Finally got my next project car!!!!!

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Update time again. I got a nice pair of complete rear quarters off a parts car from an AMCforum member. Which included the trunk drop offs, inner fender, and wheel archs. Really nice. Have actually done a little bit of work on her!

My girlfriend helped me pull the back of the car apart last month.






Trunk troughs are rotted out pretty good.








Some small spots I found in the trunk floor.





And, to my amazement, all of the tail light gaskets are perfect!
 
Okay, this is all that I accomplished Wednesday evening. Sorry for not having a ton if info. This is going to be fairly slow goings as this is my first time welding body panels. Been welding for a few years now, and have never done anything this thin, for this purpose. Trying to take it slow and get a feel for it.

Passenger side rear quarter from donor car, before new lower corner.



Here it is with lower panel cut out. Some unknown perforation in the trunk drop off. Going to replace with the new one I have, once I get the quarter cut out and hung on the car.







New lower panel clamped in place.







First complete welded seam. Now, remember, I am a mechanic, not a professional body man by any means.





Welds ground down. There is one low spot in the weld near the wheel opening, and high spot near the tail panel. Nothing too major. Got a lot of it out with a little heat and hammer and dolly.





Here it is sanded with 80 grit. Sorry for the poorer quality pictures. Just using my phone.



Only other news is that I got these really nice, driver quality, original sun visors. In green! You can see the one has a small dimple from a clip of sorts being left on for a while. Not too bad.



I did had my girlfriend wire-wheel the all the welded seams around the tail panel. She couldn't get there as early as we had hoped. So that was all she was able to do. Will have here clean up the sun visors next time, and pull the rear seat back out.

I did sand down the quarters on the car right where I will be cutting them out and welding the new ones in. All in all I'm pretty happy with how I did considering this was my first time doing such welding. The bottom of the wheel opening came out really well. No offset body line there!
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Reply Posted: Today at 9:56pm
http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/patio88/media/0314141121_zps371e48b4.jpg.html
 
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Nice copy and paste from AMC forum... Lol
Looking good pat. Those welds aren't terrible for your first time welding body panels. At least ya didn't burn through. :tup:
 
Lol, yeah one time setting up all the pictures is enough. Nope, no blow through. The car needs dent removal anyway, so this is just going to be a part of it. Not like it wouldn't be getting some mud work over those welds to begin with.
 
Wow, been a good while since I have updated this! Only now I actually have updates! Put my dad's Nova in our side bay the week before last, moved the Mercury Comet, and turned my Javelin around with it's butt to the door so I could work on the front end. Last week, I got the grill, bumper, hood latch, fenders and hood off. Found some nice little "gifts" from some long evicted tenants of the fender troughs.







Found another rot hole :/






Got the radiator out, and everything disconnected from the engine and trans this week. The coolant that came out was cleaned than many of the cooling systems I service on cars 35-40 years newer! Today, the engine and trans came out. Will raise the car higher come Monday, and roll the engine and trans out from under it.









By the way, this was THE easiest engine and trans I have EVER had to remove from a car. Only one that I can remember that was nearly as easy, was a Chevy HHR I put an engine in, back in April.

Now that the engine is out I can start removing the driver's frame rail and fender trough. Should be fun... Other things I have gathered for her are a Clifford singe plane intake (prefer dual, but it was a great deal), forge Keith Black - Icon pistons for the 4.6L, power wiper motor and bracket, all new MOOG steering and suspension parts, KYB shocks, and MOOG coil springs.


http://theamcforum.com/forum/1970-javelin-resto-has-begun_topic58364_page2.html#top
 
Looks like progress to me!
I love it Pat hell of a project and gonna be killer when your done with her that's for sure!
 
Hell yeah, thanks, Ed! Decided to stick with a 6 cylinder. Will still be nasty, though ;)
 
Nice car! are you going to do a full restore ? or just some paint?
 
It's not going to be a rotisserie build, if that's what you mean. WAY too much money to do that, and, I won't get to enjoy my car. I've still got a good deal of patch panels to install. Right now, I'm concentrating on replacing the driver's frame rail and fender trough. Will be an undertaking, for sure. Once that's done, I can move on to cleaning, painting, and detailing, the rest of the engine compartment. Will stick the original 232 back in it so I can drive it while I build the 4.6L. With the front end completely rebuilt, I only need to replace the brakes, brake lines, parking brake cables, and tires, to get her on the road.

I bought a parts car back in March, which saved me a ton of money. Not only have I sold some of what I don't need. But, it turned out to have a good fuel tank (mine was beyond repair & new is $350), the frame rail+fender trough I needed, trunk rain gutters, and a couple other pieces I was needing. Not bad when you consider I bought a roller for $500.

Day after July 4th, I picked up a 4.0L out of a 93 Cherokee for my 4.6 build. I have a 258 crank lined up from a friend of mine. He also has a flywheel and the intake off that same 258. That intake will be nice for the 232, because I'll be able to upgrade to a 350cfm 2bbl. Saving the single plane 4bbl intake for the 4.6. Am still on the look out for a T5Z 5sp, but I highly doubt I'll find one at a super low price... If I could just sell what extra parts I have left I'll be able to get a few other new items.
 
