I have been busy doing other things recently, but for kicks and for information before winter I tossed in the 550 lb/in springs this weekend. As predicted, the nose came back down to around where the VPD springs sat - I still need to build perches for the open coils and this will raise the nose a little - and the ride isn't as bad as I predicted. The 400s were very nice, the 550s are busier but are still not too harsh. The perches will support half a coil (right now they're just resting on the end of the rough coil) so the ride should get a little firmer yet.

I wish I could find a good source for rear springs... damn this awkward 4.5" OD. Not that I have much dislike for the ones in there now, it would just be nice to have a "solution" for others though there are plenty of off-the-shelf spring sets for 122s already.

Some of those OTS sets are junk, though. I measured up the set that Dale was using in his 122: his fronts were 165-360 lb/in and his rears were 87-150 lb/in. The fronts are softer than stock until the soft coils bind, which is basically at ride height, and the resulting ride height is so low that there's only about 1" of wheel travel before hitting uncut bumpstops, while the rear end was pretty jacked up.

What's the free length of the rear spring again? I can't think of a good reason a 2.5" ID spring wouldn't be a good idea back there. Maybe with a small inner register (2.5" exhaust pipe does fit inside these springs) on the rear axle. Then a guy could even trim that upper spring outer frame extension a little to get better clearance for more tire if needed. Every inch counts.

I don't have a free length at the moment, but I have a rough compressed length and knowing the approximate rate and load, that means the VPD rear springs are close to 13.25" free. Pretty long for a 2.5" spring, but there will be some work needed for seats and why not adjusters? And room for tires is a good thing, as you say. Not a bad idea, Craig...

Disassembly begun yesterday. I figured out partly why my engine was so loud:





The head has a few thou of distortion cold which could account for the leakage between 2 & 3 if it was only there, but the header flange is warped about 1/8" - it's leaking out of all 4 holes - and is completely trashed. I have a dual outlet manifold & downpipe I can use, and I have the old 4-2-1 header from the GT. It's in Craig's garage at the moment so I can't tell what kind of shape it's in and he's too busy to check right away. It's fine though, the engine is coming out to address many other issues and I have time to think about this before it goes back in.

Also, check out how close the seal flange impression came to the corner of the manifold gasket on the #4 runner!

More to come.

Much disassembly later, and after polluting my lungs with solvent vapour, my engine compartment is much cleaner. I've also cut out the poorly patched rusty areas that were on the passenger side.



Before:



Rust repair, "expertly" done. Well, I'm better than the last guy.



Again, before (see before and after the stiffening rib, right up against and including the side wall):



I filled some holes on the firewall and did some more sanding. Sanding the engine compartment sucks donkey balls, I think that goes without saying...



I've got a LOT more sanding to do before I can reapply seam sealer and bondo up my repairs, but the engine comprtment should be painted in a couple more weekends.

I'm also working on some suspension geometry issues by lowering the dogbone 1.25", which raises the roll center and increases the camber gain. Stock camber gain is practically zero and the stock roll center is on the pavement, but when the car is lowered the roll center drops below ground. This mod raises it back up above ground, reducing the roll couple in front. I will add a sway bar in the rear to balance the chassis.





There were some more strengthening tricks done, basically nothing that hasn't been done before. Reinforced the frankenbolt braces, some seam welding on the frame mounts, nothing special. In for powdercoat tomorrow.

Looks awesome Matt! I gotta ask what kind of time frame that last post encompassed? Damn impressive regardless of time - I was just curious.

Rabin

The car came apart Nov 1, but since the economy is so good I have an extra day in my garage every other weekend, and that helps progress. My back exploded somewhere in there so I guess we're even. The car looked like it did in the first post yesterday morning, though, and I have tomorrow off.

One day at a time...

The engine compartment and crossmember are in epoxy primer, which I've waited a week or so to cure so I could sand it down. The crossy sprayed nicely but I spazzed out and the engine bay ended up a little spitty, but I also have some sanding scratches and mung to blend out there anyway. No photos here.

Timeline dictates that I purchase body panels soon, as they'll take about a month to receive. Therefore I started hacking away at the bondo I knew about to see what lies beneath and how far it extends. The right rear got smoked at some point and some hack, who was in love with a slide puller and a putty knife, "fixed" it.

Here's part of what I ground off the right rear of the car, minus a few leaves and things:



Revealing this:



In that shot you can see the puller marks on the front lip and the rear of the door. The holes were just filled in with bondo instead of welded shut, and bondo acts like a sponge and soaks up water. Water was pulled in from the backside and when the outsde rusted, the bondo started popping off. The door doesn't live in as serious an environment as the rear fender so it hasn't rusted, but there was SO MUCH bog on the door because the middle part is all bulged out and bondo was used behind the bulge to blend it back to the fender. It wasn't more than about 1/4" anywhere but that's too much.

