I'm going to be fixing this, or at least I'm going to try. You guys think I should just cut my losses?


What's interesting is how the car rusted like this. The spare tire well and the equivalent on the driver side is rust free, the front half of the car is as well. The car also has some small holes where the frame meets the pan on the front floor pans, but that seems to be a common issue with the way that piece was designed.

 

I personally hate rust, it depends whether the whole car is dissolving or just confined to one area. I always look at it like, do I want to sink money now and down the road into a rust bucket when I could probably find something alot better and worth putting money into?

 

I wonder if this is what happens when you do the BFH mod in a salt state?

 

I would cut away any of the rusted sheet metal and weld in new metal. If it's on hidden panels, you can get away with rivets rather than weld, jut ensure you seal the replacement metal. Did scores of that on my 72 El Camino.

 

Being that these cars are flimsy at best, all these spots will be getting new metal welded in.

The car looks to be well kept for 200k on the odometer. It runs like a top, the tranny shifts great, the interior is great except for wear on the driver seat, and the paint is decent. I'm imagining this damage is from years of daily driving with all the salt on the roads we get up here. Probably just a lack of hosing down the underside of the car.

Also, does anyone know what module that is in the last picture? I know it isn't the BCM or ECM. I'm a third gen guy, so these cars are pretty foreign to me, despite all the similarities.

 

^ what year is the car?

I was wondering the same thing about that module, the monsoon stereo system from the pontiac's was in the rear spare tire area, but I dont think the camaros had the monsoon as an option did they? Perhaps this is the Camaro varient? Or maybe they used a different part all together for different year models as mine was a 2001 thats all i can speak to

 

Cars a 1995 Trans Am. I don't think it's an amp, as the radio face didn't have the monsoon emblem on it. The stereo does sound pretty good though.

 

That's one big hole. Expect to cut the hole another couple inches bigger at least to get to clean metal.

The only thing I can think of it being is an amp. I wonder if they put it in a different spot in the earlier 4th gen cars.

 

Turns out it is an amp. Searched it up on eBay for a 95. Might throw an aftermarket one in then, since almost all the wiring is there. No doubt it's gonna be fried too, with all the cutting and grinding there's a ton of debris in it.

Made some more progress on the car. Pulled out the rest of the interior, save for door panels, dash and driver seat. Some decent holes in the rear floor pan. But having everything out of the way makes everything much easier to get too, and additionally, much less overwhelming.

 

 

Looks like it is going to take a fair bit of reconstruction.

 

If it were me, and there were no sentimental value to the car, I'd cut my losses and maybe find a roller for the drivetrain? Will you be doing the welding yourself? I'd think labor is the biggest cost here.

 

Thing is, finding a roller Trans Am on Long Island is rather tough. I don't like the 4th gen Camaros, and I won't put an LT into an LS1 car. Finding a 93-97 car is rare.


I will be doing all the work. I have access to a welder. This will be my first real attempt at doing any kind of extensive welding, so this will be a real learning experience. Worst comes to worst, I pull the tranny, put it in my 87 bird and junk this car.

 

Scrap it I've never seen a 4th gen rust who knows what hell they had to do to get rust that major into the substructure. That cars junk sure you can cut it out weld it up but rust is like aids. You cant kill it you can't get all of it and it spreads.

 

All they had to do is drive it up north in the winter. My 98 was getting really bad underneath to the point I was having to be careful exactly where I would jack it up as the frame rails were badly weakened.

 

It's easy to figure out exactly what happened. Salt and moisture got trapped under the ridiculous 1 inch thick undercoating in the rear wheel wells. Once a hole developed, water got inside the car, and the jute padding under the carpet wicked it up into the rear of the floor pans.

 

No experience here personally with cars from up north but from few I've seen come through my shop I'll pass. When we get them in shop and find out they are from up north as bad as some of the ones we have seen are we send em down highway wont touch them. The visible bodies have looked ok but undersides are just wow. Just too much hassle everything's welded together with rust or crumbles when you touch it. Just blows my mind a modern car can be made to rust that bad. Stuff from 50,60,70's rusted that bad even under normal conditions down here but 90's and up stuff around here at least just doesn't rust.

 

Steel is still steel, no matter what decade it is, so it'll rust.

Still surprises me we don't have better, tougher coatings.

 

I've gotten further into the car today, and looking at it, really looking at it, there's just no way I can patch the damage up properly. I'm taking the tranny and pedals and I'm going to try and sell the rest of the car.

This is the lucky recipient of the 6-speed goodness. Rust free too haha.

 

That is an absolutely gorgeous third gen! Great candidate for the 6 speed!