'73 Wagon for Dwight (bugdewde)

[bugdewde]

Well..... most of you know I've been wanting an early wagon for one of my 215s for several years now.

Answered an add on Craigslist inquiring about the body. Was stated to be "rust free".... needs minor engine work (SBC 350).
You know I'm not interested in the 350, so I ask if they would sell without the engine. And I also request some pics of specific areas (typical rust areas). No reply.
After a couple weeks, I get a reply and the body will be sold without the motor/trans....at half of the original price. Cool.
It's 4+ hours away..... but I'm thinking I'm getting a great deal on a "rust free" body. So I get my buddy, his tow vehicle and a car hauler trailer and I'm off and away straight after my midnight shift to check out the "rust free" body.... with money and a tow vehicle.... just in case.

WOW! Car is not "rust free" at all.
Hole at the driver's wiper nacelle.
Spare tire well is SHOT!
Battery Tray area is practically non-existant.
Passenger door above the striker has rust.
Doors are almost flappers in the corners.

Floor pans appear solid, as do the quarters, rockers(dented) and control arm mounts.... so I'm thinking it's worth about 1/3 of our agreed price.
That's what I offer. No dice. Since I drove 5.5 hours and lots of diesel fuel in my buddy's rig.... and not wanting to go home empty handed, I make another offer and dude takes it.
Was I happy about the deal? No.
Is it too much for me to tackle? Yes.
But the major hurdle is over... I now have one.
Let the build up begin.

Buddy says he can weld me in some sheet metal at the battery tray area. We'll make the spare tire well the new battery box(maybe).

Jason at Overkill Racing will be hearing from me soon..... after I talk to Nic about some suspension basics and specifics.

Now I need a T-5 with 0.63:1 OD..... cross member, too.
Front lower valance ('73)
Rear valance
DOORS!
Hood release cable
...... and no telling what else!









I'm not smiling because I'm tickled pink about the car.... I'm delirious.... I've been up since yesterday at 2 pm.... midnight shift sucks!
Car is stored at Buddy's place about an hour away.... so I'll have to get pics of the rusty areas later.
More to come.

[cjbiagi]

It looks a lot better than I thought it would from your description.

[cosworth0135]

im with clyde, i just drug the younger brother home 2 weeks ago, left at mid night got home at 630pm,mine is a 76 and the brunt of the rust was in the front floor pans, both need re done but drivers is worse, but your doors aren't as bad as i thought they would be, looks good from the pics, good starting point

[bugdewde]

Yeah, looks can be deceiving. That's what I thought when I saw the pics in the ad. I'll post some pics of the rusty areas as I get them.

If you remember my '72 Hatchback that I sold to Yenkoboy(pics are on my cardomain site, see link in signature):
- the spare tire well is worse than the '72, but it isn't into the inner quarters, simply the bottom of the well is gone.
- battery area is almost as bad as my current '73. Looks like the frame rail is solid, but pitted. Body metal that attaches to the frame rail at the battery area is completely gone/brittle. Frame rail on passenger side has been notched for radiator clearance.
- the hole at the wiper nacelle is about the size of a pencil lead... but the area is pitted badly (painted over).
- the driver's door has a hole/weak spot up near where the A-pillar and door body meet.
- both doors are rusted and seperating at the lower rear corners.
- passenger side door jam has bubbling and deformation just a couple inches above the striker bar.

While I'm really into daily drivers and occasional autocross use, I think I'm gonna do this one a little differently from my usual stock bolt-on upgrades from 2nd gen h-bodies.
Intended Modifications:
-More track friendly. Overkill Racing economy front control arms with sway bar mounts (or my stock GT arms from the parts car).
-More fiberglass/lightweight parts...
- Hood - to offset the extra 30 lbs of the 215.... and battery relocation to rear.
- Doors? .... with real glass windows? Is that even possible?
-2nd gen 7.5" rear with 2.9x ratio with 3-link torque arm/panhard bar (bought it years ago for $10). May add limited slip later.
-Mustang rear disc brakes... buddy can get them cheap and uses them on his Duster.
-Spindle/brake upgrade???? (S-10 maybe?) ..... to get 5-lug and go with 16 or 17" wheels.
-T-5 with 0.63:1 overdrive. I've had success with the T-50 in the 215-powered '72 and could easily swap that in, but I want more OD than 0.80:1. Maybe break 30 mpg this time.

