Pinarello Montello Rust... HELP!!!

Hi everybody
I recently bought a Pinarello Montello frame. I am assuming it's from the early 80s.
I think it's made of columbus SLX.
When it arrived everything seemed in good order. After close inspection I found the frame has been repainted and worst of all some rust spots on the top tube. I peeled of the paint off and a small hole appeared on bottom the top tube. I think water dripped inside from the cable hole on the top tube and rusted the tube from inside.
It might be that only the top tube is affected. I dread to ask what can be done? Can i be sure the other tubes are not rusted? Is it fixable by replacing the top tube?
It would be such a shame to throw it away...
Thanks for your help in advance.

Some Pictures here

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more

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the hole

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there is some bubbling in the paint on the other side of the tube, which makes me think the whole tube is rusted from inside, or am I just paranoid?

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this is the cable hole which was rusted. Forget about the grey paste I didn't get here soon enough to stop my dad start messing around with it.

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the fork seems fine the chrome is just a bit pitted on the panto

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I hope you didn't pay too much for it. That hole is not a good sign. I think you need to have the whole paint stripped off to see what is under there and only then you'll know whether it is economic to refurbish. Any tube on a steel frame can be replaced but whether it's worth it is another question.

Thanks Yoav
Fortunately it wasn't expensive. I got in touch with Mario Vaz which told me the top tube will need replacement which is fine. I am just a bit scared if any of the others are also rusted. I might give it a try or at least bring it to him to check.

Return to vendor ?

Sorry Elvis ;-)

i have a pinarello mtb in chromor that needs a tt replaced
i contacted ceeway, and they can provide a tube in the same dimensions for
the princely sum of 14 pounds, albeit a deda tube, to get done is approx 60 pounds
the frame was also an 'ansome 25 pounds originally, because of damage , and needs decals/re paint anyway
triggers broom springs to mind though

As a TT replacement would require a respray anyway, it would better to get the whole frame sandblasted first to see what under the paint. Replacing more than one tube is probably not worth it.

Replacing the tt on a Montello is not an easy task... Is Mario going to recreate the internal cable route? And most important, which kind of tube is he going to use? Hope you can find a spare slx tt somewhere!
My Montello was well beaten but luckily no rust...

I'd say do it only if you can get the proper job done, otherwise you are going to spend good money in something that will be worth a lot less once the job is finished.

Thanks for the comments guys. The internal cable route is an interesting point. Also is it not possible to find columbus slx tubes? Are they not producing them anymore?
I probably need to have a good chat with the builder who will need to do that. If more than one tube is rusted then there is no point.
The other thing is that I wanted to keep some of the original chrome. Is it possible to take off the paint but not the chrome?

Try to get the original details. Before they did the dodgy respray. Something like that.

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The other thing is that I wanted to keep some of the original chrome. Is it possible to take off the paint but not the chrome?

Yes you can, the stays look good to me.

For the fork a way of fixing that pitting I could do on something like this.

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