreight.com)

Even though the tools are cheap.. if you examine closely different brands they are nearly exactly the same.. The first place has some videos etc.. there is also a good site that MARTINSR recommends.. Good Luck.. Take LOTS of photos.