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Turbo Odyssey Part 4 -- Taking It Apart
September 25, 2004
Despite my best intentions I have not been providing updates to progress on the convertible as much as I would like. On the other hand, I haven't been getting as much done on the convertible as I would like, either.
The original plan was that I was going to sell some other cars to help finance the project, starting with my '63 Olds 98. So I figured I'd better get the Olds spruced up for sale first. Of course, the inevitable happened. I got a new radiator back in the car, started driving it and then remembered that I really like that car. I can't bring myself to sell it, so there will have to be another plan.
The new plan is to become insanely busy at work, which I have done. This has left me precious little time to read Virtual Vairs posts, but if I earn the money to do what I want with my car, no offense, I would rather have a nice Corvair than read about other people's cars.
Anyhoo, but I digest.
Disassembly began in earnest on July 26, 2004 with removal of the tattered top fabric and top well trim. The top material appeared to be original from the factory and crumbled off in my hands. With the old top out of the way, it was a simple matter to unbolt the trim sticks around the well. I concluded that this was the original top based upon the lack of extra staple holes in the trim sticks.
More difficult was the task of removing the exterior trim around the well. These pieces are held on by a few external screws camouflaged as boot snaps, and a series of pretty stubborn clips. I destroyed a few of the clips but eventually got the trim off without mangling it. Or me.
Once the molding was off I could easily remove the rear air grille.
This picture shows one of the trim sticks, a couple of the pristine zinc-plated bolts that held the trim sticks in place, a few of the clips that held the exterior molding in place, and a piece of the fabric that rested over the lip of the top well below the exterior molding.
With this work done the I could inspect the well area pretty easily. The paint inside the well looked brand new, with virtually no signs of corrosion.
A few weeks later, my oldest son Jake and I got to work on the car again. This time we started in on the interior, removing the seats and trim pads. Once the trim pads were out, we took out the manual top mechanism. In the meantime, I had arranged for purchase of a power top mechanism, complete with harness, cables and motor. We found a fair amount of nice, orange surface rust under the rear seat. The interior itself is junk.
Somewhere in the middle the seller located and sent me the turbo heat shield. It will need restoration but is salvageable.
A couple of weekends ago I cleaned out the barn, which had become a disaster. While I did that, Jake disassembled and removed the taillights.
A few days later I pulled the rear bumper, removed the seat belts and ripped out the carpet, which was nasty. The floor underneath looked very solid.
I think that this car should be called Friday. While pulling the taillights out, we noticed that the right fender brace that was added to convertibles was never welded at the frame rail.
The same was true of the sheetmetal piece to the immediate right of the frame rail:
Both of the nuts that hold the vent window channel at the bottom of the door were missing, although the factory putty was packed around the studs. The convertible top mechanism was held in place by five bolts instead of the usual six.
The factory left us some room for improvement....
All of the glass will be coming out of the car. In addition, I am going to pull the powertrain and put in a dummy powertrain so that the car can roll. This will enable me to have the engine compartment media blasted. While the engine is out, I will have all the shrouds powdercoated. I don't know yet how much work is going to go into the motor.
Dick Shank gave me the name of a media blaster in Elkhart. Once I am done with disassembly the car will go to him for blasting. My hope is to have it to my body guy by sometime in January if not sooner.
I am planning on painting it the original Mist Blue, but I am going to change the interior to the stock '65 medium blue, which is basically the same color as the exterior. I am going to deviate from stock by putting a dark blue convertible top on it. The pinstripe, which is now white, will be the same dark blue as the top, as will the dash. That's my plan and I'm stickin' to it.
