Well I was collecting the pieces when the inevitable caught up with me. I had my son in the car. As we were walking away from her I said " didn't you hear it when we hit the turn off the straight away?" 'N' he said " the straight away Ken? You think your on a race track?" 'N' I said "it's all race track, SON!" The suspension console (if ya' can call it that) is shot, I can't believe the controling arm is still attached. The "Hell Hole" will need to be entered. I'm assessing all rust over there! First question, sliding away from that area (to save my sanity) to put on the outer rocker would you have to take off the sill (I'm sure that would be rusted too!)??? And to remove that plastic gaurd on the sill do you have to drill out those rivet doo dads or is there a trick? Thanks.

yupp, drill out the rivets. easy to do, easy to replace.

best way for us to help you, take LOTS of closeup pics of the rust-monster and post 'em here ...

Andy

Yes, the plastic rivets need be drilled out. before you start the repair on the suspension consoul, it would be good to do a complete rust inspection, hate to have you replace the consoul, and then find more rust elsewhere, making the car a money pit.

Dig into the rockers both in the front and rear of the car, drill some holes in the bottom, and see what comes out (3/8 to 1/2 inch holes are good) also check the lower fire wall double panel, Also check the motot mounting bracket, the one the cross bar hooks up to, they can rust from the inside out, so probe any paint bubbles, might be rust under it.

Hope all you have to deal with is the consoul.

good luck dave

Thanks Dave, however I know it's more than the console. There's a reason it's called the hell hole. I guess I need to drop engine (I'm a virgin, this will be my first). Then pics? The battery tray must have disenigrated on my drive across the country earlier this year. I hit a twisty road pulled over to eat and car wouldn't start. I looked in the engine bay and there is my battery sittin' in the middle of my engine! The battery shelf has maybe an inch left. I throw baking soda and water over everything. Locate some bungie cords to secure battery and was off.

You don't need a drill to remove the plastic rivets. Just poke the center pin through with a spent rivet mandrel or other small dia. metal pin. The rest of the rivet will come out easily with the panel.