Restoration TIME! (Pt.1)

This page shows 2008-2009. 

Over the past 10 years, I have noticed a few spots starting to blister around the rear of my rockers.  Then I see a hood hinge pin has broken under the left fender... then I got tired of the body side molding leaving small holes.  All this has encouraged me to go ahead with what I have wanted to do for a while now- restore the car again.  I plan on making the car a Formula S clone, painting it back to the Dark Firethorn Metallic, and adding the stripes back in white.  The hard part was starting since I knew the car would be off the road for a while.  So, I found a set of steel wheels with junkyard tires and started disassembling my Barracuda.  The grilles were first to come off and put high on top of my garage shelving for safe keeping.  From there, it has gone pretty smoothly.  I'm going to  post images of the process, however I'm not going into the detail the Jeff Ramin did on his site.  Instead of going into specific details, I plan on just hitting the highlights.. 

As you can see, I have started disassembling the car.  I have taken it much farther than I was going to go. This includes removing the trim, the front and rear glass, the  grilles, the interior,  etc.  Some things I have found, I have expected. Others, such as unique rust repair techniques, I didn't expect. 

As I have progressed through disassembly, I find myself removing more and more.   From this picture you can see that I have removed all the interior, minus the dash and door glass, and will be pulling the engine and transmission soon. 

 

08/6/08- Here you can see I have rented a trailer so I can take it around to get estimates on the repairs needed.    This was my first time pulling a car on a trailer, which if should say so, went surprisingly well. Although I have taken the photos with the door removed, I did decide to bolt it on before I left.  Now, I'm waiting for the estimates to be completed.  There are a couple of body shops I am interested in, so I will be contacting them soon.

09/15/08 The engine and tranny were pulled today.  I had a local mechanic do the work and he was meticulous about what he did.  I really am glad because he made sure to put everything back together on the engine so I could easily transfer the stuff over to the new engine.  We will see how it goes.  Now I need to degrease the engine compartment and get it ready for the body shop.

Here you can see how the car was originally white.  We will have all this repainted.  I need to remove the brake cylinder and wiring. 

I ended up talking to a few members of the Morehead City car club that recommended T.J. Willis.  He lives in Williston and does older car restorations.  After seeing some of his work and talking with him, I decided that he was the one I wanted to work on my car.  Now I just have to wait for him to work it in.

  

 29Sep08-Time for pressure washing.  After stripping the car of anything that would get in the way of paint, I pressure-washed out the engine bay.  It was very very very greasy.  I ended up scrubbing with brushes, using PurplePower many times, and high pressure wash.  I figured out that if I left the black hose stretched out in the yard, it would heat the water in the hose, allowing the grease to come off faster. 

 06Oct08- I got a call that T.J. Willis was ready for my car.  After talking to him, he agreed to bring his trailer with a winch to take it back with him.  After a little problem with a dead winch battery, we got her loaded and on her way.  Estimated time for work, 2 to 3 weeks.  

 15Oct08- T.J. has jumped right into my car.   He showed me what he had completed already and opened the paint to see if it matched what I had.  It was identical to the current color!  So far I am very pleased with his work. 

 24Oct08- Went to see my car today.  Wow, it is looking good.  The doors, fenders, and front valance are all repaired as well as some color being shot in the door jams.  Everything is really looking smooth.   Probably not much longer before  there will be more paint sprayed.  I did bring home the interior panels.  They are done in the same color as the inner door panels.  They are really sharp!

 

 28Oct08- Got a message on my phone!  She got her new coat today!!!  Here is the latest!  I'm getting quite excited although I see a lot of work ahead of me!  This cell phone photo doesn't do the color justice. 

05Nov08- Car came home today!  Here are the pictures.  I have a blank canvas to work with.  I will have to take it back later since the inner trunk wasn't sprayed. (For some reason I didn't open in and check.)  I also have to get a couple of tape lines wet sanded and buffed.  OVERALL, I'm very happy with it.  I'm going to take my time bolting it back together refinishing or replacing as I go.

20Nov08- I've been slowly reassembling my car.  I started under the hood with a few little items such as the wiper motor, new Stage 3 power steering pump, and moved to the outside of the car.  I have installed my new reproduction emblems and Layson's Restoration wheel opening moldings.  Both seem to be pretty good quality.  The biggest trim difference so far is my new reproduction mirror.  The old one was in such poor condition.

27Nov08- Happy Thanksgiving!!! Today it was pretty nice outside, so I pushed my car outside and decided to bolt back on the Cragar SS wheels.  It really made the car look so much better to get the wheels back on it even with everything else not there.  I did paint the drums in the back gloss black since they have some overspray on them.  Without the engine, glass, and interior, the car looks liek a superstock racer with the front end up so high!

1Feb09-   Had a few minutes to work on the car today and snap some photos.  I have installed the grilles, rewrapped and installed the wiring harness, as well as installed the headliner insulation. I used Insulex from Lowes and glued it up with 3M 99 spray adhesive.  This product is a foiled covered bubble wrap and seem very durable.  I will also back the original yellow insulation that is under the dash with the same product. Once installed, there will be no appearance difference.

 

1Aug09-   Haven't had must time to make an entry.  I have had several little projects that I have been working on and trying to watch money a little bit.  I have placed a large parts order and have a few items out for chrome plating, so we will see how that will go.  The following pictures show some progress I have made in two little projects that have taken a little time to complete.  First is my custom Air Cond./Heater installation.  I want to make the unit us as many factory holes as possible, so I made a custom bulkhead fitting to go where the original heater core would pass through the firewall.  It is composed of several stainless steel items I found online. 

I've also been working on the wiring harness.  I had converted to relays a couple years ago, but the job was kinda sloppy and I wasn't happy with how the wires were exposed and not neatly routed, so I looked at my options.  After a little research on the web, I came across a Jeep owner that had used a project box from Radio Shack to contain his relays.  After a visit to the store, I found a box that seemed to work well for me.  I also got a small fuse box from AutoZone and cut it in half (only needed 3 circuits) and installed that along with my relays. Crimped, soldered, and heat-shrinked all my connections and buttoned it up under the battery tray.

20Dec09 - Fell behind with the web page due to some worry about being laid off.  I had cut all production to the car to save some money.  There are some more recent pictures I'm going to go ahead and post.