I spent some time reading this forum on Friday night and woke up Saturday morning with a need for some wrenching. Not sure what I have gotten myself into. This all started because the rear main seal is leaking. Of course I now see about four hundred other things that need attention. Any suggestions on things to do "while I am at it" would be appreciated.

 

Well, you've got this far, so you Might As Well pull the body off fhe frame...

- Eric

 

John, What have you done!! Now it will be just a little paint here , then some paint there, I'll just clean and paint this , well might as will rebuild that, it will never stop, I know, that's what happened to me!

 

I briefly looked at the front body mounts and thought hmmm...


Yeah, this is the proverbial slippery slope. Took about 7 hours to get it apart and I bet I'll spend 7 hours just cleaning the frame. I dog eared my opgi catalog last night after the fact. Looks like about a dozen pages and $1,500...just for the essentials of course!

 

Nothing like jumping right in there. It'll be fun to see where this goes.

 

Everybody here will help with the MAWS, free for the asking.

 

Good progress. I'd love to take mine off the frame but haven't been able to commit and start or get as far as you did in 7 hours. Keep Rollin.

 

Oh dear.

 

You will probably never have your firewall so exposed as you do now, are you good with a detail gun, sure would look nice all painted and clean.....Tedd

 

There is no end when the MAWS set in

 

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I better leave the body on this round. If this car isn't together for summer my kids will kill me.


I found a couple of interesting things so far.. like 2 bolts that mount the tranny to the engine missing, and two more backed out 1/4". Lovely.


The whole hodge podge of fasteners is fascinating. Not sure what the clowns were thinking when they put this together. I am just guessing that the factory didn't use 12 and 15mm head bolts on the fenders. Maybe I need to read more? Maybe it was paint build up?


Also found this wicked awesome use of spray foam. I wonder if it is to keep stuff out or keep stuff in?

 

Man, I hate that foam stuff! Had a friend spray that in his truck doors, from the outside, next day, he couldn't get his doors open, the funniest thing I ever seen, I'm lol now, and that was 8 years ago.

 

This is how a $15 rear main seal costs hundreds or more, I haven't added it up.


Fuel pump (dirty and why not?)
PS pump (ditto) and if you do the pump you do the lines...
Replacement intake that I had, but I bought a blast cabinet to glass bead it, and soda, glass and sand media.
Brake lines. One failed last year and I replaced it, but does it get any easier than now for the lines in the front?
Headlight housings. Mine are cracked so why put them back in?
Tranny filter. Couldn't leave the tranny in there.
Timing set. See stretch-o-matic in pics I attached. It had to go.
Front end fastener kit. My nuts and bolts are mismatched and shitty looking.
Blasting pulleys and brackets, nuts and bolts, headlight trims...etc...might be time to replace the ugly alternator too.
4 gallons of purple power cleaner and all sorts of tools to get it on the block and everywhere else.
Well now I gotta drop $60 on rattle cans to paint the engine right?


Maybe I should have abandoned the idea to fix the car and just parked it over a tray to catch the oil from the leaking rear main. Then I could have just dumped it back in the fill tube-which I just blasted tonight Too late I guess.

 

I don't know, those trays cost like 12.00 each. And think of all the fun your having ( priceless)

 

Looks like it's way too late for you to get one of Rob's helmets...

'



- Eric

 

Your foam picture makes me think that you should remove the kick panel and vacuum the chamber where all that fresh air flows...dirt and silt drops through the screen at the windshield and flows down to that cavity. There is a one inch hole at the rear of that cavity that goes directly to the rocker panel to expel the water that catches in there but the dirt gathers and accumulates and eventually if it is continually damp will cause a rust hole that you might want to fill with FOAM!

 

Progress. My wife asked me how I picked the color and I told her I didn't, Oldsmobile did. Last time I did this it was a 327 and we all know that wasn't blue!