Of course, I know things will change and I will change my mind, too.

[bugdewde]

Found a cell phone pic of the battery tray area the previous owner had.

Battery Tray Area:
Doesn't encroach too much up the inner fender, but the local area is toast.





Notched Frame Rail:
The frame rail feels solid while it is pitted pretty badly. I think we can just buzz some metal into the frame rail where it was notched out and be OK. I hope.

[vegastre]

Very nice find. Just admiring the lines of the wagon sitting on the trailer =)

Not to worry,
I have seen worse...like on my Astre. Not fun work but treat it as a challenge and its not so bad. The trick is repairing it so it doesn't look like a shade tree welder got hold of it. Rust and H-Body cars are synonymous with restoring these cars. Happy welding to you.

[hbodyfan]

Yep, from the pictures that wagon looks really nice. The Battery tray is typical rust but won't be that hard to fix. If there's any rust in the cowl that would be the hard part to fix. Still, it looks real solid and a good start on a cool project.

[bugdewde]

DISASSEMBLY BEGINS!!!
Went down to visit the car at my buddy's place(60 miles away).
Removed the seats and carpet for closer inspection of the floors and such. The floors are completely solid with no weak spots or rust through anywhere.
The spare tire well is gone, as mentioned but the trunk floor above the fuel tank has one small rust hole.













Doors are pretty bad, also.


Top of Driver's Door near top hinge:
Driver's door lower hinge:
Passenger side door jam.... rust above the striker pin:
Passenger door hinge:

[vegastre]

Rust Never Sleeps...Just two words.

Grinder, fiberglass, welding.

I lied three words. Like I said treat it as a challenge and it will go fast.

[cosworth0135]

your right but yall look into "metal rescue" and ultra one , they are rust removers. Timmy

[bugdewde]

Added the metal rear valance that Gil (gmagilla) made for a HATCHBACK ...... I'm attempting to use it on a WAGON- which is slightly different.
See his handywork here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=35689

It's not mounted, just hanging with some wood screws that were lying around.

This valance is made for a Hatchback but it looks like it will work on the Wagon with some tweeking. My bumper mounts are not available so the bumper couldn't be mounted to see how it all ties together.



Notice the radius isn't exactly right for the wagon body but it should be close enough to work with.


Hanging a bit low because the mounting screw isn't tight.... just a wood screw that was lying around

[gmagilla]

Would like to see some pics of the others I've sold , are the wagons quarter that different ?

[gmagilla]

Two suggestions , cut a piece of metal to match radius of quarter and tack it to back side then smooth with putty or cut it out exactly to butt weld into radius of end piece on valance .

It's 18 ga. metal .

[bugdewde]

Front Suspension Exploration.... checking to see if I can remove the control arm bolts:





7 of the 8 control arm bolts came out with minimal effort. This one, the driver's rearmost lower was fused to the inner sleeve and would not budge. Liberal amounts of penetrant and a large hammer and a brass drift pin eventually drove the cam bolt free!
I had to take a pic of it. It's my first successful removal of the front control arm bolts. I attempted some once before around '95 and was very unsuccessful .......

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Replaced the rusty doors with some nice clean ones from http://www.under1981.com . Even the door seals are in great shape!!!!

[bugdewde]

Picked up a non-world class T-5 from an '86 Camaro. The numbers indicate this is the 2.76:1 first gear with the 0.63 overdrive. Just what I was looking for!
My 215 will only be putting out about 250 ft-lbs torque and the Wagon should be well under 2500 lbs so I hope this weaker version will live a long time in there.



Now, I'll have to figure out how to mount it..... I like OldsStarfire's way of using a truck leaf spring U-bolt over the tailshaft and into the stock crossmember mount. Seems easy.

Also, looking at doing the 3-link rear conversion. This will require a torque arm mount to be fashioned somehow to either the trans tail shaft or the crossmember.... ?????