[ZeGermanHam]

Some more disassembly photos from today. I removed the front fenders and wheel housings, fully expecting to find the cowl and lower firewall underneath to be in terrible shape. Fortunately, they are pretty decent, and will likely need only minor attention. The fenders are in pretty good shape, with the only issue being on the passenger side behind the front wheel - there's little rust bubble there, but it didn't get into the brace behind, so should be a simple patch job. The backsides are completely covered in thick rust-proofing, though. I'm debating whether I should bother removing it or leave as-is. It was a good day.

[ZeGermanHam]

A few more photos from today...

[randy1966GTO]

Nice progress. Do you have room at your work area to store the parts you take off or do you have to transport home until ready for reassembly? Part of my plan to get mine taken down and painted is figuring out how to keep the parts out of the way.

Glad you have less rust than expected, I have some bubbling at the lower doors and quarters that is pointing toward similar concerns with what is behind it in the structure. You will feel better when you get the rest of the car completely disassembled and know exactly what all needs repair.

Keep up the good work!

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by randy1966GTO

Nice progress. Do you have room at your work area to store the parts you take off or do you have to transport home until ready for reassembly? Part of my plan to get mine taken down and painted is figuring out how to keep the parts out of the way.

Glad you have less rust than expected, I have some bubbling at the lower doors and quarters that is pointing toward similar concerns with what is behind it in the structure. You will feel better when you get the rest of the car completely disassembled and know exactly what all needs repair.

Keep up the good work!

Unfortunately, I have to transport most things that I take off the car back home. The shop where I am working on the GTO does offer parts storage, but it comes at a lofty fee that I don't think is worth it. I was pretty worried about storage being an issue at home, but most parts are off the car now and I should be okay when the remainder that come home. It will take some creativity, though.

As of this week, I'm also going to ramp up the frequency of how often I work on the GTO. Until now, I've mostly been working on it one day per week on the weekends. Now I'm going to step it up to two evenings and a weekend day. Really want to get this thing torn down fully and on a dolly.

[ZeGermanHam]

Spent a few hours working on the GTO again last night. I removed the HVAC box on the firewall, to which I was curious to know what horrors lie beneath. The car has a bunch of rust on the inside of the cabin on the side kick panels (just in front of the doors), so I thought the cowl where the heater box resides would also be complete toast. Fortunately, it's not that bad. It'll need some work, but there is a lot of usable metal remaining.

The less good news, however, is that I found a lot of rust at the base of the a-pillars . I'd say this is not altogether unexpected, but it was the first time during this project that I removed something and wasn't pleasantly surprised by what I found underneath. I've seen my body guy tackle far worse, but it looks scary to me. I'd be curious to hear experiences from others here regarding this type of repair.

[Greg Reid]

Looks like you're going to have to find a donor

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Looks like you're going to have to find a donor

Actually, looking in the Ames catalogue, it appears that reproduction parts are available for this area.

[Greg Reid]

That's good to know. I haven't gotten into that area on mine but it could well be in the same condition. I'd be interested in how that stuff fits, if and/or when you try it.

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

That's good to know. I haven't gotten into that area on mine but it could well be in the same condition. I'd be interested in how that stuff fits, if and/or when you try it.

Yeah, I was relieved to see that reproduction metal is available. I'm sure there will still need to be some fab work needed to rebuild everything in there, but the bulk of the rot should be addressed by the replacement panel.

[randy1966GTO]

I have some rust at the base of the A pillars and across the front of the windshield opening as well and glad to know that repro parts are available.

When I took all the HVAC parts off to install the Vintage Air I was expecting a lot of rust but had almost none. Amazing how much heavy stuff came off and how little parts went back on with the Vintage Air, are you going back with stock parts?

I decided to do my seats this summer and have PUI upholstery on order with 2 months to go. I'm going to follow your progress on the metal work and maybe dig into that next year.

Cheers

[gtospieg]

The good news is your crossmember does not appear to be rusted on the end where the rubber isolator and bracket would hold it.

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by gtospieg

The good news is your crossmember does not appear to be rusted on the end where the rubber isolator and bracket would hold it.

The other side is a bit rusted out. But with that said, I think I'm going to box the frame, and in doing so I will likely trim the crossmember and adapt it so that it bolts onto "shelves" on the side of the boxed frame.

[gtospieg]

I also thought about a dimple die...but of course I don't have one. I suppose I could just drill large holes. It would still have to make the frame way more rigid than the factory did.

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by gtospieg

I also thought about a dimple die...but of course I don't have one. I suppose I could just drill large holes. It would still have to make the frame way more rigid than the factory did.

