My 74 Chev Service Manual refers to this as Mount #2.
It is accessed behind the kick panel inside of the car?

I hear people making reference to the "birdcage".
Is this area the "birdcage"?

This area does show some signs of light and flaky rust.
How did the rust get there?  Up thru the bolt and the ribber cushion?

Since I have opened this area up, is there anything I should do?
Beside vacuuming up the rust and cleaning.  Should I remove the bolt and clean more?  Any kind of rust preventative I should apply?  Seal anything?
Do anything underneath the car?

THANKS....., steve      This is all new to me.....


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Steve, Lifetime Member #129

74 coupe 4 speed 350, 54K actual miles,
all original; paint, interior, engine,
split  bumper. #'s match. 2nd owner, no stress cracks.

Steve,  The birdcage is the entire metal frame that surrounds the passenger cabin of  your vette.  The bolts in the kick panels are at the front legs of the birdgcage where it meets the chassis.  The rust you speak of is probably caused by water entering the windshield frame area, perhaps at the header (also part of the birdcage) and dripping downward, a very common problem with C-3s.  You may want to pull the other kick panel and check for rust in that area also.  You can pull the windshield pillar trim on the inside and check to see how much rust you have in there also. Another area prone to rust is the "kickup" area just forward of the rear wheels.  There should be an access panel in the front of each rear wheel well secured by 4 small bolts.  Removing these panels will reveal the inside cavity where more body mount bolts are located.  Hope this helps and I'm sure others will chime in here as well.
Crossfire19822008-06-04 05:43:27

Chip,

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Thanks Chip.  I pulled the kick panels and see a small amount of surface rust.
My question is what to do?

Next I will pull the pillar trim.  And maybe later on check the mounts in front of the rear tires.

Is there anything I should do to prevent the water from coming in?
Once I clean the area, any kind of rust inhibitor?
Should I try to remove the bolt?

Thanks for the pics.....now I know what the  birdcage is.  steve




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Steve, Lifetime Member #129

74 coupe 4 speed 350, 54K actual miles,
all original; paint, interior, engine,
split  bumper. #'s match. 2nd owner, no stress cracks.

If what you are looking at is a little surface rust just clean it up and enjoy driving your vette. If you have more than a little light surface rust , however, you may want to determine where the water is coming in at. If your vette is a daily driver or sits outside it is more important to find any leaks.  If, on the other hand, it is a garage kept "weekend toy" that rarely sees water except for washing, I wouldnt worry about digging deeper unless the rust is really bad and is a structural concern. One common area is around the windshield frame and in the wiper trough.  To really look at the windshield frame you will need to remove the outer stainless trim around the top of the windshield.  If you decide to remove this trim there is black roll type caulk that NAPA sells that Ive seen used to seal this area.  For the wiper trough, I know that forum member 6880Mike has used 3M undercoating to seal that area. You may  want to check this post as well which deals with similar issues https://www.c3vr.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=73926Crossfire19822008-06-05 04:49:22

I had to replace the bottom portion, rocker channels. Once I pulled the bolts out of the body mount I could see there was no metal holding the mount to the body at the #2 and #3 positions. Not a fun job. The rest of my birdcage was in good condition so I cleaned it up and coated it with rust restorer from the local autoparts store.

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Brian - NCM Lifetime Member

73 coupe L48, Flat-top pistons, Performer RPM Heads, Crane Cam and roller rockers, Holley 650 vac sec. Performer intake,
3.55 gear BTO 200-4R trans,
Leather seats, Seatbelt Plus 3point seatbelts, Pioneer CD player
Magnaflow Exhuast System