It was a rolling body that had sat on a mound of dirt for almost 28
years when I bought it. The bottom 3 inches of the car are basically
just rust held together by mud and dirt and the original foam filler
injected into the void spaces to attract water and make more rust. The
engine had been sitting next to the car in the open for the same amount
of time with the valve cover off.
The first thing i did was to make a rotisserie and hoist the body up
so I could start cleaning out the rust
I welded up a set of bars connected to the subframe mounting holes in
the front and the shock absorber holes on the back arches and the door
hinge points. I then hoisted it up and into pipe cradles on the posts
using my trusty 2 ton come along
This makes it a great deal easier to see and get at the rust. As you
can see I drilled holes through both pipes to lock the rotisserie in
place but found it was actually easier to hold it in place with chains
from the car to the stands.
see the lovely rust!
I ordered the body panels for replacement and
then started on the engine and transmission, see the next pages
this will be updated as I progress.
