Frame Off Restoration Update 1

A lot has happened since I took the body off in late October, just 3 weeks ago! Here is a summary of what’s been done as part of this frame off restoration after the car was stripped to the bare frame and body (minus the interior).

Cleanup

ALL lines and wires were removed, including brake, throttle, E-brake, fuel, vents, wiring. Lines were inspected.
The entire frame, undercarriage, and firewall was degreased, detergent washed, and wirebrushed, washed again, and inspected.
All body mounts were removed and frame/body inspected.
Transmission crossmember was removed.
Exhaust and driveshaft were removed.
Entire front end, including suspension, steering, hubs, control arms, bushings, sway bar, etc for inspection, cleaning, painting and the new coilover setup installation.
Firewall stripped to bare bones. Everything removed including heater box, brackets, lines, relays, wiring, etc.

Findings

While the car was apart I inspected EVERYTHING, front to back. There were a number of issues discovered, although overall the car was in good shape, with almost no rust and mostly original parts. That being said, there were certainly problems that developed over time.

The ground wire connections for the headlights have been cut and replaced with standard terminal rings. Dont know why, but not really the best quality work. These will be repaired with proper GM Packard 56 connections and grounds.
Fender supports were torn/dry rotted. Replacements will be installed.
Prior weld repair was found on the passenger side control arm mount. This was inspected and cleaned up to ensure quality penetration. The weld was solid.
Steering box was found to be leaking. It will be rebuilt.
Outer tie rod boots were in bad shape. Both tie rods will be replaced.
Brake master cylinder was dirty and cleaned thoroughly.
Heaterbox was found to be missing over half of its hardware. It must have been removed in the past at some point.
E-brake cable was misadjusted. The entire intermediate and front cables will be replaced with quality OEM equivalents (Inline Tube) and proper hardware.
Engine mounts were trashed.
battery tray was missing and rotten. Rust spot was found in the radiator core support and will be repaired by a custom fabricator.
Radiator supports were shot
Headlight adjusters etc were not in great shape, and misadjusted. A new rebuild kit is being installed.
Wheel well liners were terrible, with years of overspray, grease, dirt etc. They are being cleaned up and painted with specialty plastic fusion paint.
Transmission core support was found to have loose bolts, not grade 8 or even grade 5, and no washers. Somebody didn’t know what they were doing. Proper grade 8 hardware with lock washers will be used.
Most other various mounting bolts were mismatched, rusty, torqued incorrectly and just generally sloppy, like the wheel well liner bolts, suspension bolts, and firewall mounting bolts.
Transmission leaks EVERYWHERE.
Upon engine disassembly, the intake manifold gasket was missing! Exhaust gaskets were leaking, various hardware was mismatched/hardware store specials. The previous owner claimed the motor was rebuilt 4k miles ago, and if that’s true they did a truly horrendous job.
The V-belts were missing chunks and even cut in some places. They were very close to failure.
Much more but I don’t remember it all!

Overall, over 100 hours of scrubbing, washing, grinding and brushing have been spent on the car and parts and hardware that have come off. This phase was all about cleaning and getting ready for paint.

Pictures

The pictures below are body and frame prep for paint at various stages. Hard core degreasers, sanding discs, wire wheels, and brushes were primarily used. Complete media blasting was decided against for various reasons.