Put me down for a couple of tins of VPA if you can get it .

How's the inside reinforcement for that corner ? I have one here that will clean up perfect if you want it .

 

 

Aaqa

 

The round hole is supposed to be there , its for lining the pieces up on the jig when they made it . That's what's left of the original plug as well .

Good news on the lack of rust on that side as well. Mine was the same , kind of , less rust on the passenger side anyway.

As for opening it up , well maybe put it this way , if you don't do anything and just clean up the outside , after its all done would you be thinking maybe I should have done that while I was right there ? I know I would and it would bug the hell out of me .

You can get aerosol cans with rust converter in them , they have a nozzle extender thing so you could get away with drilling a few very small holes instead.

 

Hi. I'm in the middle of trying to remove my trailing arm too. I managed to get the drivers side out but it took me hours and 5 saw blades on the reciprocating saw. What saw blade did you use that made it easier?

Cheers,
Bill

 

Hi Bill

I was lucky I only had to cut one bolt out.

I used the genuine Milwaukee blade that came with my reciprocating saw.
I just kept spraying wd40 to keep the blade lubricated.

took me a long time and a couple of spare batteries as it was as it as loaded the whole time.

just make sure the saw isn't fouling on something because when I was cutting I thought it wasn't cutting but the bottom of recip saw was hitting on the trailing arm and I wasn't cutting haha

 

Bosch 9-inch Heavy Metal carbon blade

It cut through in a matter of minutes.



And was still a miserable job.

 

Okay so I made some good progress over the last couple of days.

For me it was a lot of planning and once I was on a roll I just kept going.

Stencil made from the passenger side and flipped to mirror the cutout.






Couple of pieces cut and in place.






Welded in and cleaned up.





New piece measured and made by taking the measurements from the good side.



Welded up.




Cleaned up and the side flared piece made and welded in.





I think overall has turned out great considering what I had at the beginning and having to make it from just sheet steel.

Needs a bit of finishing but that's where we're at. Now to move onto the centre and passenger side.

 

Looking good !

 

Feeling good today.

A few days ago I ordered some cavity wax spray with a flexible tube nozzle that sprays 360 degrees.
So whilst I was waiting for that I pulled the aftermarket gauges out of my centre cluster in preparation for 1972 gauge cluster I bought which is getting shipped from the US.
What I bought was the gauge cluster and lower half of the bezel (My bezel is broken). The lower half of mine has been buthcered for the aftermarket radio, the one I ordered is still intact for the old style radio which I wanted. So I'll use my old top with the bottom that I've ordered and repair the two.





So I also took a piece of the passenger side corner off and did 2 minor repairs on the inside and gave it a coat of KBS rust seal.

I then kept to top off as I was waiting for the cavity wax.

Annnnd it arrived today. So I gave the whole inside of the lower windscreen support corss member a good coat of the cavity wax and did the last two repairs which was a hole in the centre of it and re welding the top of the passenger side corner.

I then used the KBS 3 step rust seal process and I'm pretty happy with the results.
Photos incoming.

 

That looks great! You are an inspiration to those of us who have to tread down the same path.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

 

I've done a bit of metal fab before, mainly truck body stuff. But it's chalk and cheese.

When I changed my mig wire from 0.8mm to 0.6mm I noticed it was a lot easier to weld the sheet steel.

The hardest part for me was forming the metal sheet into the correct shapes. I spent a lot of time sitting and planning how I was going to make the pieces and if the piece I was going to make was going to effect the next piece I needed. I think I spent 90% of the time in just looking and planning and 10% of the time doing and I can see why it's an expensive job to out source just in labour.

 

Bit of an update, been busy with work, working a lot of afternoon shifts and trying to get things done in the morning before starting work.

The vinyl on my dash was cracked in multiple places and the speaker grills were rat ****, so when one comes up locally I'll be buying a dash pad, however there are none where I am at the moment and I decided for now I'll try my go at re skinning the vinyl and moving the speakers to behind the kick panel. So I had a crack at a cost of $15 and it is by no means perfect at all but I think it looks better than what I had and will do in the mean time.

I then moved onto doing the front end. New control arm bushes, tie rods, ball joints and shockers with a coat of KBS and re sealing the brake calipers and a coat of paint. Didn't get a before photo so I took side photos which shows before and after. Looks good currently hopefully stays like that for a while.

