We're baaaack.... and it's underway!
We pulled the engine and tranny last night and didn't even scratch the "nose"
With the engine bay empty we see the rusty frame rails, especially the left side apparently due to battery leakage.
No holes, just rust coated. The left inner fender has a rust hole under the battery tray. Both inners have rust through on top where it appears a fender brace is spot welded underneath, and also at a spot right in front of both hood hinges. Other that they are fine. We're not sure if we should just cut and patch or try to find replacement inner fenders, if they are even made. Is it a hassle to replace them?
As far as we know, the body has three paint jobs on it. It has tiny "bubbles" all over, particularly on the horizontal surfaces. I cannot "pop" them or push them in with my finger nail, but something is going on under the paint. I suppose the whole car should be stripped, what is the best economical( and easiest) way? I've been told that sand or bead blasting is the way to go?
The engine is almost all apart, we found some hard black (curved) plastic "parts" under the valve covers, I'm thinking maybe hardened and broken valve seals? The heads look okay, but the chambers are all blackened and the exhaust valves are a brick red, strange? They are the "J" '915 heads with 1.88" intakes... rats!
The rocker arms a stamped with H2 RT & H2 LT, the springs are "red" with damper springs. Not sure if these heads have ever had a valve job, but they will now. It appears that the crank is forged, only because the damper has no offset weight nor does it have any words on it that say "use with cast crank only". Is that a safe bet?
I know I am addressing different subjects here, but someone mentioned earlier that it would be alright to discuss this project on one thread, to keep everybody "informed". If not, slap me and set me straight.
This will be primarily a street car, but we do intend to do some bracket racing with it too. We would LIKE to be able to get it into the 12s right out of the shoot, but if you think we're dreaming let us know straight up. We however DON'T want to molest by gutting it, installing wheel tubs, roll cages and all that stuff. Again, are we out of line here?
Tami & Bill
