1970 2800CSA rust monster restomod

wizzurp

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Ok so I've owned this car for a couple years now and finally was able to get it inside.

Cliffs for the car: sat in a field since the 80's, tons of rust, completely original, clean title, absolutely disgusting and full of rat shit.

I figure this will be a good place to keep track of my progress, I plan on updating it as I go, it'll be a LOT of work. Lots of patch panels, welding, tinkering, and general modification.

Plans: 1JZ (lovely motorset sitting in my garage with a ready to rock harness) e28 subframes, lots of rust repair, considering doing an IE Group 4 widebody kit on the car because I'll be hacking the fenders/quarters anyways. Anyways here is the start.
 

wizzurp

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Cool project!

FYI - You can get the windscreen our yourseld with suction cup handles from HF.
Thanks, it'll be a LOT of work, I have a lot planned and I need to make regular time to work on it.

Ambitious project!
Want to sell that red fan?
Good to know, I'm going to have a friend help me because I'm terrified of breaking it. Also going to build a jig to support it while it sits. Pulling the back glass too. I'll probably leave the glass in the doors though. If you need the fan, yes I would be glad to sell it to you, I wont be keeping the m30

Lots of disturbing things in that video for E9 owners.
Perhaps most disturbing of all is cameraman appears to be naked :)
Hah, it's an awful candidate for an actual restoration so I don't feel too bad about doing what I'm doing with it.
The car is so gross, it's the only car I've ever felt the need for a respirator while disassembling, tons of rat shit, dust, silt, rust, etc so I pulled my shirt off after I was done for the evening. The video was an afterthought and I don't care if I show off my gut a little haha! :D
 

teahead

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Perfect candidate for a CSL Batmobile Group 2 or whatever project.

e.g.:

p90194029_highres_bmw-3-0-csl-hommage-.jpg
 

autokunst

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Wow - there are a lot of haunting similarities to several of your car's details to mine. That said, I am 100% behind your success! While ambitious, it looks like a great project to me. Can't wait to follow the progress. :)
 

wizzurp

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Perfect candidate for a CSL Batmobile Group 2 or whatever project.

e.g.:

p90194029_highres_bmw-3-0-csl-hommage-.jpg
That is a group 4 kit, definitely thinking this may be the route I'll be heading. I know a lot of people will think putting a Toyota motor in it will be stupid/sacrilege but it's a great motor, I already have it, and it's easy to keep reliable to power levels well past what I've got planned.

Wow - there are a lot of haunting similarities to several of your car's details to mine. That said, I am 100% behind your success! While ambitious, it looks like a great project to me. Can't wait to follow the progress. :)

It's going to suck, no doubt but I'm excited to have fun with it. I've had plenty of intensive projects, none with so much body/rust repair though. If it's not structurally sound, caging and connecting all the heavy load areas will make me trust it a little more.
 

wizzurp

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Whelp, this thing is definitely the nastiest thing I've ever worked on. Pounds, literally pounds of rat shit. Whole front cowl was full, glove box had a bunch, the whole area under both back seats, spare tire well, etc. Its like facemask/respirator grade.

Things I've done since my original post!
Pulled headlight trim/headlights
Pulled taillights
Pulled passenger seat, carpet, both rear seats and side panels, glove box, and a few other small things
Radiator and most auxiliary engine bay junk is gone
Both front and rear glass are loose/ready to pull, waiting on clearing them out a spot to completely pull them. I bought a bunch of pipe insulation to line their edges so hopefully mitigate their inevitable accidental bumps and dings
Pulled most of the trunk lining, vacuumed the whole trunk out after removing the spare (read ripping the mounting point off because it was seized and very rusty)
Engine is basically ready to come out, I need to drop the driveshaft and unbolt the trans/carb linkage, remove any other attachment points like powers/grounds

Absolutely trashed panels I've found so far:
Trunk floor
Passenger front and rear floor pans
Passenger lower front door skin
Passenger front lower panel behind wheel
Both front fender tops look to have random welding/brazing on them, they are very wrinkly for some reason
Holes in random panels left and right, staring into plastic covered interior holes shows rust in spots here and there

Goods:
Not many
Roof seems to be good so far
Trunk lid seems to need minimal work
Hood isn't awful
Rear quarters seem to be pretty decent so far (*knocks on wood*)
 

autokunst

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Wyatt, what I hear (read) is "progress". Keep at it and I am sure you'll get through any challenges. Any pics to share of the process?
 
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wizzurp

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It's going to take me an eternity. I need to buy a bead roller and I think I'm going to need a brake to get some of the shaping done accurately.

Thanks for the encouragement, this is a very discouraging car to tinker on. I will post some pictures this evening when I get the chance to get them off my phone and resize them.
Wyatt
 

teahead

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Ya, you may need to hire those guys from Project Binky. Those guys are masters of CARDBOARD-->OEM-looking Metal part.
 

wizzurp

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Here was one from last week. It's mostly me being grossed out and has a fun little time lapse of me tinkering. I'll do a useful one soon with some more documentation and less bitching.

Edit* profanity imminent
 
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eriknetherlands

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Are you considering having it fully/media sandblasted? Your car seems to be a good candidate for it, as there is no paint worth saving, and it'll show you which (exposed) areas need work. And it'll probably be nice knowing that you're starting with a clean basis....
 
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