Rebuild phase 1 complete

Oh man, I'm not even sure where to start. After tearing down, gutting, and stripping off surface rust and old finish, the first step in actually putting this thing back together and making it resemble a car again was beginning with the front suspension and exteriors of the inner fender skirts.

The exterior fender skirt was a chore of degreasing, sanding, and recaulking as pictures from previous blogs show. Getting to the finished product required two coats of a rust converter primer, two coats of rubberized undercoating, and 2 coats of Rustoleum (because it's cheap) to give a black shine and reinforce the rubberized undercoating.

I may have mentioned it in a previous entry, but all suspension components on the front came off and were sandlbasted and refinished or completely replaced. A list of the going-ons reveals many new parts:

Upper control arms: same arms used, but new Grab-A-Trak shaft and shaft bushings. Spring perch bushings replaced with Grab-A-Trak polyurethane bushings. New Moog ball joints.

Coil springs: old springs replaced with new Grab-A-Trak performance springs. The Grab-A-Trak springs are significantly more stout with a thicker diameter than stock springs and will also lower the front of the car 1 inch. Spring seat insulator in the tower replaced with Grab-A-Trak polyurethane insulators.

Lower control arms: The ball joints and arms stay because the only way to replace these is to replace the entire arm ( and they're about $80 each). New Energy Suspension graphite-impregnated polyurethane bushings.

Strut rods: New Energy Suspension graphite-impregnated polyurethane bushings.

Outer tie rod ends: new Moogs

Sway bar: I kept the original sway bar but refinished it (I've never driven this car before, so verdict's out on if I ever replace this), new Energy Suspension graphite-impregnated polyurethane bushings and spring links.

Front drum brakes: sandblasted and refinished drum and backing plate with ceramic caliper paint. New brake hose, shoes, springs, and turned drum.

Wheel bearings looked good but I replaced the seals of course. All suspension was painted with Bill Hirsch Chassis Black.

Now that it's back on its rollers, it's time to start phase 2 this week and take it to some welders to get some estimates.