Bringing my 73' home

[Holubs]

Picked up my 1973 convertible last weekend in Missouri. 

- One owner car with 111,000 miles

- Has not been out of the garage since 1989

- Light Blue with white top with 302 automatic

- Not a straight piece of sheet metal and moderate rust

Going to be a lot of work, and a lot of parts needed....

 

[Don C]

It'll be truly yours when you are finished with it. Looking forward to seeing your progress on it,

 

[Fabrice]

One thing at a time will bring you there! 
Don't throw anything away! Even if you think now that it's not to be saved.

Looking forward to read about your progress! Good luck!

 

[droptop73]

Good luck with your project! What is the plan? Restoration? Light mods? Extensive mods? Nice driver? 

 

[Holubs]

Current plan is to make a cruising car out of it, a bit of a restro rod with mag wheels and a warmed up motor. Plan is to tear the car down and see how extensive the rust damage is. Body and interior will be restored to "stock", may add a few mods like sub frame connectors. I did get a wrench on the harmonic balancer and the motor isn't stuck, so that was a plus.

Interested to hear suggestions/pointers from those who have been through this before.

 

[mjseakan]

Looks like you've got a lot of fun ahead of you. Good luck and post lots of pictures.

BTW: Love the spare oil can behind the headlight bucket!  :rofl:

Mike

 

[mpbsr]

Congrats and good luck.

This is going to be very interesting to watch.

 

[JimB73]

Good luck on the restoration!

ours started out pretty similar to what you have (not as much body work but the rest looks very familair!!)

It's a process and at times it seems like it will never get done and will usually end up costing more then expected but when it starts to come together it is great feeling. Best advise, as most other on here have said is to bag and tag everything and take LOTS of pictures. For us, having the pictures to look back on has saved our bacon more times then I can count!  And, this forum

 

[JimB73]

BTW: Love the spare oil can behind the headlight bucket! 

made me laugh out loud when I saw the pic -Anyone that has run an older car can appriciate that picture and the meaning of having extra oil on board :biggrin:

 

[mjseakan]

made me laugh out loud when I saw the pic -Anyone that has run an older car can appriciate that picture and the meaning of having extra oil on board :biggrin:

I agree 100 about having extra oil with you. I just don't remember the last time I saw an actual can not a plastic bottle. 

 

[OLE PONY]

Maybe there is an oil spout to go with the old oil cans. Keep the updates coming. My process to bring my 73 convert back to life was to get it on the road mechanically to keep me interested in finishing the body work.

 

[droptop73]

Take your time, be thorough and figure out what it needs to be the nice safe driver you want. Chassis, steering and brakes first. 

Enjoy the process, I look forward to seeing your progress!! 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

If you have a budget go ahead and double it, lol. They do snowball as a project. It is pretty easy to take the whole car apart in 2 - 3 days. Of course lots of pics and bag the parts. Put paper tags in the bags ink gets wiped off the bags. I personally do not bag I have 8 of them so I can go look if I get lost.
Have fun I have a Grande that color of blue. 

As far as a safe car. I am building a 72 Q vert right now and it will have at least a 6 point cage and better belts and drive shaft loop. Of course all brakes and suspension new. 

 

[Holubs]

Got the seats and carpet out, typical Midwestern rust holes to be dealt with....

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Before you tear the suspension off I would take the chassis to a frame shop and have them put chassis back to factory zero. They sag over time and you will fight fits if you do not. Then you need to get you a chassis JIG and that is not 2X4 and jack stands. The factory fixtures held the parts located by the 2 way and 4 way master locator pins and then clamped to nets that set in correct position. You need to do similar but will be less accurate. If you do not do a good job the doors, fenders, trunk etc. will never fit not even close.
The front floor rust usually is cowl leaks so it will need replacing. A full floor is easiest and fastest way to go. Ask questions and look at lots of video. Some are good some are bad. Accuracy now makes life easier later. Many failed builds cannot be finished since the chassis is so far off. Here is link you can see how a local shop here does. They are not a body shop only do panel replacement. Not as good as original but better than home for sure. It will not go like on TV I think they lie about times a lot. Do not toss your old floor when it comes out you have to use the seat risers and the special reinforcements under the floor are vert only and not repoed. Also some of the brackets on floor and trunk do not come on the new panels. You might even have to make some of them if rusted away.
The trip to the frame shop will save you a bunch of headaches and time in the future. There are copies of the Chassis measurements here on the site.
I will be taking a totally rust free car to frame shop soon and will do some pics and video so it will be here in the future then tear down and to dip strip tank.
https://www.graverobberssheetmetal.com/index.php/custom-frame-jigs
They have a price list for early models on the site very reasonable I think.