Getting Started

With the car running like a top for the summer of 2006 it was time to tear into the body work.


A previous owner placed body fill over rust in the rear dog leg panels and lower front wings. Body filler was easily pulled away to review the rust underneath. It's not looking good at this point.





Windscreen removal is necessary to remove the front wings. Note the size of the work space - a single bay in the basement of my house. Staying organized will be a must.

Interior was stripped but the dash left in place. Driver's door was removed by unbolting at the door (not at the A-post) to preserve door alignment. The door can be left in place but access to the sill area is much easier with it removed.


Front bumper removal is also necessy for detaching the front wing.









1" square stock braces were added across the door frame and cockpit before cutting into the silks. The outer sill (rocker) was removed by drilling out the spot welds that attach the outer sill to the inner sill (membrane), taking care to retain the flanges at the A-post. The picture at the right shows the outer sill removed with the inner sill visible (the piece with the triangles).




Removal of the front wing and rocker shows damage similar to that found in the dog leg.
There is no doubt that this car is in need of work.







The tear down started in November 2006. This weekend I removed much the inner sill and started to remove the lower castle rail. Blog entries from this date forward will contain more fine detail about the process and include the passenger side (if I ever get there).

Lessons learned:

1. This is an extremely labour intensive process
2. Drilling spot welds from underneath the car builds character and vocabulary