I’ve removed every piece of trim on my car inside and out. Just let me know what you need help with. Post in this thread and others can chime in as well.
1970 2800CSA rust monster restomod
Belgiumbarry
Well-Known Member
i was wondering how far Wyatt was with his project ? 
It has been on the back burner, built a motor and did a swap in another of my cars that I just finished up recently. I just received my Ireland Engineering Group4 kit in the mail after a month or so of waiting. It looks good and I'm very excited to get it mocked up and figure out what I can cut out as far as exterior panels and rust goes. Sorry for the lack of updates, I've done a bunch of work on several of my other cars in the last couple months.
No apology necessary. You are moving faster than I am - ha ha. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
I am also waiting to see how things are coming here. This is the only car I've seen with more holes in it than mine, so I need some motivation
Lol, glad to help! Most people would have sent it to the crusher after pulling a handful of useful things off of it.I am also waiting to see how things are coming here. This is the only car I've seen with more holes in it than mine, so I need some motivation
Finished up ANOTHER motor for another car I've got Friday evening. Need to stick a trans on it and get it back in the car then it'll be time to get cracking on the bmw again! I'm so ready to mock it up and measure for wheels/tires and get cutting.
Finally had a little time to tinker on the car. All the belt trim is off, rear quarter windows are out (absolute pain because the manual adjusters were completely stuck on one side) and I've slowly been flap disking the car. Did a little pulling on the tops of the front fenders with a stud welder to help get them back to normalish height.
We mocked up the group4 kit, it's not as wide as I was originally thinking which is nice. It looks like I'll be doing a good bit of clearance cutting and I'll probably extend the wheel wells out a bit to match the fiberglass profile so that rocks dont tear it up in the long run. The kit fits ok, the front bumper doesn't fit worth a shit and may need to be widened to the tune of about 4 inches, we couldn't get it remotely close to where it was supposed to be. Flying a little blind on fitting it, where specific contours go, etc so that'll be fun. I need to get off my butt and start cutting/replacing metal and slowly chip away at the rust. The car is starting to look pretty pathetic with everything off of it. I think for the sake of rigidity I will be extending the oem "frame rails" further back. As far as I can tell, the only reason my car hasn't split in half is because the roof and trans tunnel are still solid. The floors/lower door pillars sure as hell aren't structural anymore.
The dash is absolutely toast so we had fun removing it in a slightly less than "save everything" approach. I'm debating using the oem metal tray that everything attaches too, it may not look too bad flocked or coated in some way. If not it'll probably end up with a fiberglass cap over it as I will likely have a fairly minimal amount of gauges in the car, I'd like to keep it fairly clean and take a minimalist approach.
Once I finish removing all the dash components, the brake booster, pedal assembly and other under dash parts will be coming out. I plan on removing the oem blower motor/hvac box and removing the partition in the engine bay. Should help get the motor as far back as possible. If I feel fancy I may cut and section/indent that area so the motor can move back a little extra.
I've been reading into leading (mostly leadless versions for obvious reasons) so I can recontour a couple areas below my rear windshield out of metal without cutting and welding a million small pieces of plate. Does anyone have any insight or tips on this? I've watched some tutorials and whatnot but it seems basically like soldering.
Slightly longwinded so TLDR: Car has more parts removed and is slowly progressing.
We mocked up the group4 kit, it's not as wide as I was originally thinking which is nice. It looks like I'll be doing a good bit of clearance cutting and I'll probably extend the wheel wells out a bit to match the fiberglass profile so that rocks dont tear it up in the long run. The kit fits ok, the front bumper doesn't fit worth a shit and may need to be widened to the tune of about 4 inches, we couldn't get it remotely close to where it was supposed to be. Flying a little blind on fitting it, where specific contours go, etc so that'll be fun. I need to get off my butt and start cutting/replacing metal and slowly chip away at the rust. The car is starting to look pretty pathetic with everything off of it. I think for the sake of rigidity I will be extending the oem "frame rails" further back. As far as I can tell, the only reason my car hasn't split in half is because the roof and trans tunnel are still solid. The floors/lower door pillars sure as hell aren't structural anymore.
The dash is absolutely toast so we had fun removing it in a slightly less than "save everything" approach. I'm debating using the oem metal tray that everything attaches too, it may not look too bad flocked or coated in some way. If not it'll probably end up with a fiberglass cap over it as I will likely have a fairly minimal amount of gauges in the car, I'd like to keep it fairly clean and take a minimalist approach.
Once I finish removing all the dash components, the brake booster, pedal assembly and other under dash parts will be coming out. I plan on removing the oem blower motor/hvac box and removing the partition in the engine bay. Should help get the motor as far back as possible. If I feel fancy I may cut and section/indent that area so the motor can move back a little extra.
I've been reading into leading (mostly leadless versions for obvious reasons) so I can recontour a couple areas below my rear windshield out of metal without cutting and welding a million small pieces of plate. Does anyone have any insight or tips on this? I've watched some tutorials and whatnot but it seems basically like soldering.
Slightly longwinded so TLDR: Car has more parts removed and is slowly progressing.
Hey Wyatt,
Sounds like great progress. I haven't leaded a body in a while, and I am certainly no expert (perhaps real experts will chime in, too). But my success has involved a couple of key tips:
- CLEAN everything. The metal has to be clean, rust free, paint free - clean. The lead should be clean (sand it to get any dirt and impurities off of it before getting close to the car with it).
- tin the area really well - and a larger than you plan to lead. You don't want to go back and have to tin a bit more later - best to get it all right out of the gate.
- I prefer real lead versus the lead free stuff. It seems to flow better and stick better. At least that is my experience. Pretty easy to ventilate the area, wear a respirator, and clean up the shavings after filing (in my opinion).
Can't wait to see pics of your progress. And I love your minimalist approach on the interior/gauges, etc. That is going to look amazing!
Sounds like great progress. I haven't leaded a body in a while, and I am certainly no expert (perhaps real experts will chime in, too). But my success has involved a couple of key tips:
- CLEAN everything. The metal has to be clean, rust free, paint free - clean. The lead should be clean (sand it to get any dirt and impurities off of it before getting close to the car with it).
- tin the area really well - and a larger than you plan to lead. You don't want to go back and have to tin a bit more later - best to get it all right out of the gate.
- I prefer real lead versus the lead free stuff. It seems to flow better and stick better. At least that is my experience. Pretty easy to ventilate the area, wear a respirator, and clean up the shavings after filing (in my opinion).
Can't wait to see pics of your progress. And I love your minimalist approach on the interior/gauges, etc. That is going to look amazing!
LOL thanks for the optimism, it is definitely appreciated. I'll have to do some digging on legitimate leading. Most of what I've been researching revolves around leadless filler so I can sand it without toxicity issues. I definitely need to get some good protective gear, even with a basic face mask I still end up with a bunch of gunk in my nose after working for a few hours. I need to move the car from my garage into my shop so I can make as much noise as I want while my kid is asleep. That has been the main thing slowing me down with respect to stripping the body.
Belgiumbarry
Well-Known Member
almost a year later... no news = good news ?