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Time to pause and bask in the glory for a moment

So it’s been about 4-1/2yrs since I drug the carcass of this car home.     In that time I’ve replaced the ENTIRE trunk floor (including the tray between the wheel wells, the rear panel, all of the floor pans, both outer rockers, repaired both inner rockers, replaced the drivers frame rail, repaired the pass rail, removed and reattached the nose, replaced the majority of the firewall (including remaking the area around the heater box), swapped both doors, replaced the left A sheet and h

We have hydraulic systems... among other things

It’s hard to remember all of things that have taken place since last I updated this blog but here it goes:   With the shortblock/trans/subframe in the car I turned my attention to the shift tower. I’m using the early style linkage as that’s what I had available to me. I shortened the the tower to fit centered in the opening in the tunnel, then cut down the shift rod to match. All new bushings/isolators/and a shortened support rod were installed.   I ended up ordering a new clutc

VWJake

VWJake

It fits!

I’ve been getting a few things done on the Chamonix ‘73. The pedal box, bracket, booster, and MC are in. I’ve fab’d new brake lines for the front of the car.    I replaced the rear main seal, I removed the front cover, bead blasted it, installed a new crank seal and reinstalled the cover. I installed a freshly cut flywheel, a new 228mm Sachs clutch kit, and a new 323i throw out bearing. I bolted some other painted parts to the block getting ready to bolt the engine to the subframe.  

VWJake

VWJake

Assembly of the engine bay has begun in earnest

Since it was a year between my last two updates I’m going to try to update this each time I work on the car.   Last fri I glued in the firewall pad. Tonight I glued the outer insulation pad to the pedal box, repaired and re-wrapped the bulk of the engine bay wiring, and installed the coil/resistor/relay, and the pedal box/booster/brackets.     

VWJake

VWJake

Where to even begin...

I glanced at my blogs and realized that the last update on this car was a year ago, almost to the day.    Progress has been made. I spend a few hrs on it two nights a week most weeks.    The huge win for this car was replacing the non-existent left frame rail. I bought a one from W+N. This was a project that I “saved”. Fear of the unknown kept me from diving into it sooner. After repeatedly pulling measurements and studying the frame measurement sheet in Bl

VWJake

VWJake

Nearing the end of the back end

Since the last update I’ve managed to complete the installation of the replacement trunk floor, the Jaymic spare tire well, a replacement tail panel, a new valence panel for that tail panel, delete the exhaust cutout in said valence panel, hang a trunk lid, replace the RR quarter panel bottom, and welded up the wheel opening on the RR corner.              The bulk of the repairs to this point have been pretty straight forward. The

VWJake

VWJake

New shoes and spare tire well

One of the many projects that I’ve been dreading on this car is replacing the trunk floor. Not just the part aft of the wheel wells, I mean the entire trunk floor. When I bought the car the gas tank was about the only thing holding the center of the trunk floor up. The brace down the center of the floor was no longer attached to the floor. There was no bottom to the spare tire well and the quarter panels were the only things keeping the tail panel attached to the car. I’d cut the main portion of

VWJake

VWJake

Had to refill my shielding gas tank

I’ve been steady chipping away at the metal work on the ‘73. Since my last update I’ve completed repairing the left side inner rocker, install the left outer A-sheet, installed the left outer rocker, fitted and mostly welded in the left side quarter repair panel. I recreated the left rear fender mount, installed a new wing sheet on the left side, replaced the left side door hinges and hung a door and fender on the left side and lined everything up.         

VWJake

VWJake

Chugging right along

Since my last update I’ve managed to finish welding in the LR floor pan and the replacement rear seat support.  I added a few more braces to the compartment in anticipation of the complete removal of the left outer rocker and the outer A-pillar cover sheet. I also removed a section of the left quarter panel to facilitate removing the outer rocker. The remaining outer rocker came off without incident.   I’ve started making repairs to the inner rocker. The bottom 1-1/2” or so

VWJake

VWJake

Project speed ramping up

This fall the tent that I used to store the ‘73 shredded. I moved the car to the shop I co-own now and have decided to stay late on Fri and Sat nights to make progress on the car.    Knowing that this car will be my “hot rod” I’ve been acquiring go fast parts for it. So far I have a set of Bilstein HDs, a Weber 38/38, an IE 292 cam, a 3.91 LSD, an IE stainless header, ansa full exhaust, a 320is steering wheel, and high bolster bucket seats from an ‘84 Ford SVO.    Since I mov

VWJake

VWJake

Slow summer

Progress on the 02s has been slow. I’ve been placing orders here and there for little things mostly-hardware, rebuild kits, exhaust, seals, etc. The type of stuff that you forget about until it’s 10:30 on a Sunday and you realize you don’t have enough clips to install the trim.    The ‘73 now has both right side floor pans replaced. I’ve also replaced the last 18” or so of the frame rail on the right side. There is still some welding to do on those pans but I want the car in the air fo

VWJake

VWJake

Floor pans- new used parts

Since the right rockers are now whole again and the quarter panel is still off I decided the next order of business was the floor pans. They are all almost a total loss. LR: RF:   LF: The plywood does a good job of covering the bulk of the hole.   Removing the rear seat support was a quick task as only the welds on the top of the tunnel and the sides of the rockers were holding it on. Started by removing the outer seat rail. I then used a body saw

VWJake

VWJake

Let the fun begin

I liberated the right outer wheel housing from this car last year to help save the '68 that was T-Boned. After looking at all 3 outer wheel housings this spring I decided I had enough metal that I could make two parts...   This is really where I decided to commit to saving this '73. I have no intention of building a trailer queen from this pile. It's going to be a safe/sound driver that I'm not going to be paranoid about. As a college school student I made some doodles of my 1600

VWJake

VWJake

seperation of builds

I originally bought 2 cars- a '68 and a '69 in a package deal in 2016. Within a year this '73 popped up on CL as a parts car. It had been stripped of most anything small/easily removed and left for dead after a stalled restoration some 15+ yrs ago.         When I bought this car my initial intention was to harvest a quarter panel, wheel housing, nose, hood, and any other useful sheet metal for patches to repair my '68 and '69s. After I got the car home and cl

VWJake

VWJake

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