We pulled the windshield and began stripping everything off the firewall and cowl. Someone has replaced the windshield in the past. Instead of gluing it in they installed it in a bed of butyl caulk. It was a big sticky mess and cutting it out was a chore. Also, the upper corner of the glass on one side had almost no clearance between it and the window frame. Either they installed it cockeyed or something is tweaked.
The stainless header/pillar trim and visors were attached with a hodgepodge of mismatched screws all thoroughly corroded in place.
The cowl beneath the wiper motor was packed with dirt and debris as was the passenger side drain area. Seems the Chrysler engineers could have come up with a better solution for draining the cowl under the wiper motor than to have it dump out on the firewall just above the gas pedal mount. While I'm not positive, I think this is the source of one of my water leaks. I can't find any rusted out areas inside the cowl.
There's a center cowl drain just above the gas pedal mount.
The heater box and evaporator cover were in really poor shape with a lots of cracked and broken fiberglass. The mounting points are also a good place for water to get in, especially given the condition of the box. The blower motor is seized.
Inside there was no shortage of surface rust on the dash frame, pedal assembly, and underside of the cowl. It'll take a lot of work to get it all cleaned up. The wiring's a mess as is the myriad of vacuum lines for the heater system. A non-AC car would be a piece of cake.
This evening we pulled engine and trans as a unit. Again, all went pretty well. There's a torque cable on the driver side mount which appears factory - certainly not homemade. The passenger side mount was broken.
Austin shows off his "guns".
Austin enjoys this kind of work - at least until he gets hungry. As soon as we had it out and the trans separated from the engine it was quitin' time for him (dinner).
"Let me show you how it's done, Dad."
Here he is at age 6 supervising the removal of the engine from the Duster. Boy, how time flies!
Friday, October 22, 2010
We pulled the remaining fender. This is where more "hack" repairs were discovered. Some inner fender fasteners were missing. In fact, when I went to remove the bolt for the fender brace that's buried behind the wheel opening it was gone - or at least it looked like it was. Upon closer inspection I found that someone had tack welded the brace to the mount on the cowl. Not sure why unless they simply lost the bolt and it was faster to weld it. Used a cutoff wheel on the weld to finally free the fender from the car.
My son, Austin, and I spent a couple hours pulling most of the front end off. It went a little smoother than I expected considering the corroded fasteners. The car spent who knows how many years in the Seattle area near the ocean. That salt air rusts things fast. When we first got the car I pulled the hood to make a repair and most of the bolts snapped off with little effort. No broken bolts so far on our tear down.
In the spring of 2008 I completed a 1970 Big-Block Plymouth Duster project (chronicled here) after 5 long years of blood, sweat, and too much money spent. Funny thing was, a few months after giving birth, the "postpartum" blues set in and I felt the urge to have another one - another project, that is.
This one would be my wife's. I was kind of excited at the prospect. She had always been very supportive of the hobby and helpful but had never really been hands-on - you know, grease under the fingernails and all. Yeah, this would actually be her project and she would do the work with my help. Well, she set about looking for a suitable child using the Auto Trader. We already had an A-Body and B/E Body Mopars were likely beyond our budget. She had always wanted a convertible to tool around town in and lo and behold spotted a '69 Newport ragtop a few hours away at a reasonable price. She made the calls to the seller and set a day and time to meet and check it out.
The 'ol Newport turned out to be reasonably straight but pretty rough around the edges. Someone had done a color change and even went as far as spray painting the interior black.The carpet was wet, the top wouldn't go up, there was cancer where you'd expect, some side glass missing, and wiring hanging from the dash. Hmmmmm. We probably should have walked away. Most sane people would have. But being the masochistic glutton for punishment that I am who suffers from occasional lapses in good judgement, we laid down the cash and drove it away. Wife drove the good car and my son, Austin, rode shotgun with me. We zipped up our sweatshirts and drove the 3 1/2 hours home over a mountain pass. It drove fine and we made it without incident: a testament to good old Chrysler engineering. Love these old land yachts.
That was September 2008. After doing some minor work on it and discovering how truly rough this old girl was around the edges - and with the economy going south - we ended up parking it for a couple of years.
In the Spring of 2010 I thought I might try to sell it - but I didn't try very hard. Instead I got bit by that bug to do something with it again. My wife graciously relinquished the reigns of "her project" to me. It wouldn't be a full restoration but a restomod budget build - if there is such a thing anymore. At least, that's the plan. Egad! Here we go again.
Newport comes out of borrowed storage for some sunlight
F*t bottomed girl
Ugh...!
We got the car out of borrowed storage and I began collecting some of the parts and pieces I knew it would need to look respectable again. I even found the glass I needed on Ebay, brand new. Yup, I was committed now in more ways than one.
The last hurdle was to get the Duster out of my small shop and safely tucked away to make room for this behemoth. And with that accomplished just weeks ago, here we are ready to roll up our sleeves and get some serious work done. My 13 year old son suffers from the same wrench turning madness as his old man. He'll be my partner in crime, of sorts, on this project. And, that's really cool.
