Well I figured its time to start documenting the rustoration of my 1973 1.7L.
This car was bought for and used by my oldest son to drive thru 4 years of high school in Montana.
You have to realize in Montana kids can get their license at 15.
I think we only put it on the trailer twice in those 4 years.

It was bought on Ebay. I think the closing bid was $1600. So off he went with his Grandpa, the truck and the trailer.
Then I get the call. Dad they lied .............. it does have some rust.
So here's a 15 year old negotiating a Ebay deal gone sour with the owner of tow track company.
So I told him to take inventory of the parts that we could use. Then make him a offer. So after handing him 10 $100 biils it was loaded on the trailer.

So me at 55 decided that I want to rebuild this car to be my daily driver for next 15 years.
It started out to be a quick tidy up and repaint. But we all know how that goes.

I have $1400 worth of new interior that James did for me. All bagged up.
I just received my $3300 order from Restoration Design.
I have a $1600 list for Mark at 914 Rubber.
So I figure I'll have $9000 into a car that might be somewhere in the $7000 range when I'm done.

Here's were we're starting.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Here's the floor

Click to view attachment

Here's the left side longitudinal opened up.
The muffler was in perfect condition.

Click to view attachment

Here's the trunk.

Click to view attachment

Here's the Hell hole.

Click to view attachment

Here's the floor pan on the rotisserie.

I see some good metal here and there

Pull James' interior out of the packing every now and then so the carpets don't develope wrinkle seams - if it takes longer than 12 months that is.

That and Mark's rubber kits get fresh oxygen and prison exercise every 6 months in my garage, since the timelines to finish have stretched soooo much

A rotisserie, welder and Resto Design parts are always a sign of good progress...

Good Luck,

Dave

Thanks for the words of wisdom.

Well finally getting back too it. AXing and family car repairs took precedence.

First I thought we'd give it a hot shower.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Then I layed out my RD order ...............

Click to view attachment

I'm tearing into the drivers long.
It's going to be some work. Back 8 years ago we kind of claubered it together to get it on the road for my oldest son. More welds and more metal was better.
It was square and stiff. But at a price. But now trying to get it back to normal will be some work.

Because of all the extra welding finding the spot welds is a bit tough.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Yes, I cut it open with a disc and a sawsall.
I wanted to be able to see the bottom seam. It was really over welded.

Super In-Law is building a jig to line up the four corners and keep it square.
One inch square tubing.
The door braces are good.
And we have the measurement from the targa bar to the windshield frame written in a couple places.
But we'll need to remove the suspension ear on the passenger side. So making preparations.

Click to view attachment

Did have one mishap.

I tore the sun visor pad as I was taking it out to remove the windshield.
Looks like the dumbass windshield tech glued it in when PO changed out the windshield.
Should have left it in when I cut out the windshield. Lesson learned.
Would have had a better angle to look at it.

Oh yeah, ran out of wire and gas for the welder. Dandy.

Consumables. I now know it takes 45 seconds to use up a cutting disc on my 4 1/2 inch grinder. Took 3 to open up the drivers long.

Here's Super-In Law finishing up the bottom keep it aligned frame.
When we're finished I think I'll add some legs and wheels and use it as a body dolly.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Finally finishing up the body jig.

Click to view attachment

After that rolled it outside to start sand blasting the bottom.
98 degrees in PDX. A little too warm to get a bundled up for sand blasting.
Gave it a couple hours. Made some good progress.
I'll get after it again in the AM.

As I'm really beginning to disassemble the car.
It would be nice if we had something ( Thread or Forum ) that showed you how to remove body parts without damaging them too much.
Maybe going back to the Body Work Forum idea.

Must common locations of spot welds.
Was it spot welded or tack welded?
Tools used.
I going to try and restore this better than new. Primarily focusing on sealing it up so the restoration will last 20 years.

Just a thought. This car is tough. We WAAAAYYYY over welded it to get it on the road for my son to drive to high school. Never thinking we would be taking it apart to restore.

Taking a time out to finish the rebuild/restoration of the Better Engineering parts washer I bought last winter.

Today's plan was too put new wheels on it.
Wasn't rolling at all.
So we laid it on the lift to work on it.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Double Post

Well finally got back to work.
Opened up the drivers long so I could get to work.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Ooh, new toys! What's the plan for her?

How old is she?

Looks like its going to take some recreation.
I have a new passenger side to design from.
The primary question being where to cut.
Then where to tie the new dual layers back into the old.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Oh yeah it would help if I could figure out the depth on the spot weld cutter.

I just switched to the HF cutter and drill bits. They work pretty well.

That looks like Africanised bees have taken over in there.

Any honey for your troubles:-}

Don't really know. In talking to the folks at Better Engineering. They think its a 200HD. No serial numbers on it.
I've got the motors back up and running. I'm going to order two new heating elements, new contactor and new door seals.

The plan. Just plan on using it when I need to clean parts. That's why I wanted to get the wheels working. Push it in the corner when not at use. They say the detergent will hold up for 6 months. Then add a little detergent to strength the solution.

Just kind fell into this one. Surfing Craigslist. A guy was getting out the the transmission rebuilding business. Bought for $500. I'll have another $400 parts and paint. I'm a tool/gadget whore.
This is the only way I could ever afford to own one.

