School me on stance (now a build thread) by Zeeuwvw

5 minute(s) of a 51 minute read

I made a little progress on this thing the last few days. 

I know my priorities are a little off but the first thing I did was install a new steering wheel. This is a reproduction of the original empi. The originals go for $1000 or more and this one was much less. I'm digging it. 

Then I was messing around in the engine bay trying to get a list of required parts and the engine just jumped right out onto the ground. 

Another planned project was re-painting the rear appron. However, a little digging revealed a ton of bondo. This thing is going to need to be replaced. 

Then the plot thickened. First of all, someone cut holes in the side of the quarter panels. I'm guessing maybe for carb adjustments?

Then I found quite a bit of rot in the same panels. ewwww

So, questions time. I figure I have two options. I'm wondering which will be the best overall for a nice driver. 

1. Get replacement quarter panels, cut and weld them in. This will take care of the rust and holes but require more work. I'm also a little concerned that cutting the OE panels will have a negative effect on the cars value and potentially not fit quite right. 

2. Clean up the rust as best I can and treat it so it doesn't spread. The spots are not visible from above so it would just be me that knew (and anyone reading this I guess). This would be easier, cheaper, and more original. 

3. ?

Thought are appreciated. 

1/13/2010

Did some more exploration tonight.

After drilling out a bunch of spot welds I was able to remove the old rear apron. Then I used a wire brush to clean some of the dirt off and get a good look. It isn't too pretty. 

The left side is the worst. Some of the damage was from me prying on the panel

The right side is a little better

That's not a lot of material to work with. Then again, with the new panel test fitted most of that is covered up.

The bug is looking pretty bare

I've got to decide on whether or not to proceed without patch panels. We'll see. In the mean time parts are showing up for other aspects of the project. I'm getting excited. 

1/16/2010

Small update:

With the temperature hovering around freezing I decided to take the opportunity to de-grease the motor a bit. I also got it mounted on the stand for easy access.

After pulling the tins off I pushed the whole thing outside for some serious elbow grease. A clean air-cooled motor is a cooler running one so I think my efforts paid off. Plus it will be easier to do some of the little things on it now.

Anybody need some chrizzome

My wheels should be shipping Monday. The re-finisher sent me some pics. I can't wait.