Got under the dash and took the vent bucket thing off. Don't know the name for it though to see if I had any rust through. Thankfully I don't but it's pretty ugly up there. So I decided just to be safe and have peace of mind I'm going to cut out all of those lovely spot welds and take the top panel off, get both cleaned up and protected best I can and weld it back on IF the bottom is salvageable. I hope it is. That fun starts this week. Joy!

 

Today I decided to do some more sanding down to bare metal. Took it back to the door. There's some rust here and there. Nothing really bad but I was thinking the cowl is going to need some attention. And my fear is coming true. Lol. The cowl has a bunch of debris in it. Had my fingers crossed. Got out what I could on the one side but there's still plenty left in there.

 

Got the battery apron and rad support welded in and ground down last weekend. Instead of renting another welder I ended up buying the Eastwood Mig 135. Worked like a charm! Looks pretty good in my opinion for a driver.

 

Those floors don't look bad at all. Looks like wire brush and POR-15 time.

Even your defroster tubes are intact!

With the interior out, how is the mold smell? If it still smells, you may need to replace the front of dash insulation pad as well.

Are you going to go with standard or deluxe (Pony) interior? The cost difference for the seats is about $130. The seat cushions are different. I'm sure there are some members here who have a standard and a deluxe interior and can offer some advice as to which is more comfortable.

 

Yeah I'm lucky with the floors being pretty nice. The car looked solid when I bought it but you just never know until you start taking things off and digging in some more. So far so good!
I'm going to wire brush those rusty spots like you said then I'm going to put rust converter on it and then put rust encapsulator on. I'm thinking about coating the entire floor with something. Not sure yet. I knoe it's more "correct" to leave body color but I want it protected best I can and I'll never see the floors again the rest of my lifetime once carpeted.

It does have a musty smell still. I am replacing the dash pad because it's kinda messed up. Can't really tell in the pics. And I'm going to replace the headliner also. It has 3 holes in it. And I'm going with Pony interior. Not full on Pony though. No light in doors, no woodgrain dash bezel. Undecided on wood steering wheel, carpeted kick panels etc.

The defroster tubes hanging there looks funny. Lol. I haven't taken much out of the dash area yet. I'm not real good with wiring and everything else under the dash so I don't wanna just start yanking everything at once. But I have to eventually.

 

Nothing too crazy for tonight. Hopefully getting my battery apron and rad support welded in tomorrow but figured while I'm here I should go ahead and take out my seats and carpet and see what lurks underneath.
Luckily pretty nice as I assumed but some rust in the front areas. Nothing major. I was hoping to maybe find a build sheet or one of those funny cigarettes. But nope. Nothing. Lame. Lol.

 

welcome. nice start

 

Thank you.

 

Opposite situation here. I'm better with the mechanical/electrical than with body work.

Fortunately for 66 the base wheel cover looks nice. Or the one with the spinner, or the wire one. And now you can get one that mimics the Styled Steel wheel. Those make 4 bolts easier. The bigger limitation will be the 14" tire choices. You can get radials in WW or the reproduction bias plies. If you want the time machine effect and don't drive it a lot, there's nothing like the squirm and the "tracking" you get from the bias plies. If you don't like that kind of nostalgia, then it's radials.

I've experienced drum brake fade twice. On my 66 V8 it was coming off the interstate with a short ramp, then onto a 55 MPH road with poorly timed lights. Two more stops from 55 in the next mile and I could smell them and detect the fade. I made that into an educational opportunity for my sons. Drove a little slower to get in sync with the lights and all was soon well. Also once with my 66 I6. Getting caught every half mile on 8 Mile Rd, and after 4 or 5 of those noticed some fade. Know it's possible and it's easy to avoid.

 

Looks like a very solid car. Just an fyi, the holes in the re-pro aprons for the starter solenoid are a bit on the high side compared to the original panel. I didn't notice this on mine until after I had the engine compartment all painted. It pays to compare very every single hole, I learned this lesson on my own project.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't even give those a thought. I'll have to check into that.

 

I'm near Cleveland so I know all too well about the rust lol but this car was stored in a building for many years so I lucked out there. Thankfully. I'm not so smart mechanically but am better on the body side of things. I'm used to 1st like you said on the car that I drive now so it will be weird getting used to with reverse being there. And I drive a 5 speed. A 3 speed will be odd.

I got the crud out under the control arm. It was alot. What a bad design. And honestly I am not so sure about going to 5 lug. It's what I want now but tomorrow I could change my mind. And who knows, I might keep the drums in front. I'm kinda partial to originalty. We'll see.

 

That doesn't look bad for rust at all. Of course I'm near Detroit so we have a special relationship with rust.

Thumbs up on keeping the six. I have one with the 3 speed manual.. It's very driveable, even with AC running. You're not going to win any races, but when driving on 55 mph roads you can expect 28 mpg. The thing I find most annoying about the 3 speed is no synchro into first, and reverse being where we are used to finding first on the cars we drive regularly. If you can find a Dagenham or other 4 speed, go for it.

I don't know how familiar you are with the spark advance on those engines. In 1966, California emission cars had centrifugal and vacuum advance like the V8's. Federal cars had only vacuum advance combined with a carburetor advance port that would simulate centrifugal advance through that port. You cannot mix carb and distributor types unless you want over or under advance and the problems that creates.

Make sure you clean the crud out from the area under the upper control arm. My 66 had under 10,000 miles when I bought it and I couldn't believe how much mud and debris was in there.

What about the 4 lug wheel options from the 80's cars? That would seem more economical than changing the axle or the shafts.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

That's the most prime car for a Vintage Racecar I've ever seen!!!

Good luck with the build...

Allen

 

If only I was a speed guy. Im more of a "cruiser" type. Lol

 

I will be replacing the interior. Wish I didn't have to because it looks pretty good but because of the heavy mold I cannot get rid of the smell. Must be seeped into the seat foam etc. Sucks but it has to go. Keeping it black as of now.
Also I'm keeping it a 6 cylinder but am sending my rear axles out to get drilled for a 5 lug pattern for more wheel and tire size options and converting to disc brakes in the front. Keeping it manual steering and undecided on whether to convert to power brakes or not. As of now I'm keeping it as manual brakes.

 

And I did drill through the shock tower flange in the previous pics for that new panel instead of the panel itself. That is the most visible with hood open so I wanted to make it look as clean as I could.

 

I can't forget this part. Sent my steering box off to Chockostang the other day from the references on here. Talked to him on the phone a few times. What a friendly,

awesome and very knowledgeable guy. Thanks!

 

Now I'll skip ahead to current time. Engine bay pretty much stripped down. Bad panels off and ready for new. Test fitted. Everything looks good. Ready to weld today. Rented a welder but had issues. So I am farming it out for this.

 

Battery apron is toast. And the acid leaked onto my frame rail and core support. Cleaned up best I could with wire wheel and evapo rust. The evapo rust didn't do much but the inside of the crossmember I put rust encapsulator on. The corner where the rust was, wasn't the perfect job but it's going to be a driver and it will be fine for what it is. The exposed frame rail I will get on it more.

 

Started to take the paint off with a hand held sander and a dremel with the sanding cones for the tight areas. Luckily it's cleaning up nice. No rust!

Yes time consuming but it's cheaper and I have lots of free time after work. Divorced. Lol.

 

I'm trying to play catch up here but my first order of business was to start taking the front end apart as I want to strip the engine bay to bare metal and paint it. Paint looked decent but faded, some light rust and you never know what's lurking behind the paint just to make sure. I'm missing some pics in this sequence but I will get it current.