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I am just starting to restore my 72' and it seems a little overwhelming. I don't know where the best place is to start; interior, electrical,drivetrain,body ect. Does anyone have suggestions?
72
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Read about what needs to be done in books and ask here about anything you do not understand.
You are in effect going to become a one man assembly line and "remanufacture" a brand new car utilizing either fully restored parts or modified and upgraded parts to improve safety and performance (technology has changes a lot in the past forty years). You need body working skills of metal fabrication and welding as well as being a competent painter, electrician, and mechanic to bring it back to life. The one other skill you need is that of a financier to pay the bills and justify the expense of what you are doing to your significant other.
Just like a WWII fighter pilot, you can swagger a bit as you stroll down the line of parked planes with the words Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator, Gunner and Bombardier sewn into your leather flight jacket (only in your case it is mechanic, welder, painter, body man, electrician, and upholster and all the cars are parked with the hoods up). Good Luck!
Big Dave
You are in effect going to become a one man assembly line and "remanufacture" a brand new car utilizing either fully restored parts or modified and upgraded parts to improve safety and performance (technology has changes a lot in the past forty years). You need body working skills of metal fabrication and welding as well as being a competent painter, electrician, and mechanic to bring it back to life. The one other skill you need is that of a financier to pay the bills and justify the expense of what you are doing to your significant other.
Just like a WWII fighter pilot, you can swagger a bit as you stroll down the line of parked planes with the words Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator, Gunner and Bombardier sewn into your leather flight jacket (only in your case it is mechanic, welder, painter, body man, electrician, and upholster and all the cars are parked with the hoods up). Good Luck!
Big Dave
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433 Posts
H2G2 will tell you ~Dont Panic!~
Whats the current state? any pictures? run n drive or no drivetrain?
Focus on one thing at a time then resto's arnt so bad
Whats the current state? any pictures? run n drive or no drivetrain?
Focus on one thing at a time then resto's arnt so bad
alot depends on how far you want or need to go....I have couple cars that have gotten full treatment and couple that got what they need to be nice drivers...all my cars are drivers in the end. I enjoy them and use them. I was recently at a car show and next to me was VERY nice 69 Camaro that had gotten full treatment to the tune of +$125K IN RESTO MOD. and while alot of people were in awe with car and walked right by my car. I had driven mine about 200 miles to the show and his was in the trailer....build it your way and hope you can still drive and enjoy it j
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It runs fairly well. It has a rebuilt 350, not too sure about the transmission. It has minor exterior rust, needs electical fixes, like th eturn signals work slowly, aswell as the brake lights. The glass is original and is stained, interior is musky and the carpets need to be removed, the front and back dash need be replaced. I also asked in another thread about the drivetrain issues, it seems more like the engine is producing all this power but its not really getting to the rear. The initial take off is slow comparied to the acceleration from like 40-90mph. I dont expect this project to be quick at all, and am not expecting show room quality very soon either. I would like to have a nice looking car with good power and sound, that is reliable to drive a few times a week. I can add pictures soon.
Turn signals blinking slowly is a bad flasher can. You can replace them easily with a HD one from a truck with a trailer towing package. rate of acceleration is probably the fault of your rear gear which could be a 2.56:1, 2.73:1 or a 3.07:1 ratio. Combine a low numbered gear with a cam (that you may or may not have in yor rebuilt 350) that has a lumpy idle and you get poor performance in terms of acceleration (if you want to run around the the banked track at Dayton wide out it would be perfect but I doubt if you are looking for a salt flat racer. A 3.73:1; 3.90:1, or a 4.11:1 rear gear will make the car much more snappy in acceleration (I have a 4.56:1 in one car and a 3.73:1 in the daily driver).
Carpet is the easiest to fix and you can help quite a bit in getting rid of the musky smell by trashing the old one and cleaning the interior of the car. Just be prepared for a shock when you pull up the old carpet and see holes in the floor boards you had seen before (that musky smell is fungus living in the padding under the carpet that gets wet somehow).
The milky window glass is the plastic binder that is sandwiched between the two layers of tempered glass is decomposing from UV exposure. I know of no way for you to fix this as a hobbist. You will probably need new glass but it will not have the correct date codes etched into the glass.
Finally: sound is also easy to fix. Just punch a bunch of 10d nail holes in your muffler. Keep punching holes until you get the sound you like. Cheap and effectuive.
Big Dave
Carpet is the easiest to fix and you can help quite a bit in getting rid of the musky smell by trashing the old one and cleaning the interior of the car. Just be prepared for a shock when you pull up the old carpet and see holes in the floor boards you had seen before (that musky smell is fungus living in the padding under the carpet that gets wet somehow).
The milky window glass is the plastic binder that is sandwiched between the two layers of tempered glass is decomposing from UV exposure. I know of no way for you to fix this as a hobbist. You will probably need new glass but it will not have the correct date codes etched into the glass.
Finally: sound is also easy to fix. Just punch a bunch of 10d nail holes in your muffler. Keep punching holes until you get the sound you like. Cheap and effectuive.
Big Dave
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433 Posts
Think id start at the rust spots so it dosnt get worse/spread/cancerous, take out the moldy interior & replace any bad weatherstripping as the first two starts
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