Steve’s ’73 Restoration Thread – It starts with a little crack, While I'm in There Options

[Gudhjem]

Here's my story so far.

Last summer I noticed this creeping up my driver’s side long:




So I decided I had to fix that, and then noticed this a little flaking of the tar under the driver’s seat:



A little poking around and cleaning revealed this:



And while I’m fixing those, the PO’s repair of the passenger suspension console looked a little suspect:



and I should probably figure out why I occasionally smell gasoline, and While I’m in There ™ ……

so these things go, until I arrive here:
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

I discovered enough rust and other issues that I’ve decided to strip her down to the bare tub, and do everything right. I’ve been at it since July 2010, and figured I’d make a progress thread since all the cool kids are doing it. Besides, I rely on this site a lot, and it will be easier to explain what I’m asking when I come up with lame questions (and there will be many of those).


About the car: It’s a 1973 2.0 that’s pretty much stock except for the FG flares a PO put on and the unusual 4-bolt wheels.


As far as I can tell it’s straight and never been in an accident, unless you count a dent in the bottom of the front trunk. It started out as a Florida car, but as far as I can tell from the title it came to California in the 70’s. I’ve owned it since 1996. I rebuilt the engine from the bottom up in 1998 (back when there were sites like the 2-trunk tribune and roadglue was big).

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