Advice on fixing some rust/holes

[Atekido]

So my 83 Burb mechanically is in very very good condition but there are 4 spots with rust and This will be the first time I have had a vehicle with this issue. a family members mentioned I could bondo these spots but I just want to hear all ideas. I don't have unlimited $ so alot of this will just have to be things I can do myself. I honestly am not sure how to tackle the 2 areas by the windshield. the driver side does not appear to be compromised in terms of the metal being still strong. the passenger side does have alittle more rust with a small hole.

The floor holes it is no rustedon the 2nd level of metal inside or I guess what would be the under carriage. It feels and sounds still very much in great condition.

I obviously know I have to solve how water is getting down to these floor holes and I believe I know where its coming from. or maybe that is normal and just the paint/clearcoat was not great from the factory.. again any advice is appreciated.

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[Grit dog]

The right way is to cut out the bad stuff.
I just did this to my windshield frame.
It’s pretty time consuming.
I got an old chunk of windshield frame to cut pieces out of.
Couple pics to show you one of the spots.
I just did the minimum amount necessary. Taking apart the welded side is a bitch although the more rusted out, the easier it is.

I also sprayed rust converter all inside the windshield frame all the way around it.

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[SirRobyn0]

There are a lot of ways you could tackle this. I'm a mechanic so I've seen lots of stuff body wise, but I'm not really a body man, other folks will probably come along and give you more ideas than I will. Whatever you choose to do, even if you patch it in some way is to make sure that you stop the rust or at least very severely slow it down or you'll find that it'll continue to rot out around your repair.

To me the worst part of this is the stuff around the windshield. It's very likely that rust is in the windshield channel, you will want to have the windshield removed to see how bad it is. If your lucky you'll clean it up and have the windshield re-installed, or you may have to replace some of the windshield channel, but the longer you wait the worse it'll get. I had to replace the entire top of the windshield channel on my 77 Cadillac, a few years ago and like Grit dog said it's pretty time consuming. In my case it had a vinyl top and a LOT of damage no donor pieces were available so I made them with little more than hand tools a grinder, welder and a torch. I would have loved to have had someone do it, but like you budget did not allow it. But I took my time, and worked on it when I could, one thing I do know the repair is strong and I did my best to stop the rust. It should last a long time.

The stuff on the passenger side door jam, you'll want to remove the kick plate, pull up the carpet as much as you can as see if there is rust under there. If there is treat it. The right way to fix I think would be to cut it out and weld a new piece in after you have treated any rust you can see in the hole. Someone else will probably be better able to tell you what to do there. IF you try to bondo it, make sure you stop the rust or it'll just eat around it and you'll have a bigger hole. From the perspective of stopping or slowing decay, I suspect you'd be better off treating the rust to stop further decay and leaving the hole, if you are unable to cut and weld. Perhaps if there is clearance you could screw down a thin piece of diamond plate over the hole to cover it after you treat the rust, if you can't or don't want to cut and weld. If you ran the diamond plate along the full length of the sill it could look like a kick plate or traction pad.

 

[80BrownK10]

Usually water gets to the floorboard from the seam in the cowl being rusted out. That windshield looks like a likely suspect as well.

 

[Grit dog]

Unfortunately it will be worse once you uncover it.
Remove windshield and dash pad before you even start.
Not to sound pessimistic, but I could barely see rust past the windshield gasket but there’s 6 different spots that have holes once I removed the windshield. And a rusted out chunk in the rear window frame that wasn’t even exposed. If the window channel is in tact then it’s much easier than having to replace that too.
And much easier with donor pieces. I’ll have to make a few pieces which will take longer.
As for the rockers I’d just buy some new rockers or at least 1 to cut some pieces out of. But for any of this if you want it to last a long time you gotta cut out the cancer.

 

[Grit dog]

If it’s going to be a while, I’d at least spray some rust converter in the holes and seal everything up inside the frame. Poke around you’ll make a couple holes big enough to get a spray nozzle in. idk how to seal it up temporarily. Probably leave it open and make sure it drains out down through the cowl

 

[OldSchool C-10]

I've repaired a lot of semi-truck cabs that were used to haul fertilizer, the only way to really stop the spread of the rust is to cut until you run into good metal. Otherwise, you'll see bubbles sooner or later come up under your paint work.

 

[Snoots]

On a tight budget don't just bondo it. Clean it as best as you can first then, spray it with a rust inhibitor then you can bondo it.

 

[dvdswan]

Find good parts at your local junkyard for the windshield and order replacement parts for the other areas.

Cracked windshield

My truck was covered in snow. Cleaned it off and headed to work. Didn't notice if there was a Crack or not but when I left work there it was. Anyone know if they make the windshields with the antennas anymore? And where is a good place to get a windshield? Local glass shop or someplace online?

www.gmsquarebody.com