Started restoring my 76 (Not Good)

[Marks76ray]

This post is a long time in the making. I bought my 76 1 1/2 years ago. It had problems that I needed to work on before I could start the restore. It wasn't drivable, it needed an alignment and then I had to get the frame tweaked to get it to line up. Changed all the springs and shocks installed new tires and rims. Drove it a while to get the feel of the car. Replaced the rag joint replaced the power steering hoses and a lot of little things.
My intentions are to do a frame off and restore the entire car (modded restore). The PO installed a 79 interior dash and all and I have ran into several Bubba things. Well last week I started on the restore and here is a list of the Not Good and The Good

NOT GOOD
1-Paint & Body work
2-Frame may still need Tweaking
3-Bumpers shot
4-Engine bay horrible
5-Windshield frame rotten
6-79 interior, a lot of parts falling apart
7-Seats need recovering
8-Limited on money
9-PO was a bubba

The Good
1-Have a good place to work on project
2-Engine and transmission are good
3-Have the time to do this
4-Drives real nice and runs good
5-New brakes all around
6-New exhaust
7-New tires and rims
8-Rebuilt carb

I was real disappointed when some of the interior pieces fell apart in my hands and found the windshield frame at the top and corners rotted. Had to remove the windshield to get to the frame and broke it in the process. I did get the rear glass out without breaking it because it was barely glued and leaking, wondered where the water was coming from! Dash , seats, door panels and all upper trim is out now. This is turning into a big project and I like things to be done right so I am projecting this to take several years because of the expense.I do believe it will be worth the effort I just need to make sure I don't have more money in it than it is worth. So far I have about $5800 in it including the price of the car. I will post pictures and more as time goes on cheers Mark

[Denpo]

Dude, I can feel your pain, my story is a twin of your. Too bad I got to lazy to cross post, my resto thread is on CF.
Same year, and pretty much the very same good and not good, except I have very little space to work and that I set myself the foolish goal the have all the job within one year.

[Marks76ray]

Originally Posted by Denpo

Dude, I can feel your pain, my story is a twin of your. Too bad I got to lazy to cross post, my resto thread is on CF.
Same year, and pretty much the very same good and not good, except I have very little space to work and that I set myself the foolish goal the have all the job within one year.

How about a link to your post Denpo

One of the things I found that Bubba did was connect the windshield washer hoses to the engine vacuum system causing the 4 barrel not to work. When I saw this it was did I get myself into? I guess he was going to suck the water off the windshield I would not ever do anything like that and would be ashamed to let anyone know about it. How does anyone sleep a night knowing they have a car out there that sucks water off the windshield: sorry about the ranting I just needed to blow off some steam before I work on the car tomorrow. Mark

[Slow & Leaky]

Darkest before the dawn!

IMO breaking the windshield was a blessing in disguise, now you're forced to replace it with a brand new unit that's not chipped or scratched. Really makes a difference from the driver seat.

The whole more than it's worth thing exploded when you hit 5800 in a rubber bumper C3 that still needs paint. From here forward you're upside down in terms of cost, but can still have a machine that's far nicer than it's value. And that's what these kinds of projects are really about, isn't it? We all have to watch costs, but you might wanna think about scratching that specific target off the list as you're setting yourself up to fail.

PS I love bubbas, they move vehicles down into my price range If you see any rednecks selling a pantera drop me a PM!!

good luck with the car!

[ecordeddie]

Yea forget the "more money into it than it's worth thing." This is about what it's worth to YOU.

A nice clean all original 1976 with low miles on it with a stock L48 engine will only get you about $9,000...but I wouldn't sell my restomod '79 for less than 18k because I did all the work and I really enjoy the car....even though it'd prob only fetch 13 to 14k at auction.

[blckslvr79]

Originally Posted by ecordeddie

Yea forget the "more money into it than it's worth thing." This is about what it's worth to YOU.

A nice clean all original 1976 with low miles on it with a stock L48 engine will only get you about $9,000...but I wouldn't sell my restomod '79 for less than 18k because I did all the work and I really enjoy the car....even though it'd prob only fetch 13 to 14k at auction.

Ain't that the truth!

[Denpo]

Originally Posted by Marks76ray

How about a link to your post Denpo

One of the things I found that Bubba did was connect the windshield washer hoses to the engine vacuum system causing the 4 barrel not to work. When I saw this it was did I get myself into? I guess he was going to suck the water off the windshield I would not ever do anything like that and would be ashamed to let anyone know about it. How does anyone sleep a night knowing they have a car out there that sucks water off the windshield: sorry about the ranting I just needed to blow off some steam before I work on the car tomorrow. Mark

Sure no probleme, here it is :
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...long-post.html
My lastest discovery was the front clip job.
Turned out the car had a front crash (hopefully I dumped the original frame), they've put the front clip parts together, put some fiberglass mat on it (but forgot to put catalist in the resin, still smelly year after the repair), and covered the whole thing with 1/8 of bondo.
And when I stripped the paint out of it, some area was sporting 18 layers of paint/primer.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Denpo

... (but forgot to put catalist in the resin, still smelly year after the repair), and covered the whole thing with 1/8 of bondo.
And when I stripped the paint out of it, some area was sporting 18 layers of paint/primer.

dang...

[Denpo]

Originally Posted by Patrick

dang...

And two more that stayed on the car.

[Marks76ray]

Originally Posted by Denpo

Sure no probleme, here it is :
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...long-post.html
My lastest discovery was the front clip job.
Turned out the car had a front crash (hopefully I dumped the original frame), they've put the front clip parts together, put some fiberglass mat on it (but forgot to put catalist in the resin, still smelly year after the repair), and covered the whole thing with 1/8 of bondo.
And when I stripped the paint out of it, some area was sporting 18 layers of paint/primer.

Wow Denpo
I feel much better now I have seen your post on CF.
My 76 is in a lot better shape than yours. I commend you on all the work, great job and keepit up.

Mark

[Denpo]

Originally Posted by Marks76ray

Wow Denpo
I feel much better now I have seen your post on CF.
My 76 is in a lot better shape than yours. I commend you on all the work, great job and keepit up.

Mark

Thanks fellow 76er, feel free to PM me for tips

[Marks76ray]

Well after a little back ground I decided to show progress as I rebuild my 76. There are a lot of pictures and ill start from January so here we go

We received 7 1/2" of snow in January I can't remember ever getting this much snow in North Mississippi.


Some pictures of my car and my shop.


















My upper windshield frame is rusted and needs to be replaced but the lower cage is good.




Doors are in good shape just need cleaning up and the mechanisms freshed up.


Removed interior to reveal floor pan rust, broken trim and a wiring harness that is questionable.





















Cut out the rusted sections of the floor board. I will be replacing these sections with 16 gage sheet metal that I will forum by hand. Just couldn't bring my self to spend $500 on new pans when I am capable of building my own.


























Started making the patch panels and welding them in, started with the seat belt wells first.




This is as far as I got and as I get time and make progress ill post more. Mark

[Denpo]

Too bad you're far away, I'm trying to get rid of my former body on the cheap but it's still in better shape than your.
I changed mine because I've been given a clean rust free one, and also because I'm not as good at welding as you are, nice job.

[Slow & Leaky]

That car ran with that fuse box? Woww!!

[Denpo]

Originally Posted by Slow & Leaky

That car ran with that fuse box? Woww!!

It's not a '76 fuse box!
But it's not a bad mod, those glass fuse are such a PITA.