looking for advice

hey everyone, I have a 72 skylark, I've been in the process of building a 455 for it, I have all the parts and machine work done, just have to find time to assemble it. my question is as far as the body it's a little rough. my question is is it worth tryingto fix the rotted out portions, or should I just slap the motor in it and have fun with it. I'm not looking for a show car at all, but I do want something I can drive a couple days out of the week if needed. I have attached pictures of the worst areas. if I go the fix it rout I will attempt the body work myself, I'm pretty good with a welder, just never did sheet metal before. let me say again, not looking for a show car, just something to cruise around in and have a little fun! what yalls opinions?

 

having trouble uploading more photos, but the trunk is shot and small holes in drivers floor. quarteres are rusty to but I'm not worried to much about that.

 

If it's just going to be a driver go for it. Practice on some extra pieces
laying around until you get your welder set right. If you can find
patch pieces, it makes it a ton easier. Looks like you might want
to remove the windshield for some of that?

 

thanks, I'll just play around on scrap like you said and then go for it. can't make it any worse right? haha. the plan is to remove the glass.

 

I'm wondering if that did not have a vinyl top at some point. Maybe it was a coastline car exposed to salty air,but it is rusted worse than you think. The trick is go get ALL the rust gone by cutting it out completely. This is a fairly large job and I think you may want to just get it running good and tackle it as a separate issue. I think I would practice as earlier suggested and just cut out some new pieces on your own(from an old hood or other clean metal). It doesn't necessarily save you any time or money buying large patches or used cuts. Once the glass is removed(if it does not fall out on its own),you could cover the area and sandblast away to see what is left. It may not be as bad as it looks,but there is only one way to tell. We dipped a 55 Bel Air body and not much came back out of the tank,it was a lot worse than the owner thought.

 

The areas around the windows I would definitely repair, no matter what your plans are for the rest of the body. Water is getting into the car and it will rust out other areas inside if it hasn't already.

 

thanks guys. I'm definitely going to fix around the windows. just going to see how bad it really is once I dig into it. I've also thought about just finding a whole new shell to use that isn't so bad.