Well, finally got off my @#$ and have started on the Lemans

[super]

Do you have a photo of the area you are refering to by the rear glass?
Thanks

Finished a big project with my friend at the beginning of the year of a car similar to yours. Took 6 months. Went through every nut and bolt. Finished results were well worth it!

[russosborne]

Not from underneath. It is the piece between the rear window and the trunk, actually has the upper trunk lip on it. It has the trunk hinge brackets on the bottom. I was trying to figure out what to do with them when I felt around the area and felt the ragged holes. Might be something I could just patch. Going to be taking the body off soon and removing the trunk floor to replace so I will wait til then to see how bad.

Top of it is perfect, but feels like the entire bottom section is gone. Won't know for sure until I can get a good look at it, but I am not going to try to crawl in the trunk to see. Would probably need a hoist to get me out.

Thanks,
Russ

[russosborne]

well, getting much closer to being able to take the body off. was hoping to do it this weekend, but I need to buy a couple of things to do it and have to wait until my next payday.

Windshield is gone. everything is out of the passenger compartment except the driver's kick panel, which has one stupid bolt that I can't get a socket to stay on. And the rear seatbelts, which may end up staying. I can't get the bolts to loosen. Haven't tried my breaker pipe yet though.

Found some bracing type stuff in the trunk Round tubing with flattened ends that went from the trunk hinge brackets to the divider behind the rear seat. And one that went from hinge bracket to hinge bracket. Got those all out.

Working on the rear bumper. I had been having problems, til I realised that a socket would fit behing the tail lights to get to the bumper to body brackets bolts. Got one more to go, had to take a dinner break. Plus need to figure out how to keep the bumper from falling. Don't think my floor jack goes that high, and I don't think I have any wood that I could use to make up the difference.

Rear window still needs to come out. Don't want to break it so I might have to wait until I can buy the proper tool.

Got the 2 front body mount bolts off. Ended up having to use a sawzall on them though. Have to see how the rear 4 are. Going to be replacing the trunk floor and supports, so I think at least 2 of them I can probably use the sawzall on, but I haven't gotten under the car enough to look at them yet.

Rust. Package tray on passenger side. Both front floors and firewall around the body mount locations. Driver's side is REALLY bad. Might have to try getting a rust free section cut out from out west. Not going to worry about it yet though.
Rear floor under the back seat on the driver's side right along where it meets the inner quarter panel.
Front floor on the outer sides where thefront and middle supports are. The rust runs along the outer edges of the supports on the floor. Trunk did the same thing. Thinking that spot welding those isn't good enough. Probably going to seam weld everything.

More to come, including pictures at some point this weekend.

Russ

[Larry]

Are you thinking of having the body dipped to strip it once it is off? It might be scary as it will surely show where the rust was when done-- ie: new holes will show up when. However, it will be well worth it as the clean metal will be perfect for welding the new patches in. I have used an alkaline stripping process many years ago and it didn't hurt anything other than eating up the rust.

I have ben encouraged by you and actually have begun fabricating the fuel tank rack into the back of my '69 Lemans wagon project. If anyone wants to invest some money, between you amd me asprin and Visine will probably see bumps in their stock.

Keep plugging at it!

[russosborne]

Dipping the body would be nice, but I doubt if that is something I can afford to do, not to mention the issue of transporting the body. I have 2 suv's. No trucks or trailers. So it will probably be me and sandpaper. Heck, I don't even have a real compressor, just one that is barely big enough to fill up a smaller tire. Literally, it is one of the CH ones that walmart sells for like $70 or so.
It was either get a project car or the tools, but not both. Better to have the car and no air tools rather than the tools and no car to use them on.


I did get the corner pieces of the spoiler off the quarter panels. Used my electric grinder with a 60 grit floppy disc to find the rivets and drilled them out. Boy, talk about a lot of bondo. But got the rear corners nice and clean, and yes, there is some rust holes. But I probably took 20 pounds of bondo off the car.

3 body mount bolts down, 3 to go, unless I am forgetting about some. It really is nice to not have to worry about saving the trunk floor. Problem is I ran out of sawzall blades and grinder cutting discs. So will have to wait until next weekend to get the rest, unless I find some in the garage I have forgotten about.

Also found out you need to remove the tail light assemblies to remove the rear bumper. But at least it is finally off.

Trying to get some energy to go back out and take some pictures. Problem is everything in the garage is covered in bondo dust. Need to use a dust mask next time. I honestly didn't think there was that much bondo on the spoiler. And I am not even touching the large part that is on the old trunk lid. Lower rear quarters are filled with bondo. Seriously. It is as thick as it can be, from the outer metal to the edge of the lip on it. So maybe half to one inch thick. both sides. And I haven't even started stripping the paint off yet. Why do I get the feeling I may be replacing the quarter panels?

Waiting to remove the engine and trans until after the body is off. Figure it will be much easier. I just don't enjoy crawling under a car like I used to. That is(or at least was until all the rust) the main reason for taking the body off in the first place.

Russ

[russosborne]

didn't get much done today, had some running around to do and by the time I got home it was pretty late to be running a sawzall. I did get the rear window out, and surprise, more rust. Not much more, but there is a nice little hole in the driver's lower corner of the window channel.

Also found out I am stupid. I thought I had 6 body mounts. turns out there are 8 on this car. Going to have to cut the floor board to get to the cage nut for these last 2. Good thing the floor board is bad in that area anyway.

