Thread: A new project for the firebird

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You might remove the interior and see if you can jack up the body where it is sagging and then use some small angle iron, round tube or what ever and brace it before you start trying to fix the roof etc. Try to get the door gaps back decent before you start the roof work other wise it probably could fight ya.

I popped out the roof (what's left of it) and half the sag went away. Incidentally there is now an additional size 11 hole in the floor. Seats pulled right out, and frames and springs look to be salvageable. Found a number of the chrome trim pieces inside. They were stripped off along with the trunk seal, probably prevented a lot of additional rust.

I agree, figure out the door gaps first and work around that. I made the mistake of not doing that right away.

Haven't figured out how to un buckle the shell, but the next step will be to bust off the frame bushing bolts. Probably shim it up best as possible. Only the center hump of the floor is salvageable but I have enough left to template repair panels. There was a spray coating on the interior which comes off pretty easy with a putty knife. There were only two noticable dents (other than the roof) and I dollies those out nicely. One thing I'm really surprised at is how thin the metal is. I thought the older cars were heavier guage, but maybe not on the war - era vehicles. I did find a neat ice scraper, with a naked lady pictured on it.

Start looking for the big block Mopar donor engine... Nice project

I saw one of these on an early (1989) Dakota frame with a 5.2 and a five speed. Looked like it fit pretty well.

Not much to report, but I did dolly the nose some more. It's near perfect. Looking at lots of stuff. I picked up a nice quality 1/2" plywood for the roof. The plan is to make formers or ribs, which will force the roof into symmetry, and provide a framework for the missing section. Still planning to do carbon fiber replacement panel. But the body needs to be straightened first. I'm ra th her considering redoing the floor in steel.

But: the new schedule the plant went to which gave me three consecutive days off four times a month has been scrapped. It's six days a week now.

Ratz.

I feel like if I can make a post, then I'm making progress.

I've made a decision for the next step, I'll rebuild the floor mounts on the forward cab, so I'll have somewhere to shim it up and get rid of the body buckle. Meanwhile I'm squirreling away non-defect carbon fiber scrap rolls of cloth. There are three more sitting around my tool box, just need an official okay dokey to take them home.

Most times it seems any progress is good progress. Even an hour a day is forward motion right!?!?!

I WISH I could do an hour a day! I got off early today and accomplished nothing more than doing laundry.

But I did bring home four rolls of carbon fiber, one was substantial, weighed about 60 lb or better.

Progress, of sorts. Went from six days a week to seven days a week at the plant, plus my second job (Quartermaster at the VFW - about 50 hours a month).
So, I took pity on the rusty hulk and tarped it. It's really raining a lot here. Unfortunately the tarp is not very good, probably going to be worse than leaving it naked. I'll get a good quality tarp for the ol girl until I can get some work done. Meanwhile, I have amassed a HUGE pile of carbon fiber cloth: aerospace quality stuff.

In your damp environment I think you may get more damage tarped than you would leaving it exposed. Moisture from the ground is going to condense on the inside of the tarp and create a greenhouse. I would think it would be better to put it on blocks and let it breath, other than covering the hole in the roof. Just my $0.02 on storage.

Thx for the feedback.

The ol girl is on jack stands, on concrete, and the tarp does not drape the ground. The roof is really decaying fast, I think this will help.

A little Kiwi trick to get a couple more years out of a corrugated iron roof: If you're like me you'll have several tins of paint with an inch or two in the bottom that you know you're never going to get around to utilising.
You'll also have some old roller blinds, an old canvas tarp, or similar heavy material lying around in a corner somewhere.
Give the area where the leak is a coat of paint, stick a patch of the material over it, another coat of paint straight away, and you've got a few more years life out of that roof.


(Don't thank me. Just buy me something small and expensive and park it in my driveway.)

Actual progress.

My company cut us back to five days, and weather is good.
I took a crack at replacing the first body mount, it is completely gone. I decided to remove the fender to get at it better.
I'll be making a number of repair patches, cutting out rot as I go, then filling it all back in.

I got too complex with my first patch, over an hour of beating on the stump and it wasn really even close.
I'll back off and regroup, make it from multiple profiles and weld it up. As difficult as it might sound, it'll be quicker than what I accomplished today.