Last week, I decided to tear down the front end to assess what I really need to do with it. The Corvette is at the body shop where the frame issue will finally be dealt with. My hope is that when it is ready to return, I can drop off the Challenger and have the frame checked on it before going any further.
I removed the hood, front fenders, bumper, and grille. What I found is that the frame probably is bent to some degree but it was hard to see and determine this before with all the other stuff in the way.
The front fender walls were crumpled and straightened out somewhat, all of the original bracing is also bent and needs replacing.
This is now a good stopping point for the frame shop to do their work. The car runs and drives so I can drive it onto and off of the trailer. I decided to leave the inner fender walls and radiator support stuff for rigidity. Once it is back from the frame shop, I will start drilling all the spot welds out and removing these damaged items. Fortunately, there is nice reproduction stuff available to put back on when ready.
In the meantime, while I am waiting for the frame shop to have an opening for this car, I will strip the car down further to a bare shell so after the frame shop is done, I can be more ready for the blaster. What I may do is take the car to the blaster before replacing the front end sheet metal so that when it comes back, I can focus on doing nothing but sheet metal repairs. The blasting process is likely to uncover some other rusted panels that may also need replacing.
What happened next !!!?
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you still read this, but here is my quick story. In 1972, my mother was pregnant with me and had to be rushed to the hospital. Along with my father at the wheel, they jumped in their '70 Challenger and rushed to the hospital. I'll make this short,,,,she had the baby ( me ) and everything went fine. My father owned a lot of cool cars but always talks about his Challenger. Both my parents are in their 70's and both have heart problems. A month ago, my wife and I, along with out 2 kids purchased a bigger house so we could have my parents live with us. They took care of me for many years, now it's my time! All that to say that yesterday, I made my dad cry a little. I just purchased a 1970 Challenger! It's coming home this weekend. Now, it's not a turn key and go,,,this car will need some restoration, but that's what I wanted. I want to spend quality time with both my dad and my son restoring the car. My son is only 7 and knows more about muscle cars then a lot of guys I know. He is super excited about this, but not as much as my dad. Thank you for sharing. We will need a lot of help,,hahah
ReplyDelete