This thing has been a nightmare. I nabbed it for next to nothing knowing it was going to be a wreck, but wow. What a mess.
Full album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/G6CZwHNMHo6soJ6z8

Finally at the point where I'm largely no longer disassembling and actually starting to put some stuff back together. The car was a northeast vehicle that appears to have spent some time as a boat. A lot of dirt, a lot of mud, rust, and animal nests. I had to completely pull the dash to find them all and neutralize all the urine.



The body is horrific. The car had been partially repainted at some point. I'm sanding it down and will be repainting it, hopefully by the end of February.

Car is going to be a street/autocross/hillclimb/time trial car, so it did get an AutoPower roll bar:



Engine is the original block, bored .030" over and stuffed with an Eagle forged rotating assembly. I haven't lined out the top side of the engine yet, that'll be in March, but I'm looking at a 6800-7000 RPM red-line solid roller setup. I'm sticking with the 4L60. I have a good bit of experience tracking automatics. It'll work just fine after being properly reinforced.

Suspension will be rebuilt. Everything on it is shot. I plan on sticking with new Z51 leaf springs with some decent double adjustable shocks and a few trick bits. I'm getting old. It needs to be comfortable. Not going for tooth shattering springs. I can make the leafs work just fine.

And finally, I still need to drop the gas tank and find out what horrors it's hiding:



Enjoy the photos, I'll try to update this thread a couple times a month. End goal is a C4 that outperforms the C4 ZR1 in every aspect. I think it's doable.

 

Subscribed!

 

Great work thus far! In the first couple of pictures the car didn't look too bad, but after you started getting it apart, I can see a good bit of the rust and filth you were describing. Seems like you're doing an excellent job and I'm looking forward to seeing more updates as you progress through the car's restoration!

 

Following, Can't wait to see your journey with this work in progress.

 

Oh yeah, it looked "ok" until you pulled up the carpet. And then there was the smell, whoah. It didn't run, either, and nearly every fastener on the engine was only finger tight.

I did manage to save all the carpet, though! Took an afternoon with a lot of soap and a pressure washer, but they smell like carpet now and not mouse ****.

I got the doors sanded down today:


Hoping to start on the quarter panels this week, then I need to revisit the hood and hit all the trim. Fingers crossed I'll be ready for filler primer by the time it warms up enough to spray it.

 

Good luck with your project!!!

 

I wanted to ask if you knew any of this car's history. Or how long it had been sitting prior to you buying the car? It really looked like a solid project car and you're doing an awesome job thus far!

 

Now that is a project! You are doing excellent work, I am envious. I am always intrigued by what happens to a vehicle in it's lifetime, some people care and some do not, I am happy to see you are one who cares. Are you going to spray the paint? I am subscribed for the adventure and picking up tips as well.

 

I didn't even pull the carFax. All I know is the guy I bought it from got it maybe a couple or three years before I bought it, the engine failed, and he tried to replace the engine with a junkyard block and just couldn't get it to fire.

But then his wife got pregnant. He had to store it and work on it in a rented garage half an hour from his house, so it had to go. When he posted it for sale for almost nothing, I was looking for a good tub for a project and the timing was right. The condition wasn't really a concern as long as it was complete since the goal was to completely tear it down anyway. It came with the original block and a set of 18x9.5 C5 wheels that'll clean up great.

It has 199K miles on the odometer.

 

Yes, I will be spraying it myself. I chose a really nice deep cherry metallic from Summit's single-stage paint line. It's pretty close to the original color.

 

I will be watching that closely, I have to spray my doors and do some spot repairs. I did find some 68/WA9239 in quarts and spray that is supposed to match the original Brilliant Red Metallic, I just hope it matches close enough to the re-spray my old car had.

 

Getting closer to spraying some filler primer. The nose fuzzed up on me trying to get all the way through the severely cracked and damaged paint. Managed to fix that by wet sanding it with 400 and 600 grit. I avoided the situation on the rear cover. Looks like they are not made from the same material. The rear cover is a yellow plastic material under the paint while the nose substrate is black.



What's left is getting the rear quarters sanded up to 400 grit, and I need to scuff the smaller parts like the headlight covers and the side vend panels. Then I get to clean it all and shoot, then the sanding starts all over again. Looks like the weather is warming up here much earlier than normal, so fingers crossed I'll have good weather at the right time. I have heat and ventilation in the shop, but not humidity control, so I'll need some help keeping the Rain Gods away when it's time to spray.

 

More updates!
Getting close to being able to put some primer on this thing. Was slowed down by prep for the race season, and I got a lift!

Of course, I get the car up on the lift and find... more rust!

This was under the rocker trim:


This was below the battery:


Treated it all with some phosphoric acid to arrest the rest, covered it with POR-15, and rattle-canned it. It'll all be covered by panels painted the actual target color, so the paint's just for protection going forward.


The lift also gives me much easier access to the bottom of the car, so I was able to clean up and paint the bottoms of the floorpans. Way easier now than trying to do it on my back with it all inches from my nose:


Also manged some more rust on the rear crossmember that holds the swaybar mounts, right behind the diff. I had two of the swaybar bracket bolts snap off in the holes. I drilled one of them, but the other I decided it was less time consuming to just cut the section where the welded nut was out and replace it with a section of quarter-inch plate. I'll drill and tap it and it'll have just as much thread engagement as the original welded nut. Didn't get pictures of that adventure, though. Sorry.

Hopefully the next update will be the car on the ground and a coat of high-build primer on it. Then the sanding starts all over again...

 

Starting to look like a car again. Replaced all the studs in the nose and tail that snapped off when I removed them with stainless jobbers:

 

Those should not be studs. The should be a fine thread bolt. Currently as it sits, your hood will get damaged when it closes.

 

Thanks! Been so long since I took the nose off, I forgot. Glad you spotted it so I didn't find out the hard way. All that hardware was corroded when I took it apart and they all just snapped off and I threw it all out. I ended up having to make new backing strips in a couple of spots from sheet metal because they were so rotted.

They are the same thread as the studs on the rear bumper, for reference. 5mm x 0.8.

 

Hood is finally back on! Still need to finish up some work on the side panels that go below the hood and in front of the door and reattach the plastic rocker panel covers, then I can clean it up and mask it for primer.

 

I mean this in best spirit possible your not the only one crazy enough to tackle a project like this. Here are some pictures of what I'm working with. I'd show you under the hood but there is nothing there to see. But that is why it's a Hobby.

 

Getting close to primer. Car is largely masked, and I'm almost done with my makeshift paint booth. The tarps will be rigged as curtains so I can raise and lower them and I've got some plans for ventilation.

I also swapped out most of the aging fluorescent with LEDs. 516 watt reduction and double the light.

 

No offense taken, we're nuts.