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About this blog

I found a `74 2002tii just around the corner from my home that had been sitting for ~30 years following a relatively minor front end collision. It looked like a great project to get into and I was able to pick it up from the owner that at this point just didn't think he'd ever get around to bringing it back to life. The tires held air for a few hours at least and it rolled easy enough, so we pushed it the half mile to my house where I'm getting started on the restoration.

Entries in this blog

Body Work

Stripping the interior body

Nothing like starting with the biggest most tedious job on the entire restoration. It will certainly be a huge step forward when the body is all stripped, prepped and painted, but it is certainly quite a lot of work. I figured I'd go about this large sections at a time. First the interior, then engine bay, then trunk, then underbody and finally the exterior. With each large section I'll strip it, take care of any little bit of rust that I find, prep and prime it.   Starting with the in
Body Work

Fire and Ice (Insulation Removal)

Between weather and life I've had virtually no time to work on the car. Finally the last couple weekends I was able to get back to it for a bit and removed all the insulation on the inside of the body. I used a combination of dry ice for most of the insulation that was along the floor and a torch for the parts that weren't. Overall it went fairly easily, but there were certainly some areas that were more stubborn than others.   Nice thing about using dry ice is the clean up is very eas
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attilars in Body Work

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Body Work

Disassembly is Done and Body Work Can Begin

It took some time, but overall everything came apart fairly easily and I removed the last part from the body yesterday (other than doors and trunk lid that are staying on for now just as an easy place to store).      Next I plan to get started on the body. I took one of the front fenders that was in pretty bad shape and started experimenting with it. It has about 1 million dings on it as well as some rusted out sections. It is bad enough that I may end up deciding not to use
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attilars in Body Work

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Getting Started

Disassembly Continues...

As I have some time here and there, I've been continuing to take things apart. The front and rear suspension have been completely removed and fully disassembled. Overall things came apart very easily. There was plenty of dirt in areas. The rear subframe have about 3/4" of dirt built up on it, but on the plus side the subframe itself looks nearly new underneath all the dirt. Either way everything will get blasted and refinished. I found a set of Bilstein inserts in the front that look decent. I'l
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attilars in Getting Started

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Getting Started

Engine, Trans, Front Subframe Removal

Things have been busy over the Summer (plus hot) and I also decided to tackle a small side project prior to taking much else of the car. There was a section of dirt on the side of my house in front of where the car was currently parked that I've been wanting to pave for a while and I decided now was the time to get it done. After getting a few quotes that were quite a bit more then wanted to pay, I decided to do most of the prep work myself and just hire a couple finishers to help with the poor.
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attilars in Getting Started

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Getting Started

Assessing Body Panels

Although the car was missing all front end panels, the previous owner had collected various parts that could potentially be used to put it back together and as part of the sale he offered to include any of those parts that could be used. That included a pair of front fenders, hood and nose panel. They certainly weren't in perfect condition, but I took them anyhow and last weekend spent a bit of time cleaning them up and took a closer look.   The nose panel is likely in the best shape w
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attilars in Getting Started

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Getting Started

As I found it...

I spotted it through a gate when driving by. I saw it had a flat tire, so figured I'd ask about it. Turned out it was a late production `74 tii with the original engine. The car was in a front end collision in 1992 where it dove under a larger vehicle. This resulted in damage to the hood and top of the front fenders and nose. The owner had planned to repair it himself, but other priorities kept getting in the way and unfortunately it never got done. Most of the last 30 years it spent in a garage
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attilars in Getting Started

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