Yay,
i decided and i got rid of my 78 project and am starting on a new 71 ss project. here's some pics.

http://www.geocities.com/camikeyo/home.html

the frame is good, but the panels outside suck. im planing on buying new panels but i need to know does anyone have any tips on what to do to keep the panels from rusting until i cna replace them? should i just sand an seal everything tell i can ge the car squared away?
thank you

From the pictures, it looks like it is in primer that is allowing some surface rust to appear. That won't really hurt it unless it starts to pit so some sanding and another coat of primer should hold you until you get rid of those flares.
It must have had a vinyl top at some point because you can see where the little studs were/are.

Congrats on the new purchase! Are you going to restore it orginal or have a nice driver with some spirited acceleration?

Since I live about 3 hours south of you, I know what kind of weather you have and it sounds like your going to store it outside for awhile so here are some ideas that might help you out some.


The first thing I would do is figure out what panels you want to keep. Its no use spending several hours and the $ to prime fenders if your just going to replace them later on.

How is the trunk pan? If its not too rusty and you think you can save it, get yourself a quart of oil and cover the pan in oil. I know, it sounds bizaare but beleive me it will help. Replacing a trunk pan is A LOT of work so keep that in mind.

Perhaps the best and simplest advice I can give you is keep the car covered. Get a big 12x20ft tarp and cover the car. I imagine your glass leaks so this will keep water from getting in your interior, trunk, and down the cowl.


If your going to keep the car inside, you can forget about everything I said. Being inside a garage will really help prevents more rust, especially if it is semi heated.

Anyways, hope this helps in some sort of way.

<font face="Arial,Verdana" size="2">Originally posted by wyntek1:
Perhaps the best and simplest advice I can give you is keep the car covered. Get a big 12x20ft tarp and cover the car. I imagine your glass leaks so this will keep water from getting in your interior, trunk, and down the cowl.</font>

A tarp will only prevent moisture that falls on the outside of the tarp not to get on the car. A tarp must be suspended above any surface of the car and preferably angled so any evaporated ground water will collect underneith and roll out. Park the car on a concrete or asphalted surface to limit the condesation and roll down the windows a tad to help it evaporate out of the interior. When it is summer, take the tarp off as much as possible or else it can act like a sauna wrap and virtually rust even worse than in the winter.


Before storing any car you should remove as much moisture retaining material as feasible. If the carpet is to be replaced, remove it. Take out the seats (especially the rear lowers). Clean out all the dirt and crud inside the doors, in all the body crevases, the trunk, inside the fenders,etc. and make sure the weep holes are clear. The window mouldings can retain bucket loads of dirt and crud, blast it out or remove the moulding and clean them out. Any area that is rotted, rusty or even surfaced rusted should be coated in grease or at least sprayed with some type of petroleum based oil. This can help in slowing rust down. Go to a boat supply shop and get some dissecant(?) and put it inside the car. It's the stuff that comes in electronic packages that says "Do Not Eat" It sucks up moisture. When it stops raining and it's not freezing outside, put a fan inside the car and open the doors to allow the moisture inside to be vented out as much as possible.
This is still no guarantee and you must inspect the car frequently for areas that might still be getting damaged by rust.
I had a friend that thought he'd done "good enough" to tarp his car and protect it. After 2 years he was ready to restore it. He pealed the tarp off to expose an original 55 convertable chevy (with factory fuel injection) that had rotted so bad it was eventually scraped.

Granted there is allot you can do to slow the process, but only a few things will stop it.

I second that...you have to keep the water off, but let air circulate. Shooting a bit of cheap clear or colour paint over the panels will help with the surface rust, as primer is hydroscopic and water passes thru to the metal surface.

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Regards,
Leigh
76 Trans Am
70 Camaro RS/SS
Sydney, Australia
TA76400@hotmail.com