Progress Thread LILCBRA's 87 GT vert project (now prepping to replace the left floor pan)

[LILCBRA]

Been busy with a bunch of other stuff the past few days, but I took a couple hours and removed the side skirts on the driver's side. The rocker looks solid, the door has some paint lifting from under the molding, and the lower mounting bracket is kinda nasty. Also looked a bit closer at the rear quarter where the damage is as there's another patch panel up on Ebay. It looks a bit better than the one I have now, but it also looks like it may only have the bare minimum of material for what needs replaced. A new quarter panel would definitely give me enough material to work with, but I can't see myself spending that kind of money on one right now. Good thing I've got plenty to do before I need to make that decision.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Take a shop rag and put a magnet inside of the rag folded over the magnet once. Gently run the manget over that area as there is bondo all over it. You can tell where the bondo is by how well the magnet sticks to the car. You may need a larger panel than you think.

 

[RaggedGT]

Wide body time

 

[LILCBRA]

Wide body time

I've toyed with this idea.....
Someone made (or maybe they're still available? Haven't looked in a while....) slightly wider flares that more or less look stock. Thought that would be the way I'd go if I did it.

 

[LILCBRA]

Like these.

 

[LILCBRA]

Take a shop rag and put a magnet inside of the rag folded over the magnet once. Gently run the manget over that area as there is bondo all over it. You can tell where the bondo is by how well the magnet sticks to the car. You may need a larger panel than you think.

Here's more of that area of the quarter panel. I don't think there's anything there, but it's possible.


Inside the trunk

Backside of the wheel well

 

[LILCBRA]

Dash is out.

Pulled the harness from the engine compartment to keep it all in the dash. After pulling the liner and disconnecting the washer bottle, I took a closer look at the frame rail area. It doesn't look too bad from this side, only time will tell about the engine side.

Found some more wiring issues as well. These will be addressed while it's out.

 

[Noobz347]

Wide body time

And a set of wheels something like these:

 

[LILCBRA]

Haven't done anything with the car this week, been busy with other stuff with only 2 night off before having to go back to work tomorrow. One of those things was cleaning up one stall in the garage that had gotten out of hand. I did spend a little time looking at the floors and trying to come up with a plan of attack, then realized that the flange that's spot welded to the inner rocker was covered which then led me to do some Google-fu to see what I could find. I've been a member of Corral for almost as long as I have here, but never sign in over there. I just see things from time to time through searches and stuff - like this post:

https://www.corral.net/threads/convertible-rebuild-project.1196724/page-8

I'm sharing here for my own reference later, starting at post 157. Shoutout to @tonys90vert for his posts and pics! Looks like I may be in for a process....

One reason I didn't do anything tonight is that I can't find my spotweld cutter (which probably isn't a huge deal....) to start drilling on spotwelds. So I got on trusty Amazon and ordered a new set as well as another chisel for my air hammer. I'll see about making some more progress next week just before Christmas if everything shows up. Otherwise it'll probably just be running the heat gun to finish removing the sound deadener.

 

[LILCBRA]

A couple minor updates: I'm on night 2 of 5 off in a row and haven't slept worth a , maybe 3 hours at a time for a total of maybe 12-16(?) over the past almost 48 hours. But I did make a few purchases to help with the car. First, I took advantage of my inside track membership at Harbor Freight and picked this bad boy up:

along with a couple other goodies. Then a stop at Metal Supermarkets in Cedar Rapids for a 12x48 sheet of 20 gauge to repair the toe boards.

I've been putting some serious thought into the rabbit hole I'm going down. I think it's time to blow the car apart, starting with the engine and transmission. I feel they've gotta come out for me to properly address the rust issues in the floor. After going through the rest of that linked thread, I'm definitely hoping to not go down the same path as @tonys90vert - but I can't guarantee I won't. Time will tell I suppose, and this is going to take me a while. There are a few things I'd really like to get done on the new house relatively soon, so that'll take time and funds away from the car. And, as we all know, it takes a healthy amount of money to get this kind of stuff done, so....

