Predictable Rust

You never know what awaits you underneath the wing. I was not surprised by what I found. It could have been worse, I had hoped for better. Here is the front part of the inner sill. You can just make out a perforation where the taper ends toward the front. I should have cut that out and replaced it with solid metal. But, its a GT so its less prone to sagging and my goal is to get this car on the road and "do it right" later (like I am with the roadster). I stripped the rust off the inner sill that fits under the wing...
..and did the same with the trumpet section. Removal of the rust with a twisted wire wheel on my angle grinder revealed two perforations. At a minimum I should have plug welded those closed before proceeding futher, but with my goal in mind I left it for later. The metal here is prepared with "Metal Ready" primer in advance of applying POR-15 paint. POR-15 paint applied to the inner sill, trumpet section and area where the wing fits to the body. All had surface rust that cleaned up easily. Next up: Finishing the carb rebuild and body work on the front valence before attaching a new wing!

Wing Removal

Here is the damage present when I rescued the car. It runs from the center of the wheel well forward with minor damage to the bumper and grill.
A closeup of the damage near the front, after removal of the bumper - the first step in wing removal. The valence suffered some good old wrinkling. I'll get to practice some hammer and dolly work on those V-channels and ridges!
Front valence off and grill out.Next to remove the nuts and bolts that hold the wing in place. This last tricky little beggar is accessed through the brake failure indicator light which was broken anyway.
Wing off! The front wheel rim was damaged during the accident and the spare, used as a temporary replacement, has most of the tread sheared off. It must have been a desperate get away. There is some rust along the top edge that must be removed and the trumpet (triangular box section near the top) needs cleaned up for rust assessment. The splash panel at the far right looks iffy along the edge. Yep, that's a broom holding the bonnet open.
Its a real challenge to keep from tearing it all down and "doing it right." I must keep the goal in sight: getting the car on the road by end of the summer. Must focus...must.... focus....!.

We Have Ignition (switch) !

Back in February I had the ignition switch re-keyed only to discover the entire switch was completely knackered. I ordered a new switch and keys from Moss Motors.
For the '73, you must remove the connector (arrowed) and attach bullet connectors to wire it into the dash harness. The wires pulled with surprising ease from the plastic connector.
I ordered a combination pack of bullets and sleeves from British Wiring and the crimping tool for attaching the bullets. Only problem was, the crimping tool was on back order from England and would take a month to arrive. There is debate about the usefulness of this tool, with many saying it is best to solder the bullets on. I knew my soldering skills were not up to the task so I decided to wait for the crimper.

The bullets came packaged all together but are easy to tell part based on their markings. The 24-strand bullets required for the ignition are the 10 in the second column from the right.
Strip the wires such that the end of the wire goes to the end of the bullet, but don't strip too much insulation! If you look up inside the bullet there is a constricted area where the insulation should end and the stripped wire should be begin. The crimp will be placed in the indentation you see on the exterior of the bullet.
Check out this crimping action photo! The tool has a ratcheting mechanism and forms a perfect crimp around the bullet. I checked the wire and could not pull it out. In my opinion it is worth the wait and cost (around $50.00 for the crimper) if you will do much rewiring. If I could solder in a decent fashion I may have a different opinion but for me this was the way to go.Attaching the switch to the steering column was easy. Note the "break away" bolt . The head shears away (as seen on the right) when the proper torque is reached. At least that is my story and I'm stickin' to it.Here is the cover replaced on the steering column and the bullets pushed into the connectors (shown under the dash).
I should have fire now. Next I need fuel. The tank is in, so that leaves the carburetor rebuild before I can try firing her up again.