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7 years into this restoration project and things are starting to look like progress is being made. Lack of on-hand free time (and money) make things just a bit slower, when heading to the 'End is in sight" week. Purchased from a seller in Arizona, with intentions of some quick mechanical repairs to get the car roadworthy, and start enjoying the drive. The more I dug into this and that, the more I thought it would be better to do a bit more and a bit more and a bit more. Never thinking it would get to the point of restoration it is at the moment.
During the initial passenger side front suspension dis-assambly and de-greasing, tI found the chassis had been whacked pretty hard. The shock/spring tower was cracked and lower A arm mounting points had been torn away and welded back in place. Not a good start at this point of the quick mechanical repairs. Further checks on the rest of the chassis revealed a few large dents and bends along the way back from the front suspension area. The driver side leaf spring (forward pivot point) had snapped and did a nice accordion style cut into the floor pan/seat area that was about 2 1/2 inches wide by 3-4 inches top to bottom. I was now ready to start doing some searching for a good chassis that I could use. I found quite a few chassis that were in decent/good shape that needed repairs, sand blasting and a good lasting paint job. After adding up the costs of trying to stick with original as when the car left the factory, I started to see that that amount of $$ was more than an aftermarket Ratio chassis.
The new chassis is considerably stiffer, and I'm sure a bit heavier, but was Powder coated and ready for all suspension and running mechanicals to be installed. At that point I was ready to start considering body colors, as I was now changing the chassis to a non original, the whole "as left the factory" idea had been scrapped. I decided to go with a different color on exterior paint and interior, so Heritage certificate has a factory white exterior paint applied. It is now Apple Green, and will have a biscuit color interior.
The motor has been warmed up a bit with a fast road cam, 89 MM piston/liner set, Weber 40's and headers for a bit more fun, so more originality is gone. I will still enjoy driving the car when its finally finished.
.
Anyway, its a nice distraction. I will put some more pics up at a later date, showing the current state of "getting there"
During the initial passenger side front suspension dis-assambly and de-greasing, tI found the chassis had been whacked pretty hard. The shock/spring tower was cracked and lower A arm mounting points had been torn away and welded back in place. Not a good start at this point of the quick mechanical repairs. Further checks on the rest of the chassis revealed a few large dents and bends along the way back from the front suspension area. The driver side leaf spring (forward pivot point) had snapped and did a nice accordion style cut into the floor pan/seat area that was about 2 1/2 inches wide by 3-4 inches top to bottom. I was now ready to start doing some searching for a good chassis that I could use. I found quite a few chassis that were in decent/good shape that needed repairs, sand blasting and a good lasting paint job. After adding up the costs of trying to stick with original as when the car left the factory, I started to see that that amount of $$ was more than an aftermarket Ratio chassis.
The new chassis is considerably stiffer, and I'm sure a bit heavier, but was Powder coated and ready for all suspension and running mechanicals to be installed. At that point I was ready to start considering body colors, as I was now changing the chassis to a non original, the whole "as left the factory" idea had been scrapped. I decided to go with a different color on exterior paint and interior, so Heritage certificate has a factory white exterior paint applied. It is now Apple Green, and will have a biscuit color interior.
The motor has been warmed up a bit with a fast road cam, 89 MM piston/liner set, Weber 40's and headers for a bit more fun, so more originality is gone. I will still enjoy driving the car when its finally finished.
.
Anyway, its a nice distraction. I will put some more pics up at a later date, showing the current state of "getting there"