Just the right position now for the next task: rehab the rusted floor.

Another view of the car on the lift. I bought this rotisserie from Northern Tool. The design has two key features. Hydraulic rams at either end allow easy lifting and dropping by about 18 inches. This made it easy to attach the brackets with the car on jack stands, and then elevate it enough to clear the side while rotating to sideways. The second feature allows for tuning the position of the car relative to the pivots, thus getting the center of gravity close to the rotation axis.

It appears you achieved your goal while your son was in town. At this point the work becomes fun!

Did you uncover any surprises when you removed the suspension?

wow your goin for it...your garage is @Ferg worthy...

Jeff - he needs a few more bikes!

None obvious. We did drop the front as a complete assembly, and I still have to take it apart.

What? No updates on the 1st?
Haha
Happy New Years Bob.
Your progress is looking great from way over here.

Sweet Rotisserie. I've always like the type like this with the hydraulic ram.

I measured my garage and determined that I'll have to remove the garage door opener and the upper guide tracks if I hope to use a rotisserie.

Looking like you've got this beat and are will on your way to easy street to work on the undersides.

Thanks, Doug--back at you guys, too.

Shirlee wanted to get outside and enjoy another snowy day, so we hiked the ridge behind our house--about 1000 ft up.

And after that I got about an hour of garage time. Enough to separate the struts and steering rack from the front suspension, and pull the torsion bars.

Torsion bars look like blue strip coding.

I'm sure you know this but don't mix up right and left torsion bars when re-installing. There should be a R & L stamped on the end.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the reminder. I did see the L and R stamps.

And on the the floor, starting with some rough cuts between all the welded seams. Next step is drilling out LOTS of spot welds.

Inside the center tunnel is the obligatory mouse nest.

Now that is pretty glorious....and Shirlee, I don't jest.

And that's just the part I could not vacuum out through the holes in the top of the tunnel.

Now for the surgical removal of the rest of the rear floor, starting on the left side. BTW access on the rotisserie, and also raising the lowering the car height, is glorious.

First drill out the welds and remove the jacking donut.

Then drill out the welds and remove the triangular gusset.

Then a happy hour or so of drilling out spot welds along the sill, tunnel, and firewalls.

Then some sections can come free, exposing the interior firewall space--and a bit of surface rust (but not looking bad).

Only had about an hour in the garage today, so just finished up the rest of the left side. I will get the remaining interior remnants once I spin the car to horizontal.

I discovered the trailing edge of the tunnel has welding, in addition to the spot welds.

Getting ready to work on the right side, which was down near floor level. With the lift feature of the rotisserie, I was able to raise the car about 18 inches, and make the working height much better. Nice feature.

Got the other side done today. Now I need to grind off the spot weld remnants and clean up rusty metal--and look for any spots that need replacement.

Here's the rear floor, in pieces after removal.

Interior cross brace is also fully gone. Ground off a few surface welds (not spot welds) at the center tunnel.

Before fitting the new floor I have a few things to fix, including a dent in the bottom of the right long. Probably a dumb attempt to jack the car up from the middle. The photo makes it look like only the flange is pushed in, but the flat surfaces are also bent.

Fantastic work and photos. Thanks for posting.

Agreed!

You are really doing a terrific job documenting your work to the benefit of anyone that will face this task in the future.

Thanks, Mike. Documentation makes it more fun for me.

Now for the front corners. I had already explored the left side, so just some clean up (drill out the seam spot welds and clean up the sill surface). Sill looks solid.

Right corner floor looks about the same, just a slightly bigger area cut out. But the inner sill has a rust hole!

Fortunately, the rust-through on the sill is small, and the rust was eroding from outside in. This should be easy to patch before jabbing a new floor corner.

Another sill problem: the inside of the left sill has the classic web of cracks, near the folded recess for grabbing the parking brake lever.

For better access I drilled out the rest of the spot welds to detach the left edge of the remaining floor. With the floor propped out, I ground a recess along each crack for better weld penetration.

Just for fun before quitting today, I mounted the replacement floor section. Fits nicely, but will need trimming on all sides.

And looks good on the inside.

Just some trivial work today, straightening one of the rear floor triangle braces.

Got distracted by the need to make progress in converting my garage lights from fluorescent to LED, with brighter and whiter light.

The problem is that not only are the LED "bulbs" direct wire, so cannot use the ballast, but the stock sockets are double-pole and must be replaced. I have to strip each fixture down to a bare shell, and then install new sockets.

LED replacements are well worth the time and money.

As I get older I can never have enough light in the garage. I am glad I did mine and might install a few more.

Finished the two fixtures above my work area. Replaced all the sockets and did the direct wiring.

Let there be light!

Had just a bit of time to play, so I tackled the muffler shield. It was still attached to the remnant of the old trunk floor.

Drilled out some spot welds, and ground off beads on welded mounts, and then a little hammer work to remove some dents and straighten the edge.

Super thread, superb craftmanship and thorough documentation. Keep it coming!

backdate the attachment method for the heat shield....screws,, see the 70s...

Thanks, and will do, after a break to visit my kids.