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Pics of my 20 year old garage find.

engineboy

Member
Other members have expressed interest in checking out my recent find, so here are some pics. It was originally built in 84 and clocked 13k miles before it was parked in 1999 in this garage and covered due to owners health issues.

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This is the first time in almost 20 years it has been out in the daylight, non running, frozen brakes and years of chrome pitting moisture from living on the coast of CA.

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Here are some random shots of what Im working with. It now is running, brakes are gone through and I have taken it on 2 test drives with square, 20 year flat spotted bias plys...LOL. It runs good, shifts all gears and doesnt overheat. Next is tires and a longer road trip to shake it down and see what I have and that it all works together....then it comes apart this winter for a thorough clean/polish/paint/re chrome session. I have some small changes I will do but it will mostly stay the way it was in 84, cassette deck and CB included.

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EB....what happened to the roll bar....it's exactly what I am looking to do. Yeah...I know...Tbuckets shouldn't have those but...I worked once at Wayne State Biomechanics lab...crashing cars, testing seat belts, air bags and such and it made me a staunch seat belt user. When I built a Countach kit a while back I welded some interesting reinforcement under the body side to protect during a collision. The roll bar in the one pick is exactly what I want to do.
 
The roll bar will be re purposed. It has mounts under the deck directly mounting it to both sides of the frame. The mounts were just a larger pipe size that it slid into and had bolts holding it in place. I have it shortened now and will be building/chopping/welding it back together to form an in box support bar. Kind of like a shock tower cross bar to strengthen up the rear frame area.

Think of it as an extra cross member.
 
Could I impose upon you for a favor...some pics and dimensions? Especially where it mounts to the frame and through the deck. Also, tell me about th gas tank..sounds custom. I have contacted RPM about making a tank to fit between the uprights.

Many thanks!
 
Sure. I imagine this is a custom tank, but Ill run you through what I have here. I didnt like the big puffy couch look of the rear deck or the roll bar so I will be making a new rear deck and getting it done with no holes and less poof, but I think Im going to keep the rear access panel that the antenna is mounted on......good thing to toss a 76 ball on.

The front crossover is about 28 1/2 inches center to center with tubes welded to the top of the frame. Hole are drilled through the tube so the roll bar would drop into them and be bolted down. The rear tubes are about 34 inches CTC and are on tabs welded on the side of the frame. These had no bolts in them (couldnt get to them if you wanted to with all parts in place) and they were just slid into those.

So you basically had to install the deck, then the roll bar through the deck holes and crawl underneath to install the through bolts.

Here is what the deck looks like.

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It has this cover piece that just slips into the large hole above the gas cap and has a lock on it.

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Here is the tank layout.

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This is the front mounting pipe that is welded on the top of the frame. Here you can see the through bolt holes that held the roll bar. I will be fixing that janky fuel pump mount bracket.

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This is the rear, and yes you see another problem with this build.....shock to body clearance. That too will be fixed soon. This pipe the bar just slid into...luckily. There was NO way to get any bolts in there with all this assembled.

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Quick update, installed new tires and took it for a run to shake it down. All is good, blasted it down the highway @ 70 in 27 degree weather...snow on the ground still...LOL

Sunday I pulled the engine and will freshen it up with some upgrades. Going to ditch the points dist.but still run newer electronics with small point style cap and external coil so it still maintains its 80s vibe, just better. Upgrading the cam, little stall converter, rollers, all new gaskets/valve springs/oil pump/etc. The engine sat for 20 years and just from initial inspection the oil had become corrosive and stuff like bearings and such all need to be replaced.

I took it to the shop today and will break it all down tomorrow evening and build a Summit shopping list.;)

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I love the CB radio! But how would you hear it!
 
Looking at the rear end, it looks very clean. Are those exhaust turnouts that I see there? Where is the CB radio? I missed that.
 
Looking at the rear end, it looks very clean. Are those exhaust turnouts that I see there? Where is the CB radio? I missed that.
Looks like the CB is directly below the radio.
 
Quick update, installed new tires and took it for a run to shake it down. All is good, blasted it down the highway @ 70 in 27 degree weather...snow on the ground still...LOL

Sunday I pulled the engine and will freshen it up with some upgrades. Going to ditch the points dist.but still run newer electronics with small point style cap and external coil so it still maintains its 80s vibe, just better. Upgrading the cam, little stall converter, rollers, all new gaskets/valve springs/oil pump/etc. The engine sat for 20 years and just from initial inspection the oil had become corrosive and stuff like bearings and such all need to be replaced.

I took it to the shop today and will break it all down tomorrow evening and build a Summit shopping list.;)

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I have always liked that wheel style. Fits a lot of different type builds.
 
Sweet! Great start. That console looks a lot like the one in my Fiat. I have bias tires on my old wrecker and it bounces for about twenty minutes until they warm up and soften up... Good luck with the chrome. I am rebuilding a '70's era bucket and have pitted parts too. Chrome isn't cheap like it was back then.
 
Looks to be in better shape than the one I found , mine was sitting just over 10 years and was in a barn with cows , thank god no chickens
 
Long over due report here, cliff notes:
*old 327 wasnt worthy, block damage so I built a 383/10 to 1,2500 stall with 2 600s to make some noise
*suspension needed a complete overhaul, front to back, all new bushings/brakes/hiems
*different front wheels
*spiffed up the interior with new carpet/mats and tightened up all the 30+ year stuff
*kept the CB LOL

Here are a couple current pics from this weekend. She has come a long way since I pulled it from the dirty garage.

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