Into the Shop

When I got the car into the shop I promptly started pulling off damaged parts. If you've ever torn apart a car you know that you often have to remove undamaged or salvagable parts just to get the offending parts off. Because you will be reusing these parts you will have to label everything and place many of the parts into plastic zip-lock bags. I've found that it's good to start with a good supply of at least 2 sizes of bags. Sandwich size and gallon size. Other things you will want to have on hand are a pad of paper (for making notes to slip into the bags with the parts), a pen or pencil, and an indelible marking pen. It's a good thing to draw pictures of things and stick those in with the parts too. A camera or a camcorder to record both progress and just how things fit together. I get better pictures with a film camera than the camcorder but the convenience of having a videotaped record RIGHT NOW is nice to have too.

Some of the tools to have on hand are combination wrenches, nutdrivers, phillips and flat screwdriver of various sizes, regular and needlenose pliers, vise grips locking pliers, and penetrating oil. A socket set with a few different extensions is also helpful but I haven't found it to be too necessary. One of the better parts of all this is that the tools are SAE inch sizes. I think most people in America have these tools in SAE sizes if they have any tools at all.

The hood was removed first. If you have a sharp eye for Midgets, you'll be able to notice something on this '76 that isn't quite right.

After the passenger side fender was removed it becomes real obvious what's not quite right. That's a '75 windshield washer bottle there.

The area inside the white loop and the scuff (arrow)you see in this picture show the major damage done to the non-bolt on body parts. The top of the cowl is gently dented down and shouldn't be too much trouble to finesse back out. The scuff on the side, however, may be another story. This portion of the cowl is not accessable from behind. A weld-on stud type puller would be the ideal tool to use here but, unfortunately, I don't have one of those. I may have to do it the old fashioned way with a slide hammer type puller and fill in the hols with weld metal.

This is just a view of the front end with the bumper removed.

Here's another view of the passenger side with the fender removed. The arrow points to the hole Dad had made to mount a radio antenna.

A view from the drivers side with the passenger side fender and the heater air intake duct removed.

Here's another small dent that has presented itself. This one shouldn't be too hard to pop back out as there is ample access to the back side of the dent from inside the trunk.

This little crinkle, on the other hand, will require a bit more attention. Fortunately access to the area is good. I'll have to pay particular attention to the geometry of the trunk opening.

To be continued.........