Paul Masson's 71 Grabber

Nice work! Looks like it's never been touched. Well worth all the work.

 

Paul - It is not a bad thing to never see the cowl again. You did a great job. It looks good and I know how much work was involved. On to the next project.

John

 

I had the very same thing happen to mine with the headliner - you would think those little guys would be more content living in the seats but they go for the closest place next to cold steel

 

WOW you've been busy, nice work...

The best feeling no doubt comes from knowing it now structurally sound and repaired so they'll never be another problem...

 

The cowl repair is coming along nicely.....

 

Nice work Paul, when my headliner came out I got a face full of acorns, got a 2 1/2 gallon bucket of them out of it, what are you going to use for insulation up there when you start reassembly?

 

Thanks Dave!

Thank You, John!

I just cringe now when people get all excited about 'barn finds'.

Thanks Tom! Exactly! No silicone and pop-rivet fixes here! I can't wait to drive it again.

Thanks Frank! Coming from you, that means a lot!!

Thanks, Roger I just got a ton of mouse turds and half the stuffing that was missing from my back seat. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to use for insulation, but I'm sure a search of this site will yield many options. The original material was yellow fiberglass insulation about 3/8" thick. There is a guy down the road from me who used some sort of insulation wrap on his house--who knows!




Thanks for the kind words everybody! I came to the realization that the big car show (Atlantic Nationals) is in 27 weeks, and I was planning on dedicating one 'garage night' per week to get stuff done until I did the math... 28 nights at 4-5hrs per evening = 140 hours MAX! I panicked and have spent the last four nights out in the garage. I may not make my deadline, but it feels good to get back into working on it again.

And truthfully, everyone's kind comments and interest in my project has helped motivate me to do more. :Handshake It's been a year almost to the day that I started taking the front windshield out...

I now have the upper cowl centered, aligned with the wiper posts and screwed into place with Tek screws. Now I can remove the screws, paint the lower and inside of the upper and then reassemble using the screws as alignment guides prior to welding. If it works out, the upper shall be in the exact same spot as it is now, and then I'll weld the holes shut.

 

More Progress (read: Destruction)

Not content in finishing anything I've already started, I decided it was time to drop the fuel tank. Couldn't get to the strap bolts, so I needed to take off the valance. Couldn't get that off without removing the bumper. If I'm taking the bumper off, the valance guards have to come off too.

I did manage to get some wire-wheeling done on the inner fender aprons and front frame. It also looks like I'll be using the "US Standard" Gas Tank Sealer from POR-15 to treat the inside of the gas tank.

 

I used the same stuff on my tank, take your time and get it cleaned out well. Man, that yellow above the tank is nice to see.

 

Looks good!

I would like to see pictures after the tank is cleaned up. I saw the results on one tank one, it started to peal inside the tank. I am assuming that it was not prepped correctly. It looked like the rust prevented the POR from sticking.

 

I used that in my tank probably 20 years ago and it's still holding up. Spilled a glob of it on the driveway and it's still there!

 

Paul,
I'm using Dyanamat Xtreme and then putting their Dynaliner on top of that. The Dynaliner is a dense foam in either 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2. Self adhesive. Just peal and stick. Looks good so far. Summit had it on sale recently.

http://www.dynamat.com/technical_specs_dynaliner.html

Thanks again for the picture of the headliner bow holes.
Micah

 

Man your car is nice. The worst part is nearly over. It's all downhill from here.

 

I was pretty happy, too! I figured I'd find a mouse nest up there...

Thanks Tom! I've done a Pinto tank for a friend already. It looked good, but he hasn't put any gas in it yet. I figured I'd practice on HIS tank before jumping into mine.

That's good to know. We spilled some on my garage floor when doing the Pinto tank. My buddy put a rag on it and we forgot about it. It's still stuck to the floor!!

Thanks for the link, Micah! And you're welcome! If you need any other measurements, etc let me know!

Thanks David. Pretty soon I'm going to run out of things to take off the car. Sooner or later I'm going to have to start putting things back ONTO the car.

I'm going to have a talk with my Glass/Vinyl Top/Headliner guy later this week to work out timelines, pricing and expectations HE has as far as preparation. If I'm going to make my July deadline, I think it'll be best to leave that stuff to the professionals.

 

Well, i tagged and bagged all of the nuts and bolts on the front end. I removed the frame mounts for the engine, the hood latch support and I was also able to get the tank vent line and brake lines out in one piece, so there are no obstacles on the firewall.

I spent the day on-and-off with a wire cup and my grinder, taking off the old paint and surface rust in preparation for painting.

I came across some wax pencil markings, but I'm not sure what they are for. The ones on the rad support do not match my car's rotation number, and I'm really not sure what the big "D" was for on the shock tower. It's kind of neat the way you can still see them, even after having gone over them with a wire wheel. I suppose, since my car was double-VIN'd, the rotation number could have been for the first (voided) VIN. Have a look.