My new SPL311!!

[zippy67roadster]

The weather was so nice today that I decided to strip one of the donor doors. I even stripped the interior side and jambs. I will use a soda blaster to get the last bit in the cracks. The donor pieces have about 4 coats of paint on them. Good thing it is only the 2 doors and the hood. The rest of the car has only 2 old sun baked coats. They should come off very easily.

[notoptoy]

Nice work, those doors are pristine too. Should prime up great with little work. How did you strip these?

[zippy67roadster]

Nice work, those doors are pristine too. Should prime up great with little work. How did you strip these?

I used one of the new 3M style stripping discs. They fit an angle grinder and are made out of a scotchbrite material. They leave scratches similar to 100 grit sandpaper. I stripped my blue 67 with 100 grit and a DA sander and it took me weeks! I figure I should have less than 20 hours invested in stripping the whole car this time. As for the condition of the doors and hood. Besides the 4 layers of paint they have just a few dings and dents. There is no rust or major damage!

[notoptoy]

The result is impressive - 4 coats in that little time is amazing. I thinks I gotta get me some of those discs!

[Garm]

^ yeah that is a really good tip. mmm, shiny steel.

[pebbles]

mmm, shiny steel.

+1

[zippy67roadster]

I finally pulled the frame out of the garage and gave it a good cleaning. I used a power washer on it since it had been sitting in the Nevada desert since 1982. It had about a 1/4 inch of caked on dust. The rear end has some old grease all over it so I will have to tackle it with some grease remover before it is wire wheeled. Overall it turned out very well. I hope to have the engine/trans pulled this week and then I will start to remove the suspension. Once it is down to bare frame I will wire wheel it, prime it and then coat it.

[notoptoy]

That cleaned up nicely. There is actually a fair amount of factory paint left on the frame and suspension. You Desert Dwellers have it made for old steel.
Looing good!

[zippy67roadster]

That cleaned up nicely. There is actually a fair amount of factory paint left on the frame and suspension. You Desert Dwellers have it made for old steel.
Looing good!

The lack of rusted cars is a major reason I moved out west from PA.

[zippy67roadster]

So I had some time this morning and decided to pull the engine and get it on the stand. It was very straight forward except that I had 2 less bolts to remove from the transmission. Once I got the engine out I noticed that the transmission only had one mount bolt installed. I hope that the PO didn't drive much like this. It doesn't really matter to me since I am having the engine completely rebuilt and the 4 speed replaced with a 5 speed. The motor mounts were toast as to be expected. Overall it took me less than an hour to get it on the stand. Next is the trans and suspension. I can't wait to start stripping the frame!

[zippy67roadster]

The first video is the frame before the power washing and the second is after it was cleaned. What a difference a little water can make! up." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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[zippy67roadster]

So I finally got some free time to get out on the car. I took the front wheels off and put the front end up on jack stands. I decided that I would take off one side of the front suspension before dark. I took it off in pieces not as one whole suspension. It took me about 2 hours to get it off. I bought a pitman arm puller from JEGS and it broke! I have been soaking the thing for a couple days and even hit it with the freeze lubricant from Locktite and it still wouldn't budge. I finally just removed the tie rod from it and wiggled the steering box out with the pitman arm still attached. It is a good thing I am swapping a late box into the car! The lower ball joints feel good but this is a race car so I plan on buying new for it. The center link and tie rods all feel really good so I will look to clean them up, powder coat them and put new urethane bushings on them. Here are some pictures as I know that's what we all like!

[zippy67roadster]

I got some more time last night to work on the frame dis-assembly. I went out planning on just taking the entire passengers side suspension off in one piece and then take it apart right before I powder coat the pieces. I just needed to take the tie rod off the idler pitman arm to take the whole thing off. Well last night was the second time in a week a suspension tool has broken. The pickle fork went from a "U" shape to a "V" shape and needless to say the tie rod is still attached. I didn't have a spare so I decided that since I went to the trouble of pulling the tools out and getting in my work clothes that I would take the rear suspension out. Four bolts a side and an upper shock nut a side and it was out. This was the fastest rear suspension removal I have ever done. I went out and bought a new pitman arm puller and another pickle fork today at lunch so I can finish the job tomorrow night. I hope to be wire wheeling the frame by this weekend!! Still nothing but a little surface rust on it!!

[jamesw]

Making great progress Brian. Good luck pulling those ball joints and tie-rod ends.

Cheers
James

[notoptoy]

It's cool that you can read the part/lot number off of the rear leaf springs.
Coming apart nicely!