Gen1Pat said:
It's not going to be a rotisserie build, if that's what you mean. WAY too much money to do that, and, I won't get to enjoy my car. I've still got a good deal of patch panels to install. Right now, I'm concentrating on replacing the driver's frame rail and fender trough. Will be an undertaking, for sure. Once that's done, I can move on to cleaning, painting, and detailing, the rest of the engine compartment. Will stick the original 232 back in it so I can drive it while I build the 4.6L. With the front end completely rebuilt, I only need to replace the brakes, brake lines, parking brake cables, and tires, to get her on the road.

I bought a parts car back in March, which saved me a ton of money. Not only have I sold some of what I don't need. But, it turned out to have a good fuel tank (mine was beyond repair & new is $350), the frame rail+fender trough I needed, trunk rain gutters, and a couple other pieces I was needing. Not bad when you consider I bought a roller for $500.

Day after July 4th, I picked up a 4.0L out of a 93 Cherokee for my 4.6 build. I have a 258 crank lined up from a friend of mine. He also has a flywheel and the intake off that same 258. That intake will be nice for the 232, because I'll be able to upgrade to a 350cfm 2bbl. Saving the single plane 4bbl intake for the 4.6. Am still on the look out for a T5Z 5sp, but I highly doubt I'll find one at a super low price... If I could just sell what extra parts I have left I'll be able to get a few other new items.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it will be nice. Wherent you going to drop a 360 in it?
 
2000 said:
Sounds like it will be nice. Wherent you going to drop a 360 in it?
Click to expand...

I was. One came with the car. However, for what I'd like to do to it, it will run me over 6K to do it. There is a grand in forged pistons and rods for it. Head poring will probably be close to a grand. For 700 more I can get brand new Edelbrock aluminum heads. Cam, lifters, push rods, are 300 on a good day. Edelbrock high rise, 300. You can see where I'm going with this, lol. And, to top it all off, a T5 cannot withstand the torque the 360 will put out. Not with how I'll be driving it :evilface:. So, a Tremec TKO500 is needed. That trans runs over 2k, and the only bellhousing that will work is a Lakewould Quickchange unit, and that alone is 700.

The 4.6 I6 stroker is much cheaper to build. Sure, it won't be making the power numbers the 360 could make, at least not in naturally aspirated form. I got a super deal on the forged pistons, $335. Summit sells them for $511 without rings, $630 with rings. Forged rods will run $270. Trading some used tires to me friend for the 258 crank. Figuring on about $200 to turn and balance the crank (balancing isn't as necessary on an I6 as it is on a V8, but, it's still best to do it). Head porting will be about $600 if it doesn't need any guides or repairs. Bearings are cheap, freeze plug kit cheap, gasket kit $100, cam and lifters $200, Cloyes double roller timing chain and gears $145. Planning on making 280 horse power from it. Being it's an I6, torque will be closer to 340lbft.

A T5 trans will hold up well behind the 6. Going to be buying a T5Z from Ford Racing. Has a taller first gear then the production unit, resulting in a smaller "jump" from 1st to 2nd, thus less rpm drop and power loss. That there will allow me to run a lower geared rear to take advantage of the tall 1st. 5th is very tall at .63:1, so the rpms at cruising speed with low gears will still be VERY good. Planning on running either a 3.73 or 4.10 rear. Leaning towards the 4.10. Will be using a 205/65/15 tire, which translates into 25.5" tall. This trans will run $1800-$1900 after shipping, and with the Ford Racing slip yoke. Just need money:eek:
 
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Big progress the last two days.

This was the rot hole in the driver's side frame rail. Right below the rear upper control arm mount.


As you can see, the strut tower was rotted out, too.


All the spot welds drilled out and separated on the headlight panel.


After drilling out the firewall spot welds, I cut the frame rail right behind the front through bolt for the radius rod bracket. I did this because the rest of the frame from that spot back, under the floor, is in very good condition. Yes, I have a parts car, and it would have been better to replace the entire rail. But, that car has rot in the rail below the radius rod bracket. So, I am going to build a tube inside the frame rails to help join them together. It'll add strength, help to keep the rails inline (as will the engine crossmember and radius rod bracket). This, in addition to the radius rod bracket acting as a "bolt on gusset", should prove to be a strong repair.





Some nut shells from mice, but, clean inside otherwise.












Started on repairing and cleaning up the headlight panel, and firewall, in preparation for the new frame rail/strut tower/inner fender. So far, this job is not turning out to be as hard as I first thought.
 
Jesus... I'd find the ugliest girl in town and ask her out on a date in your project car. Then I'd tow that thing into a swamp and leave it there with her on the roof hammering a tub of mixed-variety cookies.

Next is the easy part... doing nothing but walking away realizing how much BETTER your life just got...
 
Looks like you're making good progress. Looking forward to the finished product. It's gonna be SAWEET!
 
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