The car: 1973 2002. Mechanically seems pretty sound, everything else needs work.

The Goal: A nice driver, learn a few things along the way.

Me: Limited mechanical skills but willing to learn!

Why blog: I'm hoping some of you who might read this have been down this path before and can help me with technical info and/or advice on what I should or shouldn't be doing.

What I (and a couple friends) have done in the last couple weeks:

Oil, coolant, and transmission fluid changes (now seems a bit of a waste, given what was discovered has made the car undrivable)

Removed the interior (save the dash) and stripped away most of the soul sucking sound deadening tar goo.

Removed the pedal box.

Stood around looking at all the rust on the floor pans, cursed loudly, spent many minutes wondering wtf I've gotten myself into.

Next steps - strip rest of the goo residue, cut out floor pans, weld replacement W&N parts in. Then worry about replacing the rusty sections of frame rail, which actually might get farmed out since its structural and shaping metal and welding is still new to me.