Hi folks-my first post. I just picked up a 70 Cutlass convert and started really looking at the rust. My biggest concern is the scaly rust on the frame. I don't want to do a body-off restoration, just fix up as a driver. Any advice on how to deal with it? Will ths eventually kill the car or is it just cosmetic? I haven't found any holes or past repairs.

 

Welcome aboard.

How about some pics of the proposed potental problem.

 

Take a putty knife and scrape off some of that scale, do a good visual all around. If it is just results of surface corrosion you probably have no worries. If you find holes corroded through the frame then you do have problems. Welcome to the site.

 

Welcome. Get some good safety goggles if you don't have any, rust scale will be falling in your face constantly and can scratch your eyes when you blink.
To check it you should lightly tap around with a hammer and listen for sound changes, scraping the surface with a putty knife to see how deep it goes is a good tip, poking with an ice pick or punch can find soft spots too.
I never had a car without a rust scaled frame until I started getting them from out west. As long as it's sound with no thin spots or holes it should be fine. If it is good you need to clean it off the best you can and paint it with Por-15 to stop any more rust from forming.

Good Luck, hope everything is okay and that baby can do some top down cruising soon.

 

After just towing my 442 body AND frame to the scrap yard due to years of unrepaired rust issues, I'd do all I can to make sure the rust doesn't get out of hand.

First off, I would honestly remove all body mount bolts (being careful when removing them to not break off the bolt or the body mount off the body. You don't have to raise the body super high. Just enough to get under there to a) inspect the body mount bushings, and b) remove any heavy scale off the frame. As I saw what can happen to a frame on my car when this isn't done. It was obvious the body bushings had not been changed on the car, perhaps ever, which resulted in them trapping moisture on the bare metal. This caused rust to form under the bushings eventually made the body bushing holes (where the bushings sit in on the frame) about twice as big as they should have been, rendering them completely useless.

At the end of the day, there's really no point in half-a$$ing certain things. To me, this is one of them. Do as I stated above and remove all heavy rust with a wire brush on a buffer/sander or drill. It's not difficult or expensive to do. You just need to spend some time. Once you have the heavy rust taken care of, I would then use either Eastwood Rust Encapsulator or the POR equivalent to cover the frame. Then I'd paint it after that. It might sound difficult, but once you get into it, it really isn't.

Anyway, that's the humble opinion from a guy who just had to scrap a number's matching car.

 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the advice.

 

One more question- to raise the body, is it simply a matter of undoing the nuts and jacking it, or do I need to disconnect anything else? I was thinkning like the steering linkage-seems like I could bend something if I didn't disconnect that

 

As long as you use your head, and only lift a minimal amount, you should be able to lift the body off the frame (enough to clean up the scale), But watch everything closely when you do. Also I would use blocks, and lift on the rocker panel. the blocks should minimize any pressure points, and the rockers are fairly beefy.