In any event, I feel I have enough stuff purchased already to keep making steady progress, it just may jump around from one project to the next and back again. But I think, as long as I can get some good rest in instead of this catnap thing I've got going on, that I'm going to start on removing the engine/transmission next, then back to the interior to remove the heater box and steering column brace before really getting to the meat and potatoes of the floors.

 

[Blackhawkxx]

That blaster will come in handy. Let us know how it works whenever it gets used.

haven't slept worth a , maybe 3 hours at a time for a total of maybe 12-16(?) over the past almost 48 hours.

Now for the bad news, it only gets worse with age. Sorry.

 

[General karthief]

it only gets worse with age.

Not really, you just get used to sleeping a couple hours, get up and pee then snooze a couple more hours and repeat.
But then I worked mostly nights so daylight is a strange phenomenon,

 

[LILCBRA]

I think, at least for my current situation, it's the holidays. My schedule has been abnormal for a few weeks, then running around to different places for this or that for the holidays coupled with this last round of weather has jacked with my sleep schedule. Hoping to get back into the swing of things in a week or 2.

 

[LILCBRA]

Finally getting around to fixing my old Craftsman 33 gallon air compressor. I rebuilt the compressor side of it a couple years ago but was having problems with leakage as well as with the unloader which finally prompted me to break down and buy myself a Harbor Freight 29 gallon upright. Now that I have the space and I don't have any pressing projects, I'm looking to plumb the 2 into a common line to be able to run the aforementioned sandblaster along with other air tools, like my air shears and grinders. So I've ordered everything I think I'll need to get it done. I already bought a dual filter/regulator combo and have some pieces of black pipe, so I got another short length of pipe to get to where I want it to go through the wall - elbows, unions, connectors, etc etc - and I'll work on that next week. I'll have to wait for 2 one-way check valves to arrive late next week, then it's on to the car.

 

[2Blue2]

sleeping a couple hours, get up and pee then snooze a couple more

Hahaha I feel ur pain. The Get up and Pee Patrol.
If you can fix your upright compressor, maybe I can fix mine...

 

[LILCBRA]

Hahaha I feel ur pain. The Get up and Pee Patrol.
If you can fix your upright compressor, maybe I can fix mine...

I'm sure you can fix it, I have faith!

Jokes aside, it's not a hard job, and it's definitely cheaper than replacing the whole thing. The reason I bought the new one was 2 fold: I was kind of on a deadline and needed a compressor, and I figured that I could always plumb them together as I'm doing and wouldn't have to spend a thousand dollars or more on a big one. I figure 62 gallons should be enough, especially if I'm running 2 compressor motors. It [should] be like running a single 2 stage. On that note, I also found that there are 2 outlets in that back room in the garage that are really close to one another [and] are on their own circuit. It's almost like it was planned this way!

 

[Blackhawkxx]

I'm sure you can fix it, I have faith!

Jokes aside, it's not a hard job, and it's definitely cheaper than replacing the whole thing. The reason I bought the new one was 2 fold: I was kind of on a deadline and needed a compressor, and I figured that I could always plumb them together as I'm doing and wouldn't have to spend a thousand dollars or more on a big one. I figure 62 gallons should be enough, especially if I'm running 2 compressor motors. It [should] be just like running a single 2 stage. On that note, I also found that there are 2 outlets in that back room in the garage that are really close to one another [and] are on their own circuit. It's almost like it was planned this way!

So you are putting a one way valve on each of the lines coming out of the tanks? I guess this is so if you are only running one, you aren't filling the other tank or so the two don't fight each other?

 

[LILCBRA]

Basically so they don't fill each other, especially in the case of one compressor dying or a bad leak in one or something.

 

[LILCBRA]

Here's basically what I'm going from.

How Do You Network Two Air Compressors Together?

Learn how to connect air compressors to increase air supply and ensure uninterrupted airflow throughout your operation with Quincy Compressor today!

www.quincycompressor.com

 

[Blackhawkxx]

Here's basically what I'm going from.

How Do You Network Two Air Compressors Together?

Learn how to connect air compressors to increase air supply and ensure uninterrupted airflow throughout your operation with Quincy Compressor today!

www.quincycompressor.com

I guess you won't need to run both the majority of the time. One thing you link mentioned was the double amount of noise. That might be an ear plug time at least for me. Let us know what it goes.