What it should look like:



What it does look like:



The door skin is all stretched out and we're going to need some shrinking magic to get things back into shape. The good news is that the door is not rusty, not even on the lower edge where the drip holes are. I haven't pulled the door card from the inside so I don't know what the inside of the skin looks like yet.

The rear fender was patched up with equal skill. The whole section below the trim was heated and pulled and heated and pulled into reasonable shape, but again much of it was left bulged high so considerable filler was needed to get it all up to level. There were a couple chunks of sheet welded in to build up the arch, either due to rust or due to impact damage, and these are still fairly solid though there's a new rust hole at the top of the arch. New arch sections will be purchased.



Again, what it should look like compared to what it does look like:





The rear section is all wavy and bumpy from the torch & hammer method, but isn't too far off shape like the "smoother" front section. There is some rust at the lower rear edge of the fender, but the buttcheek MIGHT not be that bad. I have the lower rear fender and buttcheek replacement panels for the GT, we'll use what I need and will replace them later.



The filler panel below the trunk and between the fenders was something I thought would be real trouble, but after cutting the cheese it doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought. Rust, obviously, in the same spot below the taillight as the fender, and some impact damage but not nearly as much as the amount of bondo suggested. I didn't bother cutting down the trunk, as I know it's shot and will be replacing it anyway.



There is a big ol' dent here that nobody bothered doing much with besides spreading butter over. More slide hammer holes too, but thankfully not alot of rust anywhere. There are a couple other dents & dings in this panel, but really it's not too bad overall.



On to the happy surprise:





No filler or external rust here at all! The buttcheek is shot and will need to be replaced, but cosmetcally this section looks pretty good.

The inner fenders aren't so good, though. On the driver side there's a big hole right behind the seam between the front and rear arch sections, plus a lot of material missing at the rear end where the mudflap goes. This last spring I pop rivited some sheet in there and sprayed asphalt on it to seal it up for the summer, this will need more permanent replacement this year.





On the passenger side you can make out some of the trouble here: rust and holes from where the bodyman lovingly slid his hammer.



Another hole matching the hole on the top edge of the fender, plus more slide hammer holes:



And more sin above the mudflap.



So I have a better idea of what I need now, and will take a little expert advise before I order too much (or not enough) from VIP. I have to get the trunk emptied before I can start repairing the rear end, which means I have to finish off the engine bay and get everything installed first. Before I can do that I have both cosmetic and mechanical work to do.

Don't forget to look through the stash of panels I have before you order more...

LOL at the selfies peering through the carnage. Thanks for taking the time to document that, I'll never do anything like that myself, but it's educational to see it in depth.

I know your reasons for "doing" this car, but looking at everything you've done and have left to do, you should just do the GT.

I will, Dale. I forgot all about you having leftovers.

Jim, this is also training. I want the GT to be right and good, and I'm already afraid I've screwed it up too badly.

Fair enough, I guess I never think of you doing anything not right and good to begin with.

The eye's behind the fender lips...sorry buddy, that's just cracking me up. That spot at the top of the inner fender is ALWAYS rusty. Pretty much every car (except for the one I cut the fenders off for my patterns ironically) I've ever seen are just like this. That slide hammer repair is very 1980's and was perfectly acceptable practice in body shops.

Working out the shrink/stretch action is about half of what you have to do to repair any panel. The impact, no matter how minor, normally stretches the panel, and it (the panel) naturally wants to be in it's normal arrangement. So popping it back out is a process of trying to reverse the damage. Soft against hard shrinks and hard against hard stretches. As the panel is stretched, you have no real choice but to return it to a form that has more area. Then you progressively shrink it back into form. I'm better at doing this than explaining it.

December sucks for me for free time, but I will squeeze out a thing or two between now and when I go back to work in January. Here's part of what I got done today:





I like the colour. Shame it isn't what I asked for. I honestly don't know what it is but it's not Volvo 79 white. Here it is next to an upper door trim:





My own damn fault for not checking before spraying. I hope to hell that it wasn't a fluke and I can get a gallon of the same stuff.

And kids, if you're doing this at home: painting engine compartments sucks.

Sure does look like Wimbeldon White to me. Far to yellow to be 79 - I like it. Hopefully they can match it. Is it base/clear or a single stage? What's the details on your paint system? Spray out a test card (ask for them next time - they've got them primed from the mfg). Looking good.