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- #21
I've been pretty busy with work lately and haven't gotten much done in the last few weeks, but I did get the power steering box mounts located and welded in place.
Resurrection of a pair of 78s
- Thread starter tweek99
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- #22
After that was done I tore it all the way down and cleaned off all the remaining paint with aircraft stripper. I also washed off all the grease and oil. After that I hauled it to T&L irrigation to have it galvanized. It was dropped it off on a Monday and they called Tuesday afternoon to tell me it was done. I'll let it sit for awhile then I'll get all the threads cleaned up and get some paint on it.
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- #23
Also, while I was waiting on things for my cousin's 78 i drove down to Houston and met with clubtroy. I bought the frame and dash panel out of the 40 he is currently parting out. I gave up on the junk frame i had.
If you take the running board supports off, the bare frame easily slides into the back of a full sized pickup.
If you take the running board supports off, the bare frame easily slides into the back of a full sized pickup.
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- #24
It's been quite awhile since I've posted any updates. I have been slowly chipping away at the 1978 and am currently pulling my hair out getting the front end to align with the hood and cowl, at least to the point I'm happy with it. I've gotten the underside of the tub undercoated and bolted down to the chassis. I had started using a different frame to do final bodywork but had to mess with shiming driver's side mounts to get the driver's door gap to work and decided I only wanted to do it once so I put it on the frame that stays with the body. I've gotten the rockers beaten into shape and skimmed the tub and hardtop sides. The doors are ready for a final sand. And the dash panel has been replaced and cleaned up. Chassis is 90% complete, just needs front axle hard lines. I will photo dump shortly.
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- #32
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- #33
Don't anyone freak out it's just a skimcoat. The quarters were not perfectly flat and all the spot welds aren't something I care to see when finished. All the rust is gone. In hindsight I would have fully removed the wheel wells when attaching the quarters. They were beaten pretty hard and it took a lot of hammering to get them close which caused the quarters to get lumpy. The worst part so far has been fixing the rear lower bolt flange for the hardtop sides. The drip rail on the fiberglass cap has some pitting but I will use a hardening seam sealer to get it flat again before I reassemble. I also shortened the hood hinges to close the terrible gap between the hood and cowl, it was about 5/8" across the top with it pushed back as far as the adjustment would allow.
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- #34
The hood is a tad wider than the cowl wings but the rest of the alignment is pretty good. Today I'll work on the lumps and bumps in the fenders and hood. These are the original parts but they are lumpy. Minimal rust compared to most
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- #35
This is the reason for my hiatus. I had my Trans am I'm a million pieces and decided getting it running and driving
out of my way would be the best thing to do. I moved it into storage. It needs interior, and that's fairly pricey
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- #36
After much fuss with shims and trying to get everything tight with decent gaps I decided to drill out the spot welds for the brace. It was the easiest way I
could get the fenders to relax and fit into place.
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- #37
Finally done fitting the fenders and rewelding the braces.
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- #38
When I went to use the hood hinges I discovered they were pretty clapped out. To fix it, I cut a piece of NiCor 5/16" brake line to length and split it to make a bushing. It worked pretty well and was quick and cheap.
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- #39
I've been on the road for a week but I had gotten the steering wheel, column and u-joints ready to go. I used panel bond to fill the cracks in the wheel and I also used it to build out the end of the turn signal lever, which was broken. The color is really close but I'll have to paint it because the shape isn't good enough.
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- #40
Painted, yes the button is turned
