Project Theseus

[Noll]

Got some lugnuts today. Need to get some replacement studs too (half of mine are snapped), then I can get the new wheels on when they arrive.

[Dr.Diesel]

Noll, Four short pieces of one inch thin wall tubing were used to move the mounting clamps for the sway bar downward. Threaded rod was then installed though the floor & through the centre of the length of the tube. This provided the clearance needed for the sway bar. Worked out fine. After final assembly, it could have been welded it but there was no need to do so & its worked fine without issue.

[Noll]

Noll, Four short pieces of one inch thin wall tubing were used to move the mounting clamps for the sway bar downward. Threaded rod was then installed though the floor & through the centre of the length of the tube. This provided the clearance needed for the sway bar. Worked out fine. After final assembly, it could have been welded it but there was no need to do so & its worked fine without issue.

Thanks, makes sense! I think I'll weld it if I go that route (may as well while it's all bare metal), should work out nicely.

[grannyknot]

Noll, those frame rail extensions from BadDog are great but I have a set that are made out of the regular gauge that the rails are, 18ga I think, BadDogs are 16ga I believe. Anyway you are welcome to them if you want, a friend made them up for me but I can't see that I will use them any time soon and they are just sitting here. I'll dig them out and take a pic of them and post tomorrow.

[Noll]

Noll, those frame rail extensions from BadDog are great but I have a set that are made out of the regular gauge that the rails are, 18ga I think, BadDogs are 16ga I believe. Anyway you are welcome to them if you want, a friend made them up for me but I can't see that I will use them any time soon and they are just sitting here. I'll dig them out and take a pic of them and post tomorrow.

Oh awesome, that'd be very much appreciated! Thanks.

[grannyknot]

I just checked them they are 14ga so not too shabby, they should work well. They were just made in the spring so a steel wool will take that off.
I've tried to upload a couple of pics but the website is not cooperating tonight. IMG_0025 (1024x768).jpg

[Noll]

I just checked them they are 14ga so not too shabby, they should work well. They were just made in the spring so a steel wool will take that off.
I've tried to upload a couple of pics but the website is not cooperating tonight.

Awesome, thanks again! yeah, I am all too familiar with surface rust removal haha.


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Did some work on the transmission tunnel today:

One big patch:



and a smaller one:





Removed the front seat mount from the cutoff section of floor it was still welded to. this took a solid amount of grinding from underneath to get off the spot welds without damage to the important bit:





And plopped it all in to test the seat. First time in over 2 years that I've been able to actually sit in the car .






Next order of business will be to finish the rest of the patches at the rear of the floorpan so I can then weld in the seat mounts for good.

[Noll]

Sourced some basically new (800km on 'em) Falken 225/50/15's, and mocked up. Still need 2 more at some point, but this will work well for figuring out suspension stuff.





Man it's going to look goooood once my wheels arrive and I lower the car to this height.

[Noll]

Been a little busy the past couple weeks, but got back to welding bits on the car today.

Started with this:





Spent half an hour carefully making the mother of all cardboard templates:





transferred to metal:





Welded in, and also made and welded a couple small rectangular bits to finish the lower section:





With that bit finally done, on to the other back corner:





cut out the corner to simplify patch-making:





and all patched. The lower bit was interesting to make (it bends on 3 axis'), but I managed.





And all together. Great bit to have done, as now I can get on to the seat mounts.

[Noll]

Floor welds all ground down, and front seat mount welded in. Welds still a little visible, but way cleaner than before. I got measurements from someone as to the correct place to weld the front mount in (holes 32" from the firewall) and put it 1/2" farther back than that as I have really long legs.







Need to grind down the welds on the seat mount next too. Had to widen it a little on the trans-tunnel side (as the tunnel was a slightly different angle due to the patch), and create a 1.5" section where ti meets the rocker due to where it was sawzall'd out of the car it was in.





Rear mounts dropped in to test. I'll need to remove the old floor bits from them so I can weld them in next.





Stuck the seat and steering column in to check legroom/fitment. The holes at the front visible here and the rear mounts are all that's left till the floor is done.





Feels good to finally be able to sit in the car again after ~3 years!



Next up is the aforementioned floor patches, and on to pulling the engine and trans!

[grannyknot]

Noll, looking really good, I guess you are going to need those rail supports I promised you, shoot me a PM with your address and I'll get them off to you.

[Noll]

Noll, looking really good, I guess you are going to need those rail supports I promised you, shoot me a PM with your address and I'll get them off to you.

Thanks! Will send you a message shortly, thanks very much!

[Noll]

Thanks again grannyknot , the bits arrived a couple days ago:




Finally got around to moving the z to the other side of the garage, and spun it 180deg to make it easier to pull the engine.






This also provided a good opportunity to take a picture of the passenger side, as it was briefly not right next to a wall:





Got some better pics of the engine bay rust too. driver's side isn't too bad:



The passenger side will need some more work though:




Next order of business will be to pull the engine/trans to get that all de-greased before the snow, then I think I'm going to get the hood welded up so I can put it in storage and free up some space.

Going to get that article written up soon too!

[zedfoot]

Thx. Looking for content for the winter issue.

[Noll]

Acquired the first of a few new-to-me panels. Will also be getting doors and front valence from the same guy.

New hatch:




You can see that it's been repaired (well) at some point. The pitting looks worse in the photo than in person, a little bit of wire-wheeling and some high-build primer and it'll be mint.



Also got a good-condition pair of turn signals. One has a missing stud, so I guess I'll be doing some DIY to fit a new one, but the rest are in ok condition. All the screws are rusted, so I think I'm just going to do it all in-situe without dismantling; the rubber still seems decently pliable anyway. May need the bulb harnesses for these as I have no idea if I still have the stock ones.