Its going to be a tough road.

With the over welding we did when we first put in on the road ten years ago. And the fact it was a front clip repair somewhere back in the day. The longs are pretty tore up.

Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to tackle the lower half of the driver long. I saw Jeff Hail mention using the top half of a passenger long. I held it up. Hmm. Maybe.

Worst part. I still couldn't find all the spot welds on the outer long tab that goes behind the body next to the jack point hole. Part of that debri you see on the left side is still part of the outer long.

Well I headed out to shop for a mid week evening shift.

Click to view attachment Weapons .........

Click to view attachment

Safety equipment so I can live fight another day.

Just in case I do something stupid ...........

Click to view attachment

Here's what I'll need to somewhat recreate ...........

Click to view attachment

Thats the new passenger side that I have from RD.
Hmmm......

If you have enough weapons you can do just about anything ..........
So I started cutting away..........
Here's where the back half ended up.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Here's the long all gutted. Didn't have to bugger up the heater tubes too bad.
They didn't ever plan on taking those heater tubes out when they designed the assembly line process.

I love the front door post one the best. Welded on the backside......
The engine compartment I just use the air chisel with a sharp edge.

Click to view attachment

Here's the fine craftsmanship I found in the front clip install sometime in its life.

Click to view attachment

Now I'll have some pondering how I'm going tidy that up.
Seems odd that the back side patch had little or no rust. Just some surface stuff.

Looking for some advice I guess ........

Or just mix up some JB weld and we're good to go ........... LOL.

Click to view attachment

West Coast Labor of Love.......I say that because there are way better starts for less than all the RD sheet metal you bought.

I know ......................... I have 2 of them.
Let's just say, I'll learn alot.

I just hate throwing things away. I've already crushed one.
Some of it is, that it was my oldest son's high school car.
And I just love taking things apart and putting them back together.
But this is kind of taking it to the extreme.

And I've always taken on the hardest project first.

Looks like a serious challenge! A bucket of holes........Good Luck!

Nice work!

They are all worth saving if you enjoy the work.

John

It's my complete disconnect.

I've managed supermarkets for 30 years.
I spend 50 plus hours per week with 100 employees, 15,000 customers and 600 vendors.

Now that I'm getting all fired up. I think I'm going to forgo the PCA autocross tomorrow and continue with figuring out how I'm going to recreate that structure on that driver side long.

Saturday morning .........................

Should be a fun day. Going to shoot the color on the parts washer.
Its a Ford tractor blue. Its really going to pop when it lays down on the parts washer.

I did start another thread last night looking for some pictures of the corner under the door hinge post, The front three layers on the long.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=196524

Bob and Mark hooked me up. So after I shoot some color on the on the parts washer I'll begin to start designing the parts.
Coffee and pondering.

I have odd day off this week. Wednesday. So I might spend some time at the fabrication shop to see what they have for weapons. I need to buy another sheet of 18 gauge any way.

I forgot to mention. If you want to practice painting. Using VanSickle implement paint is the best.
Its old school so it takes 12 hours to recoat. But its cheap and it lays down real nice.

I am lucky. The shop I rent is way out in the country so I don't have any issues with the vapors and smell. But I don't want to wear out my welcome. I'm only going to shoot epoxy primer and parts here in my paint shack.
The owner of one of Portland's major auto paint suppliers lives about 5 miles away. So when it comes time to shoot color on the car I'll take him up on using his gillion $$ paint booth.

Ryan's coming up from Silverton to dial in a pile of MPS's and tweek his car tomorrow. So I'll be able to shoot another coat tomorrow if need be.

Got the first coat of Ford blue on the parts washer.

Click to view attachment

My painting shack

Click to view attachment

Paint station

Out into the light of day...............

Click to view attachment

Even though its cheap paint. It teaches you to keep the gun moving. And how to tinker with different pressures and settings to get the atomization your looking for.

While I was painting Super In-Law was tinkering with the lathe I bought last month.
Do I really need it ? Probably not. I wanted more for fixing than making.
But at $300 I couldn't pass it up.
Tool Whore.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment Aligning the pulleys

That's a viper-jet washer! Used to have one... Good piece of equipment!

Did some phone work on Monday. I was hoping to catch a passenger long before the holes were punched/cut out. Not to be. They just did a run of 56 pieces. The gentlemen that stamps them out said it would be over a year before the next run.

So back to using both ends of a passenger long flipped upside down. Or seeing if I can get the fabrication shop to create the piece I need.
I'm thinking of replacing the bottom completely. Working around the pressed area for the hand brake. My biggest concern is creating the lip to spotweld the outer long too.
On the upright portion I'm thinking of going right to the edge of the big oblong hole.
What is that hole for? Didn't we determine it was a form release or something like that?

Click to view attachment

If I can get the shop to create the piece I'll probably have them make 6 of them just in case I need them in the future. We'll see.

Wednesday the 24th.

Started the day by putting the second coat on the parts washer.

Click to view attachment

In my heated paint booth ..................... LOL

Started by surveying the rust at both ends of the drivers long ..............

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Front end ...............

Click to view attachment

Look what I found under the jack point ...............

Click to view attachment