72 Rust Repair - long overdue update

[arrivederci]

When I bought my '72 over 10 years ago, I knew it had some rust lurking. The first time I dropped the motor, I could tell that the rear shelf would need some work. Nearly 2 years ago, I decided that it was time to see what I was dealing with. It helped that I pulled most of my track goodies off for a euro SC race car build. Speedo lives nearby and has made sure I didn't go too far off course.

Here's a fast forward since Feb 2010 to where I am now.

First, the interior came out - ouch, worse than I thought. Some of that is glue. Either way, not good.




So, off to the sandblaster.



And here is what was left. That has to go, along with the whole rear shelf.

[arrivederci]

Cut up a carrera for a clean rear shelf...drilled out the spot welds to separate the shelf from the window frame.


Cut and fit, cut and fit.






Weld it up


Grind it down

[arrivederci]

Rear seats weren't happy either


Cut that out


Tack in


Other side wasn't as bad, but have to fix while I'm in there




And then make some plugs and fill in the holes from the old harnesses and roll cage


More "while you're in there" stuff. RS clone has been done, but not done in my garage. Also courtesy of the poor carrera that sacrificed its rear shelf.

[arrivederci]

After cleaning up all the welds, the underside of the car needed some attention.


Lots of scrubbing and grinding had it ready for the schutz gun. This is where the rotisserie made life lots easier...particularly when working inside the rear wheel wells.




May as well clean up the suspension too. Send everything off to plater and powder coater, then reassemble.




Off the rotisserie, nearly ready for paint.


Next I need to treat the interior floorboards (POR-15), trial fit the bumpers...and this.


It should be back in the road in, uh, another 2 years? I hope not.

[Porboynz]

Nice job, keep up the reports.

[NoLift911]

Nice!!!!!!!! - so what is the color going to be?

[arrivederci]

Slate gray exterior with all the correct '72 chrome and anodized accents. No RS or carrera badging. Simple, clean, generally understated. Interior will be black/gray w/ sport seat replicas, but seat fabric and color are undecided. I want recliner seats as this will be driven somewhat daily.

I have an RS style front bumper that I'll be trial fitting this weekend along with the rear bumper and the motor & trans. The rear bumper needs cutouts under the bumperettes as I'll be running an RSR style muffler from M&K. Will also fit the fenders and cut the oil lines to the driver's fender mounted secondary oil cooler. I have an updated transmission from a euro '84 with oil cooler and '86 108mm flanges. Hopefully it is strong enough. I'm not planning for any track time with this car.

Paint will probably take 3-4 weeks and I'm in line behind Speedo's soft window targa. All that will give me time to go through things like the turn signal and brake light buckets, figure out where I'll put the battery, gauges restored and modified for a 3.6L mill, rebuild CVs, and address other loose ends.

[Reifle]

Love what you are doing - will follow this !

[arrivederci]

Spent a little time in the garage this weekend but didn't get much done. While on the rotisserie, my car was on one side of the garage. My 4-post lift was on the other side, raised to the ceiling with parts stacked on top and workbenches, etc beneath it. To trial fit the engine and bumpers, I had to move the car and rearrange the garage. While it'd be easier to install the motor/trans with a 2-post lift (soon!), it can be done with a 4-post with only one person. Also, always be really careful when threading the trans mount bolts. It is really easy to cross thread. I loosen the crossbar and the mounts themselves to give it a little more movement.

Engine installed - it fits, but the SC/carrera engine mount ends could use a slight bend to align better. Good enough for fitting the bumper and determining exhaust cutouts.


Looks like I got the spring plate angles about right (car is still mostly bare) and the flares should take a lot more tire (that's a 215).

[arrivederci]

Holidays took their toll on progress. Here is a trial with a 245 on a 16x9 fuch. Lots of room. This will head off to Al Reed to be refinished. 16's it is. Probably will run my 15x8 and 15x6's with some narrow snow tires for winter. Ride height needs to come down a bit too. I guessed the 3.6 and alum case 915 would be a little heavier.



And I put down POR-15 on the floor and rear shelf. Hopefully that prevents that from ever rusting again.



And I'm still working on fitting the rear bumper. It is bowed out so I need to make relief cuts along the back and then glass it flat from the back. After that is done, I'll hang the doors, install the dual front oil coolers along with the front fenders, then align the front bumper. THEN I'll be able to go to paint.

[NoLift911]

Looking good - keeping the 72 oil door?

[arrivederci]

...rolled it out of my garage and loaded it on the trailer. Drove it (by trailer) about 20 minutes from home. I'm moving into a new workshop and the crew is coming to move my lift tomorrow. Here it is, resting on the trailer in the new workshop.

Decklid is fitted, rear bumper is almost done, passenger door fitment needs a tiny bit more work, fenders are on, and I'm fabbing mounts for the front bumper.

Also looking for a local painter that can return it to me with finished paintwork so that I can start the reassembly.

[DCinVA]

Awsome, I love these 'build' threads.

[combatic]

Nice work! It looks like you are well on your way!

[arrivederci]

Two years...while it hasn't sat totally idle, it hasn't progressed as quickly as I would have liked.

Did some more fitting of bumpers with seals:


And TTG fog lights:


Passenger side oil cooler, although I may replace this with one of the Elephant Racing kits:



Restoring an SC gas tank:


Shutzed:


And top coated:


Finished gas tank:

[arrivederci]

And finally to the painter!!!



A little lead work on the fenders to smooth out my welding:



Progress:



And some primer:




Planning to visit the shop tomorrow to see it in person.

[arrivederci]

Prepping to lay down paint this week on interior, engine bay, and trunk.



Lead work continues.



Some primer down, drying before block sanding.





Some touch up on the duck...

[DCinVA]

Nice work!

[Uncle Enzo]

What an amazing transformation. Well done, Sir.

[GaryR]

Why lead vs. lightweight filler? Lead is an art lost by most body guys...