Hello to all,
First let me start out by saying I'm not real mechanically inclined but made a promise to myself to try and start learning.
Some people bring home stray dogs or significant others and try to "save" them but me, I bring home anything with wheels.
I know I'm in WAY over my head in terms of the ratio between cash on hand and what this car needs, along with know how to do things myself, but I know I'll never learn so....
The car was at a "friends" garage and he was supposed to get me going in the right direction and start building a foundation for the project.
Well it didn't quite go as well as I'd expected.
Outwardly the car is pretty fugly, especially since someone chose to put Cragar wheels on her
.
She's also got some serious "patina" with some holes here and there.
The first issue I wanted to address were the floors as they were pretty rotted out.
The "friend" was to replace the rot and get her solid so I could clean up the interior and at least have a decent cabin for the family to ride in.
So the plan was to clean up the rot issues in the floor, get the motor running well & do a complete revamping of the brakes wiring & fuel system so that the car would be both safe & comfortable for my family to cruise in.
I'm not really concerned with the outward appearance other then getting rid of those HORRIBLE Cragers & getting replacement glass.
The paint or whatever I decide to do, will be addressed last.
Here's what's been done & bought so far;
All new brake lines drums wheel cylinders calipers etc.
Original starter & generator rebuilt
Radiator flushed & Pressure tested
Replaced some sheet metal in the floor
New wires and tune up parts , hoses , along with cosmetic clean up (painting motor)
New fuel tank (not yet installed)
New Rug (not yet installed)
The interior as you can see from the pics, was redone in some diamond pleats or whatever you would call it, and was continued in the trunk.
Not really sure what era it would have been done in (opinions
) but I love the look and just want to clean it up and install a headliner eventually.
For some reason, said "friend" never wanted to remove the rear seat and check what was going on under there so that's next on the agenda.
Now for the trunk, she's pretty rough.
I think mine came with a tool tray which is completely gone, so I purchased a new one to have welded in.
The latch mechanism is totally shot an I'm assuming will have to be fabricated by scratch since I've never seen any new one's you can purchase.
I'd LOVE some suggestions here as far as what to do.
The rest of the trunk is very rusty and I'm thinking maybe I should just cut it all out and put some fresh sheet metal in it's place.
Question is do should I just cut it out and weld in new metal or does anyone make a direct weld in replacement
I've seen some complete floors advertised pretty inexpensively but I'm not sure if they're the best quality or route to take since I'm not looking for an exact restoration
I guess I should have said I'm not looking to build a show car or a do a true restoration, but I just want something fun safe and reliable I can take the family out for ice cream in on a Saturday night.
I do however want the car to stay pretty stock looking with a few nice custom touches to make it my own.
I'm on a very tight budget as I'm sure most of us are, and could use any help or advice so as not to waste any more $ then I already have on shoddy work or unnecessary parts.
Here are some pictures & thanks for taking the time to read my long winded sob story;
