kortensi

I thought that I would toss in a little update here.
I know that it's been a while for this but I went on vacation for two weeks, messed up my back again and got the flu which turned into pneumonia.

Well I finally got back to the old girl this past weekend.

I removed the entire front bumper and grills.
I removed the headlight assemblies and vacuum hoses and wiring.
I removed the vacuum canisters on the inside drivers side fender.
I removed the entire AC system
NO rust on the radiator mounting frame
But I found some on the AC unit itself where it mounts to the firewall.
Its got a nice big hole about 3” by 9”

I started to break the seals where the doghouse meets the firewall/birdcage.

I got nervous though and stopped.
The stuff that seals it together is tough. It looks like bondo and is a pita.
I'm worried about spliting the fiberglass instead of the seam.

It wasn't coming off very easy and I needed to check online and see what I was doing.

Good thing too, because I was trying to separate the wrong area.

Here are some pics of the progress so far.

Disregard the colored lines and markings; I think I got it figured out.







DO NOT REMOVE THAT PART!
IT IS NOT NECESSARYundefined








One day she will be back together again.

AGVI

ttt

redvetracr

If you or anyone else is interested I have a rust free `71 firewall back coupe rear clip for sale.....with the AC box. e-mail DIRECT if interested!!
redvetracr@msn.com

kortensi

Hey guys, I'm back.

I'm not sure where the first 6 or 7 pages of this post went.

I finally got back in the garage and started back up on removing the front clip. This has been the toughest thing that I have ever done on this car, so far. Let’s just say that the bonding agent that was used worked really well. I started by trying to slowly chip away at the seams and pry it apart. This does not work very well. For anyone attempting to do this, go out and buy a good heat gun. Once I got the bonding agent heated up, it came apart a lot easier. The drivers side took about 10 hours total and the passenger side, where I used the heat gun, only took about 1 1/2 hours. I split the fiberglass in several places on the driver’s side but the passenger side came off in great shape. Here are some of the pics that I took after it was off. I have a bunch more in higher detail if anyone else is going to attempt this and wants to see how I messed it up.

69Myway

Looking good. I remember these days. Pretty scary at first, but it gets better as you go.

Looks like you are having fun.

jpatrick636

I've heard about weight reduction but this is too much!
Oh, I get it, your going to put it back together.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. We are with you in spirit.

The_Dude

It looks like you only have a couple of really bad spots. Certainly not the end of the world. Thanks for the pics. Good luck.

kortensi

Thanks, it’s definitely not as bad as some of the others that I've seen around the forum. I still want her to be pristine when she is done. I'm going to try out my new welding skills (I just took a class) and see if I can fix her up. If not, I will see about buying the rear clip or birdcage and just putting the pieces together.

KO

vettemad

I know it's to little to late, but you might want to look at my post in tech, b-cage opinions & facts ....Cliff

teebone

Keep the updates and pictures coming-great stuff. I have just started taking the cage out of my donor car-no fire wall, only the rear clip, so I am having to learn how to separate the glass on the rear door panel. Trying to get as much practice in as I can before I tackle the front clip.

How much heat does it take to get the bonding agent soft?

RPOZ4Z

I could use some more info on what was involved in removing the front clip and how much heat and exactly where you applied the heat to soften the bonding agent.

I will be doing this to a '73 convertable soon!

kortensi

No Problem.
I've got all of these pics at work.
I'll draw some updated lines on them and get the type of heat gun I used.
I picked it up from Sears, I think.

KO

kortensi

Here is the heat gun that I got.
I'm pretty sure that I bought it at Sears.
I had the setting around 7.
When I had it on a higher setting than that, the paint started to bubble.
I will still get the detailed pics of where it was separated for you; I just haven't had a chance yet.

RPOZ4Z

nice!

Thanks!

I have a heat gun that I would like to try and use, I'm not worried about the paint, there isn't any on the car!