New rule:

Only after a build is complete shall the Pelican start posting, rapid fire, as if the build is happening is super speed.

Reading this with almost hourly updates is like binging on a great tv show, I’m loving it!

At this point I started doing as much disassembly as possible to save money before the shell went to media blasting, metal work and paint and body.

For ****s and giggles, I grabbed my torch and loaded a fresh razor blade into the holder and got to work.

My technique which will probably make the body experts like Jonny Jim cringe, I would heat the paint in a section with the torch (not so hot as to bubble the paint but just soften it) and then use the razor blade to peel the paint.

This worked exceptionally well, didn't warp any panels and took off 2 paint jobs worth of paint on the rear quarter in about 20 minutes.

This afternoon of work revealed rust free, accident free rear quarters and deck lid.

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The rest of the body was completely stripped with steering, suspension, braking system and oil system bagged, tagged and boxed up.

I've posted it before, but I welded up a chassis dolly so that the shell could be moved around.

Talking with the painter, he suggested to save more money that I should strip the sound deadening stuff out of the wheel wells, engine compartment and front trunk as there is no point in paying $125/hour for someone else to do it.

A course knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder made messy but effective work.

The shell was then off to media blasting to prep for metal work.

One of the most questionable items I found was the front outer wheel bearings. Both looked like this. It would have been done deliberately I guess?????

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Completely disassembled and stripped revealed zero crash damage and the only rust was above the oil tank, the door jambs as pictured and the expected front bumper brackets and filler panels.

For all the unexpected nastiness, broken head studs etc., the relatively rust free and Completely crash free shell made it absolutely worth it.

All of the unexpected issues were all things that would have been replaced in a full restoration anyways, so I feel like I really came out on top.

With the borders closed, getting parts out of the US was a challenge, but fortunately Restoration Design makes all their panels in house in Canada. I ordered up striker panels for each side, front bumper brackets and filler panels.

All arrived within the week and according to the metal shop, fit beautifully.

While the car was in metal, I had the euro side markers and antenna hole shaved. The rear bumper also had the bumperette and other holes filled.

Auto Bauer in Maple Ridge did the metal work, getting everything nice and straight.

One other visitor was found in the front frame rail...

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how did he even get in there???

I think he wished he remembered the answer to that question.

Curious to hear what someone with more experience says about the cage on that wheel bearing.

How did it get like that?

Having heard horror stories of cars burning down from janky wiring and old fuel lines, I boxed up the wiring harnesses and shipped them to Restoration Design in Guelph for inspection and replacement as necessary.

There were some stiff sections and corrosion and Peter K at RD said there were some shorts. Instead of repairing, I decided to replace the tunnel harness, lighting harness and main front trunk harness. I also replaced the main power cable to the starter.

Although I cleaned out the fuel tank, I got a great deal on a new tank so I dropped that off at the painter as the shell had just made its way from Auto Bauer to Sharp Touch Restorations.

Travis at Sharp Touch does absolutely incredible work. He had recently sold the hot rod portion of the shop and was just doing paint from his home based booth. I had secured my place in line about a year before and Travis had coordinated the media blasting and metalwork. One thing about working with Travis was that he takes a ton of pride in his work, his shop rate was about 20% lower than his competitors and there is no mark-up on his materials.

The next step was picking a colour. I've always liked the Tobacco Brown Metallic and was moments away from going with that for my build, but I kept coming back to Chalk. Travis made the decision that much easier when he said that for a car I want to drive and enjoy, Chalk is ideal since there is no pearl or metallic, in the event of a repair matching the paint would be a breeze.

I'm just not a fan of the Turbo tail, so I ordered up a ducktail from Getty. Although Getty has a great reputation for fitment, Travis wound up performing significant surgery to get the fit and profile just right, going so far to cut the decklid open and do "significant" fiberglass work. The stock steel decklid was smoothed and fit like a glove.

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Just WOW. Great build thread and like others here, I’m enjoying the rapid fire updates and immediate gratification of seeing this move along in one weekend, lol. Hope it’s done by Tuesday.

And as a lifelong North Carolina resident, I want to apologize for the mud dobber nests. However, in my 57+ yrs on this planet, I’ve NEVER seen so many nasty nests in one place such as your car. Do you know what town or general location this car was abandoned in??!!

Also curious about outer front bearings. I had one look similar when I went thru my ‘76 coupe’s hubs. Pelican sourced bearings and races cured that right away. But one of mine looked flattened on one side like it was dropped on concrete floor. Odd...

Great build thread. So much fun for us readers. :)

Was it a red car originally or was that a resale red respray some time in the 80s?

Original Guards Red car.

Car was in a small town called Wilson, North Carolina

It’s lucky you saved that car! Being in Wilson it was maybe 10 miles from the biggest Porsche dismantler on the east coast!

Okay. About 40 mi from me - and home to some good eastern NC bbq... I’ve seen pics of the painted car and sexy engine in another build thread here. It’s gonna be beautiful.

Great, great, great post.
Fun reading it all and accompanying along for all the ups and downs.
Your car will be incredible no doubt when complete.
Do you not have emission testing in Canada?
We could never get away with ditching the CIS in many of the states here down south. Ha
Can't wait for the further updates.

Travis put in over 200 hours of labour blocking, painting, wet sanding and doing an initial buffing (his words, not mine!) And the results were gorgeous 😍

In April of 2021, almost 2 years on from purchase and the shell was coming home looking better than I could have ever imagined.

The finish is just indescribable.

Now I'm getting nervous that I'm not going to be able to do this thing justice, but I still wasn't deterred from pushing forward as I was building the car for me. In the words of Jeff - It might not be perfect, but it's home built!

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They got rid of emissions testing in BC just over 7 years ago.

Since it's an out of province car, there will be a full safety inspection required to get it registered. At most they *might* check for a catalytic converter.

Oh, ist that fashion grey? lovely! (sorry if I missed it mentioned before)

Man, those reflections are better than glass.
I can't wait for this to catch up to real time.