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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
bugeyepaul
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I'll be happy to come help with the bonnet one night this week.
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The teardown begins, follow along at home!
- Thread starter drooartz
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OP
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Doing my best to take advantage of the good weather while I have it. Would love to get it to the shop before the end of December. We'll see.
Thanks! I'll be in touch.
OP
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Bonnet is off
So with help from bugeyepaul we got the bonnet off Penny tonight. Didn't even freeze to death -- it was about 12*f outside, the little shop was warmer inside than I thought it would be.
So now all that's left is to pull the engine and transmission and put the bonnet back on for transport. Will have that all done in the next week if all goes well and I'll be ready to get her down to the city for body repair. Exciting stuff, moving right along.
So with help from bugeyepaul we got the bonnet off Penny tonight. Didn't even freeze to death -- it was about 12*f outside, the little shop was warmer inside than I thought it would be.
So now all that's left is to pull the engine and transmission and put the bonnet back on for transport. Will have that all done in the next week if all goes well and I'll be ready to get her down to the city for body repair. Exciting stuff, moving right along.
Jim_Gruber
Yoda
Offline
Drew, I'm jealous that you're moving so quickly. My better half put the lavish on me picking up Bugsy III my parts car Saturday. Going to be a minimum of a 7 hour block if time to pick up, go by DMV while car is on trailer and get into my garage at the cottage. I got reminded we've only got two weekends to get it all done and be ready for the horde to show up for Christmas. Oh well January 4 I've got the date circled on the calendar. Tree gets put in the stand tomorrow night and in the meantime painting and cleanup of front suspension continues.
OP
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I do have a few advantages (including no kids) that allow me a bit more control over my time than many. Also, once I get focused on a job I pretty much devote all available energies to it so I can move pretty efficiently and quickly. You could call it obsessed, you'd not be that far off. :grin:
Was hoping to pull the engine tonight, but it's currently -8*f and that may be too cold to work out in my little shop. I'd love to have it out at least this weekend so I can call this phase done.
Jim_Gruber
Yoda
Offline
Crank up the space heater or two and get 'we done. Got a volunteer to help me pull Bugsy's engine and tranny . Should not take more than an hour as only 4 bolts holding things in and radiator in with zip ties. Engine just dropped in for transport. Just need to find the time.
OP
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Teardown is complete
Got to a balmy 19*f on Sunday so I decided to see if I could heat the shop to a functional temp and pull the engine. Happily I was able to get things warm enough to work (an advantage to a small space), so out came the engine. I had already pulled the transmission mounting bolts and loosened the engine mounts, so all I had to do was pull the engine mount bolts, hook up my engine hoist, and off we go. Took maybe 30 minutes tops.
Noticed my neighbor out finishing up snowblowing his driveway, so I popped over and got his assistance to put the bonnet back on. Got the bolts back in and Penny is now ready to be sent off for bodywork.
Was a fun tear down process, learned a bunch about the condition of the car. Overall I'm really happy, she's a solid little car with a few things to be addressed. No surprises, though it's quite clear that there's been panel replacement in the past. For the most part the work looks good, so I probably won't mess with that. Once the car is down at the body shop we'll be able to make a concrete plan for how to get the body back in shape. I'm not going for a show car, just want to make sure the body is solid and the rust is fixed.
This next phase will see me mostly watching my bank account drain, but that's okay -- this is a special car for me so I'm more than willing to utilize the resources I've saved up to make the car right.
Got to a balmy 19*f on Sunday so I decided to see if I could heat the shop to a functional temp and pull the engine. Happily I was able to get things warm enough to work (an advantage to a small space), so out came the engine. I had already pulled the transmission mounting bolts and loosened the engine mounts, so all I had to do was pull the engine mount bolts, hook up my engine hoist, and off we go. Took maybe 30 minutes tops.
Noticed my neighbor out finishing up snowblowing his driveway, so I popped over and got his assistance to put the bonnet back on. Got the bolts back in and Penny is now ready to be sent off for bodywork.
Was a fun tear down process, learned a bunch about the condition of the car. Overall I'm really happy, she's a solid little car with a few things to be addressed. No surprises, though it's quite clear that there's been panel replacement in the past. For the most part the work looks good, so I probably won't mess with that. Once the car is down at the body shop we'll be able to make a concrete plan for how to get the body back in shape. I'm not going for a show car, just want to make sure the body is solid and the rust is fixed.
This next phase will see me mostly watching my bank account drain, but that's okay -- this is a special car for me so I'm more than willing to utilize the resources I've saved up to make the car right.
Jim_Gruber
Yoda
Offline
Congrats on getting it done. Pickup of. Bugsy III got postponed on Saturday due to weather.
OP
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Thanks. The warm(er) spell we had over the Thanksgiving weekend really helped. Four days off in a row with decent weather allowed me to get a bunch done.
1275 probably supercharged, with Datsun 5-speed. Maybe 3.90 rear end, maybe 4.22 depending. Disc front brakes. Supercharger is to help combat the altitude around here (I'm at 5550', good pass roads go up to 10,000'). Going to take a while to put it all together.
OP
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SUs do adapt well for altitude changes by design, but there is a pretty noticeable power loss -- only way to really compensate for that is forced induction of some sort. We'll see how well the budget holds out when it comes time to build the engine.