Sold my metal GTO hood today. I had told the guy it's free, but he gave me $30 anyway. Then he calls me a bit later to tell me that Summit Racing in Tallmadge has a scratch and dent clearance 68 Chevelle full trunk floor for $125. I appreciate him thinking to call me, but it sucks when you don't have the cash. If the guy who says he wants my Rally rims would have come today and got them, I probably could have managed it, but no call or email. Selling him all 4 15inch RallyIIs for a grand total of $50. You would think he would hurry up in case I change my mind.

And again, no pictures. I hope to go out later on Sunday and get the last 5 body mounts off. I bought a tow strap to use to lift the body with my engine hoist, would really like to get it off, even though I don't have the money until next payday to build something to set it on.

Russ

[Larry]

Don't feel bad about any lack of progress. I'm working on my Lemans wagon after a year off. And last year was back on it after 12 years off!! You're doing better than many. We have to remind ourselves that this is supposed to be a relaxing hobby, not another job that has to be done in a rush. Looking at it that way, you're right on schedule!

More body mounts, huh? When I took the body off my '40 Pontiac many years ago I devised an arrangement in my tiny garage I had at the time. I hooked four chains to the body: fronts into the hood hinge bolt holes on the cowl, rears on both sides of a 4x4 put through the trunk opening. Then I hooked good size turnbuckles to the chains and more chains up to the rafters. I slowly cranked it up and cribbed it with LOTS of crisscrossed 4x4 lumber. Had to unhook and rehook a couple of times, but it worked fine to where I could drag the frame out from underneath. Remember to use big steel turnbuckles, not aluminum.

It was so strong, that as I cranked the turnbuckles, I noticed the wheels coming off the ground-- oops! Found a couple more body mounts I had missed.

If you go this route, use good jack stands AND lumber cribbing wherever possible. If you have to buy 4x4s, you can use them for a bonfire and weenie roast when you're done. Just be safe. The reverse procedure worked well for putting the frame and body back together again.

[russosborne]

Thanks.
the progress rate is just slower than I keep wanting it to be. Like today, I slept in a bit for once and the day is just about over as far as making loud noises is concerned. One of the problems of being a night shift worker. And we have to go do some running around, so odds are I won't get anything else done today.

The other side of this is that once I do get it all apart, my progress may have to come to a stop.
Right now I couldn't afford to buy much in the way of parts, so I will be limited to doing things like trying to clean and prep the frame. Which I do need to do, I just want to have the money to do it all.

Patience is one virtue I have never had a lot of.

Russ

[russosborne]

Got a little done today. I think I have all the body mounts taken care of. I forgot I still have to get the e-brake cable off the body.

One nice thing about having lots of rust, I don't have to worry about not damaging stuff. I doubt if too many people would just cut the trunk floor and braces instead of trying to remove the mount bolts.

Russ

[russosborne]

This isn't mine, got it from hotrodders.com, which is where I got the info.
But this picture is of an A body, so it will be close to what I end up with.

Russ

[russosborne]

well, got the body off, and didn't even drop it.
here's a few pictures, some didn't turn out well and I need to retake them. A couple of them are of the rusted area under the panel between the rear window and trunk.
Russ

[Larry]

Well, you done doed it! Good job.

It will now be fun to start fixing one part at a time... no rush.

For the body areas that are really bad, you might consider some doner parts if you can locate a rustfree body somewhere. Or just take one spot at a time and begin patching. Just remember to cut everything back into good metal or you'll chase new rust even after your repairs.

That little Lemans should be glad that it is getting a new chance to shine again. While it may seem daunting at times, we have seen cars with much worse rust brought back again. It is mostly labor at this point.

[russosborne]

Thanks. Yeah, some money and a lot of work.

I am really surprised at myself getting this far this fast. My internal goal is to have it on the road by next summer. I have the time to do the work, the only real issue is money. I may have to skip the engine and transmission change for now. Would really like to do a stroked 400 and a 700R4 trans. I have the trans already, but it needs a total rebuild. Also really want to put a Ford 9 inch rear in. I am more comfortable working with those from my Mustang days. At least I have a clue about them.

Wouldn't mind getting donar parts, but the odds of finding anything in Ohio that is better than what I already have aren't good. I might have to get some from out west and have them shipped, but hoping to avoid that. I don't mind paying for a part, and I don't mind paying shipping. But only one or the other, both together is too expensive for the most part. Wish I had the cash to do a parts/family visit trip to Phoenix.

Thought I was going to be able to use an upcoming bonus check for some of it, but had a heart stress test a couple of weeks ago and my part came to around $500. Good thing they didn't find anything wrong, the shock of that bill could have killed me if my heart was bad.
Still, Christmas is coming. Although the Lemans was supposed to be last year's, and the next few years birthday and Christmas present.

Still need to get a bottle of gas for the mig before I can start welding. It is hard not to start cutting the rusted areas off the body, but I need to wait until I have the replacement panels. Although I may not be sure how big I need until I cut. But it would probably be a bad idea to cut stuff off and not patch it right away.

Was just walking the dogs out back, and looked at the frame. Getting to the engine mount bolts might be a bit of fun. Hoping I can just jack it up to get enough room.

[russosborne]

got a little more done today.
First are several pictures of the body and closeups of the cowl area. Then in the next post is what I did today.

[russosborne]

hey. I finally found out the max number of pictures in one post.