oldzy

Finally got the CS moved, and groundhogs were unhappy. Seems they pulled all the tarps we had laying down their holes the best they could.

Anyway, started to pull the car over from the grass in the backyard to asphalt so I can jack it up and start ripping things off that I need to go on my waiting powder coated southern frame. A rusty body mount rolls out. Hopefully it was from the back as the frame is rotted and trunk floor completely gone. To make the car parallel with the asphalt, we jacked up the front a a bit and wrapped a strap around the lower front control arm, then pulled over a bit with the truck. The front moved over fairly easy. Asphalt sucks though... hope to concrete the area in front of the garage (or the entire driveway) sometime in the future.

I then jacked it up and put on axle stands. It was then I noticed the gap between the fenders and door had changed dramatically. Huge gap near the top, and fender touching the door near the bottom (on the drivers side anyway). I don't know if it happened during the move, or after I jacked the car up. Now I know the frame is pretty much shot... but I wondering what exactly happened, what got twisted, etc.?

Lady72nRob71

Where did you put the jack stands?
If the frame is shot, then the body would flex the way you describe. Just moving it around would be enough to cause the frame to flex more. That has to be one nasty frame....

My neighbor and I watched some guys hunting groundhog yesterday - shooting at up to 450 yards!

oldzy

I put the stands on the 4 common points on the frame, with rear ones a little forward (half a foot or so) as I jacked it up on the far rear corner before the frame goes up into the wheel well area.

It also looks like the glass is holding the roof on Can't wait to take the vinyl top off. I see there appears to be 2 layers of metal underneath. I lifted a corner on the side below where the CS emblem goes, and my finger went through both layers. LOL. Joy Joy.

If I get in the mood this weekend, I might remove the rear end, and/or the hood/fenders, etc.

Another curious question... when this car got all blowed up on the highway 5 or 6 years ago, the engine just revved when in gear, but the car move. I pulled over, put in reverse... nothing, put in drive.. nothing. I just assumed blew the TH350. Torque Converter perhaps? When I pulled the trans pan, all linkage was intact, nothing broken.

Lady72nRob71

Wow - sounds like a ton of rust! The roof sounds far gone. Make a convertible maybe?
This deserves a major build thread.
Best of luck to you - a challenge it will be!

Sounds like maybe the tranny pump failed or something. Looks like a rebuild is in order.

oldzy

Yeah, it is pretty bad. I would not be surprised if the shell is beyond repair. I will give it every chance though, as it was my grandmothers car. She drove it every Canadian winter.

I managed to get the rear end out earlier today. 20 years ago I would had the rear end in no time, but time (and weight ) makes it ten times harder these days. I also had spiders, hornets, rust etc. all over me. I love dirty rusty metal flakes in the mouth... mmmm. Of course with all this comes the 'cursing'. One neighbor finally looked over to see if all was well. LOL.

At the very worst (if shell is not used), I will always have a nice rolling chassis waiting for another shell.

Lady72nRob71

Ouch - sounds like you have your work cut out for you.
HOWEVER, if the rear came out without the need of a cutting torch, then maybe it won't be too bad!
I would not have liked the "buggy" part though.
Some pictures as you go would be great.

oldzy

The rear end came out fairly easy all things considered (impact gun took all the bolts off no probs)... but I had the rear end out back in the early 90's which was blasted and painted (same with control arms), bolts cleaned, etc. I see it is all rusted again. The control arms look pretty ratty now. I will prob just end up using these adj. Hotchkis ones instead that I have still have sitting here (and was going to sell).

I will have to start a new thread with pics. Hopefully, this site is still around, as it may be a 10yr project or something. Unfortunately, I can only work on the car outside, as there is no room in the garage, and I sure aint making a pretty clean frame wait out in the snow. I wish I would have had the frame boxed in though before having it powder coated. Oh well.