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Well with my '68 project going on but being a long term project, I found a '75 numbers matching coupe in need of body work and some tlc but she runs and drives pretty good. It was cammed last year and all that pesky smog emissions junk was removed which I had planned to do if needed.
She limped to my parents house after having a rear flat tire temporarily filled. After getting it home I was greeted with this mess. Attachment 48366541 Attachment 48367640
I spent this morning fixing a blown transmission line and a loose connection on the other one. Still need to pick up another a quart of fluid to top it off.
The interior is in decent shape other than a few issues, mainly that ugly radio and some faded spots of carpet.
My wife enjoyed the ride and had to have a couple pictures taken afterwards. Attachment 48367622
First on the list of repairs is fixing the passenger seat belt. The bottom retractor isn't functioning but the bells are original and in great shape otherwise.
My pipe dream with this is to get it looking decent for a car show that is down the road from me on June 21st. I already have a replacement front clip from a '78. It needs a couple spots patched up and the correct fender badges but is otherwise in great condition. The rear clip needs some glass patched up, mostly on the drivers sail panel and the rear cover mounting holes. That and a new rear bumper and a quick paint job and it will be looking good enough for who it's for.
Took a look under the air cleaner tonight. Bubba has been around. A zip tie appears to be holding the choke open and there is a plate missing on the manifold.
Well it was a beautiful day to go out to a charity car show with my beat up '75. Someone had to make even the fords look good lol.
After that was done with I set my task on removing the damaged parts off the rear of the car and patching the fiberglass back there. I think I did a decent job for my first fiberglass repair project. Boy, between the smell of grinding fiberglass and the resin I was brought back to helping my dad as a kid. Funny how little things trigger memories.
Also wire brushed all the tail light hardware and bumper mounting brackets and gave them a coat of rustoleum. This stuff won't be seen again, but it's good knowing they are set for the next 40 years.
The 75 project is coming along nicely. Worked on fixing the mounting holes for the rear bumper cover this weekend. Got that looking pretty good, but have a couple of the repairs to redo. All in all not bad for my first fiberglass repair. Removed both seats last night to check out the seat belts and get them working better. A little pb blaster did the trick on those. Took the wife for a little drive and found out my dash lights weren't working. Parts store was closed by the time i got there so I snagged the fuse I needed out of Charlie's Toy since I won't need it for awhile. Also found out the reverse lights aren't working, I'm guessing the switch at the transmission is broken. And my tachometer is still not working, most likely needs a new circuit board.
With the little things getting taken care of, I just have a couple big items to deal with. The whole front clip needs to be replaced, I have a '78 clip that needs a couple repairs for this. And I have a couple cracks in one of the sail panels to repair. Once all of that body work is done I just have to make friends with one of the painters at work to see if I can get this car in on a weekend for a new paint job.
Looking good! Glad you saved this one as well, sir. Should be a fun driver and give you good memories of working on them with your pops.
BTW welcome to the 'red C3 busted nose' club LOL!
Later,
Lee
Thanks! It's been a fun driver so far. I was able to get the "new" front clip pulled into the garage at my parents to start cleaning it up and taking the old stuff off of it to be able to move everything from the 75 over when ready.
Well I went to work on removing the old and damaged exhaust system tonight. First thing I had to take care of was a leak from the fuel line. Turned out to be a loose clamp. It's taken care of for now but I'm going to replace the line to the engine in the near future.
So onto the exhaust removal. Like all things seem to be on a 40 year old car, the nuts on the exhaust manifolds were seized on. I soaked them in blaster, but they looked too far gone for that to work. As it turns out, I was correct as all of the studs sheared off. Going to have to figure out how to remove the studs from the manifolds in my driveway. That or remove them so I can drill them out and re-tap the holes. This quick exhaust swap has turned into a big job and has now decommissioned the 75 since all it has is open exhaust manifolds. Oh and my 6 month old garage door decided to break tonight, the joys of home ownership. I
Well one exhaust manifold came off easy, one not so much. Between a drill with several bit sizes and a crowbar the stubborn manifold was no match for me. Going to drill out the studs tomorrow and but all new hardware tomorrow. Hopefully she will be back up and running tomorrow night.
My 75 had an older relative cruising around the neighborhood last night. A nice red 73 coupe parked down the road from my house so the owners could go to the park behind my house.
I'm starting to get the exhaust fitted up while waiting on my parts from Willcox. ItsIt's been raining almost every day for the last week and a half so iI haven't been able to get much done on it.
Exhaust ended up being a nightmare. Long story short, I am now rocking flowtech ceramic coated headers.
In other news, I spent the evening in the cockpit of the car replacing the tach board and installing the new(old) radio. My tachometer now works and the radio looks great, but unfortunately the 2 speakers in the car are fried. I have 2 old ones from the 68 that I could use but I might just order some new ones that will probably sound slightly better. But the interior already looks much better.
In way way cooler news I came across a folded up piece of paper tucked in the dash next to the speedometer. It looks like the original invoice for the car. What's even cooler is that it was ordered by the dealership that is still in business 2 miles from my house. Turns out this car hasn't gone very far in 40 years!
So I decided to start working on eliminating the front end rattling that I have been having. First order of business is new shocks, rears will also be done as well. The fronts were fairly collapsed. I also had one of the bolts snapped so I will be under the car later today digging that bolt out.
Right now I'm waiting for a late lunch while discount tire installs new cooper cobra gt tires on the original set of rims. I will show a old versus new comparison of the tires I have been driving on. More later.
I still need to repaint the nicest of the rally caps and buff the rings before installing them. I also need to clean up and dress the tires. But the car is looking much better and drives much nicer.
Been awhile since I have updated. With fall coming to a close, the 75 has been put into storage in my parents garage. This winter I will be working on fixing the body issues from the previous owner.
With that said, I'm posting from halfway home with a donor body to replace smashed and cracked components from David (AllC34Me). As always it was a pleasure to work with David.
Chaz's Driver Project
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