An Oklahoman Restoration, A complete restoration of a '74 2.0... stalled at the moment Options

[A&PGirl]

To be honest I should have started this a while ago.

Background on the car (condensed version):

I bought it out of a field from a tow truck driver who removed from the garage of a house which was being busted by police for drugs. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stirthepot.gif) The landlord took the car for rent due and called the tow truck to store it and then he disappeared. All we know is the car sat in the field for at least a year and the grass was up to the fender.

End condensed version of the background.

I have had the car for about 3 years and I am still learning new things each day about it that deserve a (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif) or two.

Here are some early pics:





POR 15 only works if you don't look beyond the surface... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

[A&PGirl]

Okay, as some might know I did drive the car to Hallett over a year proving it could start and run. On that trip my Dad and I noticed a VERY weird vibration in the front of the car.

The Right Front fender moved up and down independently to the rest of the car movement. I mean UP and down. It was very noticeably. Also, we noticed during the same time frame that the car would drag off to the front right.

What in the world caused this? We had no clue at the time. Rennsport had no clue and the other local guys had no clue.

The car sat for several months because this was a somewhat dangerous situation and I was pulling anywhere between 15-21 hours in school. (My dad worked full-time too).

In February, while poking around I noticed something strange inside the car on the passenger side. Under a copious amount of seam sealer I might add.



Then I went around and looked through the wheel well





Notice how smooth that wheel well looks?

[Root_Werks]

You have entered battle with the evil rust monster! Keep beating it down and you will win.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

[A&PGirl]

So, we left this interesting thing alone for a bit and tried to figure out why the headlights didn't work. The only lights that worked were the hazards, the engine light and the trunk light.

Apparently, it had something to do with this.



So, we fixed it.



The headlights still didn't work. The PO was jumping the psgr's light to the driver's light to try to get the headlights to work. It didn't. Long story short, the main power lead to the driver's headlight had broken somewhere between the fuse box and the headlight. We ran a new yellow wire to the driver's headlight and voila the headlights worked.

After this I got a new rain tray from a member here because mine was cracked out and letting a lot of water in.

[A&PGirl]

Here's the rain tray



Certified good by Bengal babies...

Some more pics

[A&PGirl]

Moar







These were taken last year in Jan/Feb 07.

[A&PGirl]

I could have sworn I had these pics on this computer...

Okay do you rememeber those suspicous holes in the wheel well earlier? Well, we finally fixed them in April 07 after the engine was dropped again. The engine was dropped because of a very loud thrashing noise it made on start-up one day in Feb. It sounded like it was going to explode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

As it turns out, the cam lobes had almost sheared off the cam and it was alerting us to that fact. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif)

In light of this, we sent the heads off to Ham and tried to figure out how much money we had to spend to buy stuff from Raby. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

At this point, we had no idea how bad the condition of the car really was. We knew it had a small case of inside-out (rusting from the inside out) and some dings, but that was about it.

[SirAndy]

That's pretty nice for a Field/Barn/Crackhouse find!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif) Andy

[SGB]

Uhhhh, I'm escared of that inner fender well, Wally. And that pic from the psgr footwell- does the side not connect?

[orange914]

So, we tried to figure out why the headlights didn't work.

Apparently, it had something to do with this.

So, we fixed it.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[A&PGirl]

I decided to yank the outer rocker panels off during spring break this year and it was a peta. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif) I had to cut both screws of both sides and then tap the remaining pieces out. All remaining five bolts on the underside snapped off. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) The rivets were really easy to get off.






Notice the welds rusting out?


I am pretty sure that the jack plates and posts were replaced on this car along with the inner longs because of how stiff the car was.

[A&PGirl]

Also, I discover that the sills were rusting from the inside out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)




It makes me wonder what the condition of the longs really are...

(All pics the jack/sill are of the driver's side, the psgr is worse)

[A&PGirl]

Since the battery tray and support looked like this




I decided some minor surgery was in order.

[FourBlades]

Your car looks pretty solid over all for a 914. Just keep fixing the trouble spots
one by one. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

John

[A&PGirl]

Hell continued...

The battery tray and support were replaced, but they rusted from the inside out too.







The pictures were taken after I cleaned the majority of the rust flakes out.

[A&PGirl]

Thanks for all the encouragement, guys

Just wait for the booby. Something make look good, but that doesn't mean that it actually is good.

[A&PGirl]

Okay, this is where I am stuck. I have been going out and removing stuff off the fender and the wheel well bit by bit. I have discovered that at one point the car was creamed on the front right because a) The psgr door was a replacement, ab) the frt trunk support metal was missing, ac) the wheel well was crinkly looking under 4" of bondo/weatherstripping and ad) the shear amount of bondo used to cover up everything in the general area.

Problem: The damage was never repaired from the rear of the frt shock and back. The front of the long was damaged. The gas tank area in the right side still appears to be crunched. The PO/body shop put a used outer fender on which is not straight and had been patched. The brace/fender separator was severely damaged as shown in this picture



In addition, the damage appears to back beyond this into the structure. What do I need to do to go about properly fixing this? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

[TheCabinetmaker]

That is exactly why I kept my money in my pocket and left the car sitting in the field before you bought it!

[A&PGirl]

Eh... it's all a learning experience. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Because at the end you get to drive. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif)

So, any suggestions from the crowd about how to approach this? Pull the frame then cut away? Cut then pull? Do I need to make a jig since the damage goes back into the structure? Any experience at all with this kind of situation?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_bump.gif)

[FourBlades]

I am not sure I understand what we are looking at in your last picture. More pictures would be helpful in knowing what to do.

John