The New Project: Part Deux!

[njsteve]

Photo glitch, sorry.

[StealthBird]

Steve, I know it wasn't built with one, but please keep the rear spoiler on. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[Grant Didmon]

Hi Steve
Nice to see the car in it's new home.No surprises from the shipping Company like you have had happen to you before?
I still have not found a replacement for the Formula yet,but I am looking at a double black 77 Trans Am,with the Hurst hatches that sold new in West Vancouver,with every option except air.It probably was one of the last to be built as GM of Canada documentation shows it was shipped from Norwood on June the 28th 1977.It only has 78,000 documented miles on it,with receipts going back to 1982.Some rust on the pass side body,but tomorrow I get it up on the hoist and see if the owner is correct at saying the trunk/floors and frame rails are perfect.It is not an SE,but a factory dble black order is the next best thing.Enjoy the ride Steve.
Grant

[njsteve]

Hey Grant, keep looking, you'll find something out there. With your luck it will be near me in New Jersey and you'll have to fly 3000 miles back here! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

Thanks for the original advertisement you sent. It arrived yesterday.

[njsteve]

I brought the car to my buddy's garage last night and we put it up on the lift. Lots of loose bolts in the front end, including the subframe to body bolts! At least the oil pan plug was tight. (Grant warned me about how many bolts he had to put back in this thing when he found it).

Looks like its going to need some portions of the rear frame rail on the passenger side replaced. The bottoms of the rails near the front spring perches are notorious weak spots on these cars. Unfortunately, the trucking company used the factory hold down spot in that location when shipping it here and it pulled the metal out of place a bit. This spot is a place where three different pieces of metal are sandwiched together to form the end of the frame rail. It holds moisture and here is the result:





And the broken-out section of the pass side rear frame rail from the tail pipe hanger holding the entire weight of the exhaust due to the broken universal rubber hanger that was carriage bolted to the floor pan above the rusty aftermarket muffler. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]





I won't be able to make an accurate assessment of the underside until I can get this thing steam cleaned. I checked with the local equipment rental place near me (the only one that rents the hot water pressure washers) and they quoted me $275 a day to rent the thing. JEEZ! Are the hot water sprayers really that much better than the regular cold water ones? You could almost buy a cold water pressure washer for that price.

[njsteve]

And here is the dirty bottom half of the car. The floor pans looks nice, with some red oxide showing through the grime in places.

[Xplantdad]

And so it begins....again [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Isn't it nice how the only clean thing on the underside is the white painted driveshaft! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[Xplantdad]

You did that, huh? LOL

[njsteve]

I went crawling around the car some more. At least there is some good news: it has two NOS GM quarters, NOS drivers side outer wheelwell and NOS tail panel installed. The labels are still there. That's about $6k worth of GM sheetmetal I don't have to search for. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]







And some bad news: the end of the passenger side frame rail is missing the flange that mounts up with the inner tail panel.

Here is the drivers side:



and here is the passenger side:




So far it needs a passenger side frame rail for donor sections, left and right trunk drop offs to replace the home made ones. (I just ordered the new reproduction units that just came out), a passenger side outer wheel house and portions of the inner wheel house.