Agreed. Although, it's worth considering whether the juice is worth the squeeze. The plates I made for my frame probably add up to about 10lbs max. Cutting holes in them will lighten them up, but not by enough to matter. For a dedicated race car, it would be a worthwhile pursuit. On a street car, it won't make a bit of difference.

Either way, I think you'll be glad you boxed the frame. It's pretty striking just how insignificant the frame is from the factory.

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by randy1966GTO

I have some rust at the base of the A pillars and across the front of the windshield opening as well and glad to know that repro parts are available.

When I took all the HVAC parts off to install the Vintage Air I was expecting a lot of rust but had almost none. Amazing how much heavy stuff came off and how little parts went back on with the Vintage Air, are you going back with stock parts?

I decided to do my seats this summer and have PUI upholstery on order with 2 months to go. I'm going to follow your progress on the metal work and maybe dig into that next year.

Cheers

At this point in my thinking, I'll probably go with a Vintage A/C system rather than stock. Part of that decision is based on the fact that the fiberglass box under the dash has been cracked and glued together by previous owner(s), so it'll need a fair bit of resto work as well. It's fixable, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I suppose one decision to make will be if I use Vintage A/C rather than stock, is whether I should weld in steel block-off plates to fill the big holes in the firewall. Of course, companies sell non-permanent block-off plates, and I may go that route, but they don't look as clean as if the holes were permanently filled. Part of me thinks it's a no-brainer to have them permanently blocked off, but another part of me recognizes that A/C cars were not terribly common and allowing the car to reverted back to 100% stock at some point (by someone else, after I'm gone...) has its place.

I don't strictly need A/C, since I use it maybe only 3-4 days out of the year living in the Pacific Northwest, but I plan to take the GTO on some long-distance road trips once it's restored, so being able to cruise down the highway with the windows up (i.e., without wind noise) would be nice.

Surprised to hear that it's taking so long for you to receive your replacement upholstery. Is that a normal wait time? I was planning to use PUI with my car as well.

[randy1966GTO]

The block-off plate that came with the Vintage Air kit fit well and looks great painted black, in my opinion. I was amazed at how much the stock parts weighed compared to the VA system, I would say 70-80lbs more. Love the VA, $1450 and 40 hours of my time to install at a leisurely pace.

The wait for the PUI upholstery has been quite long for a couple of years if you're ordering something other than black I think. I received my Parchment rear covers yesterday and will get those done while I wait for the fronts to arrive in late August, ordered them on June 8th.

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by randy1966GTO

The block-off plate that came with the Vintage Air kit fit well and looks great painted black, in my opinion. I was amazed at how much the stock parts weighed compared to the VA system, I would say 70-80lbs more. Love the VA, $1450 and 40 hours of my time to install at a leisurely pace.

The wait for the PUI upholstery has been quite long for a couple of years if you're ordering something other than black I think. I received my Parchment rear covers yesterday and will get those done while I wait for the fronts to arrive in late August, ordered them on June 8th.

Thanks for the info regarding block-off plates with the Vintage Air setup. I must admit, pulling weight out of the car and freeing up space in the engine bay is certainly appealing. Seems like a good value, too. Sounds like I'll probably go with the VA system.

[ZeGermanHam]

It's been over a month since I last updated this thread, but I have not been idle. The body is now completely stripped out and ready to be separated from the frame. The guy who will be fixing the rust has a car ahead of mine which will be with him for around three months, so I'm in somewhat of a holding pattern for the time being.

In the meantime, I bought a bunch of square tubing and learned how to weld and made a body dolly as my first welding project. It was a lot of fun! It took a lot longer than I anticipated due to having to cut everything with a handheld cutoff wheel, then make sure everything is square using a flap disc. If the shop I work in had an industrial bandsaw, it would've taken a fraction of the time for me to make the dolly. But it was good experience for me regardless.

Came out pretty nice! Some of my welds are prettier than others, but it's strong.

[OZZIEVILLE 67 2 door]

I'm in for the ride mate

Great story and pictures
John L.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[ZeGermanHam]

Had a chat with my body guy earlier this week, and it sounds like he'll be ready for my GTO in about six weeks, give or take. So the body will be coming off the frame and heading out for media blasting soon.

In the meantime, I'm trying to stay busy while I wait for that time to come. That translates to going through all the boxes and bags of parts I have and looking to see what needs to be cleaned up and refurbished. I spent some time last night bead blasting a bunch of things. It's such a satisfying process to bring old crusty parts back to life.