GTA Rebuild Underway....

So, I have started the ball rolling and spent yesterday stripping the interior and front bumper. The side and footwell carpets are ok, but the main strips which run under the seats to the rear are shot. Seats came out after snapping just about every bolt! It was difficult to counter-hold the hex headed bolts inside the seat runners so these will be eventually going back in with socket caps!





While I continued, my wife cleaned downed all of the leather with saddle soap (top tip for anyone with leather to clean - it's cheap and works a treat!) with pleasing results -



Next the front bumper was removed which gave me chance to both inspect the rubbish repair previously carried out with bits of timber -



And inspect the front subframe. This looks generally ok (phew!) with surface rust but no severe corrosion or holes. The front dampers are still the adjustable Koni's which where on the car when I owned it first time around!



The jacking points seem reasonable with some surface corrosion but nothing too serious as as I tell. The rear subframe however is another story! The area around top wishbone mounts next to the exhaust manifolds are totally cream crackered! This will wait however until the winter when I will have more time to concentrate on it, for now I will continue stripping the front end and treating / painting the front subframe and suspension. Not sure yet if the front bumper will repair ok or if I'm better searching for a good condition replacement.

Andy.

[Alpineandy]

Next the front bumper was removed which gave me chance to both inspect the rubbish repair previously carried out with bits of timber -

I see what you mean there. They really should have used some wood screws at least!


Good luck.

[phildini]

Full Leather everywhere.............. NICE!

Next the front bumper was removed which gave me chance to both inspect the rubbish repair previously carried out with bits of timber -

I see what you mean there. They really should have used some wood screws at least!


Good luck.

I hope that is damp treated timber they used, would be a real cowboy job if not

Don't talk to me about woodscrews, the whole bumper was fixed using a nice mix of slot and cross head No 8's , as was the drivers door pull handle...

Andy

[Alpineandy]

Don't talk to me about woodscrews, the whole bumper was fixed using a nice mix of slot and cross head No 8's , as was the drivers door pull handle...
Andy

That is odd.
I understood from Clee & Mr Taylor that the standard fixing for these items are cable -ties!

Must be an Old Skool pikey fix innit

[simontaylor]

Cable ties are the way to go.
Cheaper, lighter and quicker to fix than screws.

Hi arn't you the lucky one, only 2 of the four bolts snapped on my drivers seat and it took Mr Dell and myself armed with all sorts the best part of 5 hours to get the seat out!! thats why the carpet and passenger seat have not yet been removed from my car ....I dont want to create any more problems at the moment I think the rear seats are going to be the same too

si21

Started constructive work at last!

After what seems like ages spent ripping the car to bits, today was spent cleaning, rubbing down, treating and spraying the subframe we picked up from big MVS. First off, was the cleaning off of any loose & flakey areas -



Next up was a 'rust remedy' treatment to turn any of the surface rust to a black paintable surface. The subframe was in good nick, just minor surface stuff -



Finally managed to get a few coats of cold galv etch primer onto it before getting dark -



It will be getting a satin black topcoat before we embark on the big 'swap'.

Finally feels like the car is slowly on the way to recovery! I am also going to make a new headlamp mounting plate for the near side as the old one is cream crackered, so have the near side to use as mirror image template. Hopefully have something knocked up in the coming weeks...

Andy.

[BIG_MVS]

Looking good, keep up the good work

Looking good, keep up the good work

Ditto Andy, It is looking good. Keep it going.

How much work is involved in removing a rear subframe for renovations?

Does the engine remain in the car or come out with the subframe?

[stephendell]

Usually easier to take it all out if it's the first time but Mr Gamblen managed to keep his in second time around with some carefully placed supports.

hello!
Good work you are doing for the frame restoration!
I'm doing the same thing on my project GTA, i have the rear subframe completely removed, but i would like to take more care on the front frame also.
Do you know what could be a good way of work? I think the front subframe is glued to the fiberglass and it would be a pain to take it of... now im disassembling Everything in the front of the car ( bumbers, radiators, hoses, fuel tank...just everything...) for see what i can do to the front subframe when i see it clearly...

Thanks for the encouragement chaps!!

Cineman - Sounds like I'm in a similar situation to you. The front end doesn't look anything like as bad as the rear, lots of surface rust but have not seen any deep rot. Like you, I believe that some of the front subframe is bonded into the body, something I don't want to disturb unless I really have to... Have a good search through some of the older posts on this forum, there is lots of useful information in here

Andy