Photos -










So driver side is ready to go back together however when I was hitting in the lower control arm bushing shell I slipped and hit my left thumb with the hammer (Lucky I was using a rubber mallet). So it's a bit bruised and tender, don't think it's broken but it'll hold me back for about a week I'd say.

 

Honestly, my dash wasn't as bad as yours.

But this drove me insane.
So I did this.


like yours. Maybe not perfect, but heaps better. Some thin (4mm) foam with vinyl over the top.
Speakers in kick panels and in the back.

 

Been a while since I posted an update and there's been some progress, don't know where to start though!

I ordered and received a set of original gauges for the 72 from the states, IMO looks much cleaner then the shitty autometer gauges that I had in.

I took it apart cleaned it, took the paint off with thinners and re sprayed with a 1k semi flat black as suggested by others and think it came up pretty good.


What I purchased


cleaning the old paint off.

Painting.

Cleaning the chrome bits with a small amount of thinners on a cotton bud.

Finished product.

Got to do the electronic tachometer conversion dialed it in as best possible with a digital timing light.


Electronic Tachometer conversion.



New master cylinder bleeding before installing and bleeding all four wheels. We now have brakes!

Making a mess, ripping out old torn carpet.

Butyl underlay.

Laying new plush carpet.

Already needing a vacuum!!


Since then I've fixed the blower motor and wiper motor (Still needs tweaking as it's not getting low speed).

I've re bonded my front bonding strips with 8115 (THIS STUFF IS F'N STRONG)

Got my windshield almost ready to go in.

Also found out the the charcoal canister was connected wrong, the line from the tank was actually going to the PCV port on the canister and it's broken off at the plastic tip. So my question is (Can't get one in Australia currently and have little interest in importing one) Should I block the hose going to the tank and get a vented tank cap or can I just plug it into the correct tank port on the charcoal canister and will this work as a vent if I block the other two lines??

 

Not running a charcoal canister in my 77, haven't for years. You can put on a vented gas cap if you want. But all you need to do is leave the end of the vent hose from the tank open. Plug any vacuum lines from the engine. Pull that thing out. Call it a day.

 

You can plug the lines at the tank and install a vented cap.
There is a marine charcoal canister that will fit in the rear and you can run a polished stainless marine vent where the antenna goes through the body or up to the rubber seal at the fuel door and vent there.
I’m out of town and don’t have the info or the photos.
You can look at Richard454’s thread.
He installed one and it was working great.

 

I got a charcoal canister from a 72 sitting here , good condition apart from some bright yellow overspray on it .Do you want it ?

 

Hi Bazza

thanks for the offer! I think the reason mine was originally disconnected is I believe the Holley carb I have doesnt have a port for it. I might track down a vented cap and plug the line.

 

Okay so since the last set of photos.


I've got the dash put together a bit further and relocated the speakers to behind the front kick panels.
I've installed my Retrosound radio and it looks and sounds really good, I'm impressed!

I started installing the centre cluster and got all my gauges bar the clock working and changed all bulbs to cool white LED. I did have an issue with the oil line leaking but I ordered a new line and it's leak free now!

I've re bonded the front bonding strips and re riveted to my repaired windshield corner, come up great and boy it is strong!

Two front seats in, they are out of a 77 I believe and the rear holes are slightly different. I removed both inner mounting plates and re aligned with the seats and re installed, looks factory underneath now!

I got my two doors on, I need to adjust them properly to the body but at the moment I'm just happy to create more room in the garage.

I had an issue with my passenger side being slightly lower than the drivers side (About 12mm) which is opposite of what most people get. I just made a quick adjustment of the rear suspension bolts and got it pretty much spot on.

The other issue I've been chasing was the wiper door, I tested the whole system and found the issue to be at the actuator (Which I should've tested first). The actuator isn't holding vacuum either side and both seals are in reasonable condition, I've ordered a new actuator and the wiper system should be 100% operational.


I also changed the rear output shaft seal on the muncie as it was leaking pretty bad, the only other gearbox leak I have now is from the lower selector shaft seal, I've ordered the seals to do them and the muncie should be good.

I'm going to change over to a vented fuel cap too, I just can't believe how expensive they are in Australia.

I'm also having issues with my activator for my windshield urethane I ordered, by the tracking it's been in the same location fore the pasdt three weeks, ridiculous! Plus you can't speak to a human when calling the postal service....

I'd like to get the front clip on soon but we're in stage 4 restrictions and I can't have any mates over to help me lift it, really annoying!


Sorry about the bad pictures didn't take many over the last week.