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9/15/03
I had a interesting and pleasant start to the week. I received this e-mail from a fellow CT (Chevy Talk) member:
"Hi,
I was just checking out your website and noticed something. In one picture
there sits a steering wheel on the floor of the 57. I could be wrong, but
it looks like the rare 64 GTO wood steering wheel option. It could be an
aftermarket one, but in the pic it sure looks like the GTO one. If it is
the real thing it's worth around $500 in not so great shape to $1200 for
mint. Check it out before you toss it!!! I have 2 64 GTOs and 2 wood
wheels. It's not real wood, it's plastic grained to look like wood.
Brad_bb"
After e-mailing a couple of pictures to Brad, he identified it as a 1964 GTO steering wheel. This wheel was just laying in the trunk of the old girl!
I was planning on throwing the "old thing" out!
It's now on E-bay, sitting at $274.00 as of Sunday night.
What a pleasant surprise! Things don't happen to me like this.
Thanks very much Brad!
9/20/03 to 9/21/03
My compressor showed up this week. 6.5 HP, 80 gallon 2 stage.
Probably more than I need, I'd rather have more than I need.
This took the help of 3 guys I work with to get it out of the truck and in place. Thanks Jerry, Don and Nate.
I wired it in myself, no sparks or anything! What a lucky week.
This is the hand held sandblaster I bought from Snap On.
Behind it is the brake-dash support, I practiced a bit on it.
I didn't have any eye protection or face mask so I didn't practice long. That sand hurts!!
This is what it looked like when I started.
This is what 100lbs of silica sand and 3 1/2 hours got me.
Just the metal GM gave her left. The gun did a really good job. My index finger feels like I have been playing a marathon of video games from pulling the trigger for several hours.
I had hoped to get farther, it takes a bit more time than I thought.
I thought this was pretty, the sun was setting to the west (as usual) and I thought the old girl looked pretty good.
Looks like Christmas in September.
That stuff goes everywhere and I mean everywhere!
This is not a fun job, but the results are well worth it.
My ears are full, my shoes are full, just no way to avoid it.
I'm taking a week off from work starting Wednesday, I hope to have the remaining interior blasted during this time so I can get the floor pans in.
9/24/03 to 9/25/03
I am so blasted sick and tired of sandblasting, great way to spend a weeks vacation huh?
Anyway, here's the passenger rear blasted clean of rust and old paint.
Over the next few picture there was another 200lbs of sand used. It did a great job of removing everything.
Remember how the drivers side B pillar support looked?
This is the passenger side support, it's complete and intact.
After being cleaned up the support looks really good.
Getting behind it to clean things up was a real pain.
I'm not going to remove this one, it can stay right where it is. It will give me some point of reference as the passenger side is not lining up as well as I would like.
I blasted the dash and firewall also. I wanted to do all I could on the interior while the floor pans were out. I thought this way there would be less clean up inside the car.
I left the top of the dash untouched for right now, it will be MUCH easier after the windshield is removed.
Notice the seam sealer GM used on the transmission tunnel. That is some TOUGH stuff! It wouldn't hardly budge, gotta be good metal under that. I'm leaving it alone.
This shows the passenger toe board. The area at the bottom is badly rusted out so I didn't waste any time or sand on it.
Also in this picture is the front floor support. It is also badly rusted and will be replaced
After a little modification with the cut-off wheel, the rusted portion is gone.
I've also removed the front floor support, this little bugger also required the cut-off wheel. The body mount bolt was as rusted as the support.
The rusty looking thing in the center of the picture is a A shaped support that runs from the front body mount to the floor pan toe board seam.
Here is a comparison of the new passenger toe panel and the section I've removed from the car.
The excess sheet metal from the new piece will come in really handy for some small spot repairs needed.
Would you believe this is the rocker panel on the passenger side? What is wrong with me, there must be something out there easier to fix!
In addition this side was in much better shape than the drivers side, I actually used this side as a guide while working on the drivers side.
It wont be here long!
POOF! It's gone.
It actually took me an hour and a half to do it properly. I took some pics of drilling out the spot welds but they didn't turn out.
Other than the roof and two sets of body mounts nothing is holding this old gal together now.
Here is the old rocker (inner and outer) from the passenger side. The forward portion is incredibly solid.
As you can see at some point in time someone used Bondo liberally to try and make it straight.
Dumb, dumb dumb!
I hope to have the floor pans and rockers screwed in place soon, thanks for looking!
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