The Restoration, Vol. 2: Tear Down Continues
Long time, no see! Maybe you noticed that we went a bit dark over the last several months. Or, maybe you didn’t. Either way, we’re starting things back up with a pretty important update.
While life in 2020 has changed in more than a few major ways, we have managed to make some headway behind the scenes on a couple of projects. This 2002 might look familiar from posts we’ve shared over the last year and some change. The first installment of updates about this project can be found in our previous journal entry here, and that should be enough to get you caught up. (To refresh: we are documenting this build for our neighbors, Performance Technic. They’re the ones doing the actual restoration. Providing coverage like this is one of the facets of media that we offer, so what better way to show it off than to put it online, right?)
Last time we saw the car, it was still mostly put together. The techs had scrubbed the underside as well as they could without letting the time consume them, and the interior was still intact. Since then, the majority of the interior has come out, as well as the trunk and all exterior accessories and trim.
With the dissolving of dirt and grime, imperfections were far clearer to recognize. In the photos below, it’s clear that there had been some shoddy welding done some time in the car’s past, and the techs found some metal cracking that was becoming more evident (see: engine bay).
The engine had to come out since the car was on its way to paint, so it was removed and set aside for safe keeping. Overall, things looked pretty clean on the block and head. A little bit of corrosion and age wear could be found on hoses and attached components, but nothing that couldn’t be replaced or tidied up.
An empty engine bay, interior, and trunk later, it was easier to document some of the areas that were going to need work at the body shop. Rust was found at the firewall, spare wheel well, and random areas throughout the vehicle. Some of it was more minor than the rest, but ultimately, all fixable. No Swiss cheese to be seen here.
A lot of these images might not be the most exciting to look at, but we feel that it’s important in this case to show more than less. That way, the finished result can be that much more satisfying for readers to see. A lot of condition work went into documenting this restoration, which we think is an absolute essential when you’re going to these lengths to build something.
To wrap up, who doesn’t love a good exploded view of everything that makes a car, a car? To take careful inventory and organize all of the parts for shelving, everything was spread out in front of the barren chassis.
Because we have saved up on our coverage of this process, we’re excited to be able to bring you more updates in the coming weeks. The car as it sits now looks leagues better than before, so sharing the next phase of paint and body will bring you even deeper into the story. More soon, thanks for reading!