bcg88

Hey gang

As many of you know, I have a 69 Delta Convertible with about 73K miles on it. It was an east coast car now in California. Go figure. Over the years I have simply annoyed driving regardless of condition. I just love cool old cars. I am now at a cross roads where I need to decide how to “restore” it. Like many on this board, I don’t have an unlimited budget nor is the car a highly desirable by collectors. Therefore, the goal for the car is respectability, safety and later higher performance. This will not be a show car queen. No trophies desired.

My question to you all is where to start? I cannot do it all at once and would like to break it up into accomplishable projects I can have done over time. The car has never been restored and has spent most of its life outside. Thus, paint and rust are common. However, the rust appears to be limited to 3 places: front fenders behind the wheels, some rot on the inside front of the hood, and a small amount behind the rear wheels on the lower quarter panels.

Here is what is good on the car:
Seats – reupholstered
Carpet – new (underlying floors solid, except where I had to patch a spot)
Brakes solid
Suspension new
Wheels/tires – new
Exhaust replaced and upgraded
Top – replaced about 12 years ago – seems to still be solid

Here is what seems to run well:
Engine – some slight oil burn on ignition but otherwise runs strong (it is the 350/2BBL)
Transmission – TH400 no problems, ever

Here is what I know needs fixing:
Paint – needs to be stripped, rust repaired and painted
Bright work – exterior door handles/mirror need to be replaced. Some pot metal is pitted
Bumpers – need to be re-chromed
Interior – need new door panels, welting
Roof – repair the lift mechanism
Electrical – some ground issues such as no dash lights
Weather stripping – replace
Rust on the dash behind the windshield pillars

So where should I start? For example, to do the stripping and painting, will the door panels need to come off? Is it a waste of time to do the interior before the exterior?

I imagine this post applies to a lot of folks’ cars as they tackle a restoration. Getting that plan nailed down is often half the battle.

Lady72nRob71

I am thinking the rust issues should be tackled first, to prevent further rot. After then, consider what engine work is needed. If the engine must come out, I would do that before painting to avoide paint damage. Does it leak oil and need resealing?
Windshield may need to be pulled to repair all the rust by the dash

Before painting, i would probably pull the good seats and carpet and store them away to prevent damage to them.
Top mechanism repair would be best to do now to avoid damage to interior or paint. Hydraulic fluid may be easlily spilled if the system is opened.
This would be the time when all the exterior trim and chrome, along with weatherstripping is pulled before paint. Some chromework may be able to polished now for temporary reuse.

I would go for the painting next, but it will be costly. This will make the most difference in appearance though!

After painting, if a trim or chrome piece is to be replaced or rechromed, replace them them sooner if they are hard to get at later. Outside door handles and mirrors, trimwork, etc come to mind. The idea is to only replace something once if it is hard to get to or removal again may result in paint damage.
Install new, quality weatherstrip on the trunk and doors right after painting. Top WS may be postponed if needed.

The bumpers should be able to be yanked later if rechroming them is out of the budget.

Door panels are easy to replace, so they would be toward the end of the list. Of course, Outside door handles and mirrors could be replaced then, too. HOWEVER, new pieces may have slightly different footprints that could leave impressions in the fresh paint...
Quarter panels should be replaced sooner before the door panels if the whole back interior needs to be pulled before the qtr panels can be replaced...

Dash electrical should be fairly cheap and can be done any time. However, having no seats in the car may make it easier to get under there.

Make a plan on paper or an excell sheet. Put things in order and budget it out.
After you are all done, I see no reason that she would not do well in shows!

68Tom

I agree with Rob. You need to tackle the rust issues first. Based on a very recent complete teardown of my east coast 442, here is what I'd recommend doing (provided this car is not a daily driver).

1) Rip out the interior. Take out the front seat, then the rear. Then, get rid of the carpet and underneath matting and really inspect the floorboards well. This will tell you if you have to remove any rusted through pieces and weld new pieces in. From there, you can take the dash apart rather easily, as the seats will be out of the car and you'll have ample space to move around.

2) Have the windshield and rear window removed. While you may think you don't need to do this, rust will often hide in poorly sealed windows channels, and it's something you don't want to neglect. Inspect what you find once you clear everything out of the channel. I found a guy in Phoenix who removed AND installed both for a mere $120. Money well spent in my book (well, if I didn't have the junk the car.....)

3) Once your interior is out, provided you are not having the car media blasted (due to cost, I'm guessing you're not), you really need to check the frame, get rid of the rust and paint it. My body mount holes were complete rotted out. It was a mess. So, essentially, you want to remove the body from the frame. You'll want to basically remove the front clip before doing this. When you get the body high enough, you'll be able to roll the frame out from under it or simply work under the confines of the car. At this point, you'll also be able to scale off any rust on the underside of your floorboards and coat it properly (paint, POR, whatever).

4) While the car is off, I'd replace all your body bushings and suspension bushings (control arm bushings--upper & lower, etc). Replace your shocks and anything suspension related at this point in time as well.

5) Once you have everything looking good with the frame suspension, and under the car, make sure you cut out any floorboard or trunk pieces before lowering it onto your newly painted frame.

6) Once the car is back on the frame, then I'd focus on the body rust issues.

From here, I think it's fairly explanatory what to do. I just wanted to give my 2 cents on starting with the frame. It's just the order I decided to go with and I'm glad I did, because my frame was shot. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Tom

csstrux

While essentially in agreement with both posts above, I would slow the roll so to speak. You are asking questions that would suggest that this is your first attempt at a project like this. Also you stated that this is a vehicle that you use daily, or at least often. I would suggest tackling one rust spot at a time, starting out with something that looks easy. two reasons for this. One is simply confidence, the other is you will gain experience and knowledge to tackle the next "project" and progressively build your skill sets while rebuilding your car. In this fashion you can still enjoy the car ( for a while any way ) while restoring it. Take your time and do things correctly, read up on current methods, and don't be afraid to ask questions. Body work is not too difficult, but when its your baby and you want it right...it gets scary in a hurry. If you get too deep int the car too fast you might have a looming specter darkening the garage 6 years down the road and no motivation to finish it up Just a thought. Enjoy the car, enjoy the resto

68Tom

Oops. Apparently I need help with my reading comprehension. Since it looks like your floor, interior and suspension is taken care of, there's no need to follow those steps. However, did you ever check your body mounts? If not, I really suggest you do so.

You'll still want to remove your windows for painting and to repair any rust.

You'll also still want to remove your front seat when you tear your dash apart. It's almost impossible to do otherwise. Not to mention, if you have to weld in new pieces and paint it, you don't want your front seat in there.

Personally, I'd get everything working mechanically--the ground issue/wiring taken care of. While the dash is apart, you might as well yank the front window and fix the dash area and repaint it. Anything else after that you can do at your leisure.

As far as the door panels are concerned, you can pull 'em and drive with out them or keep them on until you're ready to paint the car. Choice is yours, really. Once they're off, you'll be able to remove the door handles and lock cylinders for painting.

bcg88

Thanks guys. To be clear, I have not restored a car before. It is also not a daily driver just a weekend cruiser.

I handle the simple projects like some of the interior work. For example, the interior carpet kit: I removed the seats and carpet, worked with my neighbor to repair a rusty floor board, refinished the floorboards myself and reinstalled everything. For larger projects (e.g., body work) I will farm it out to the pros. That is why I am concerned about sequencing this properly to 1) keep it manageable and costs down and 2) spread the costs out.

csstrux

sorry, got hung up on that driver comment. still stand by the rest of the post though, assuming you have not attempted a resto before.