81' FB restoration
 

Hello everyone,

Well this started as a ill timed radiator leak. I was about to head down to the Lake Hartwell Lakehouse meet in Ga and the day before th erad starts leaking. I missed the meet and got the itch to restore the FB.

A little history on the FB , I bought it for 500.00 dollars:D I had seen it under a car port for a couple years. Then one day I saw someone outside and stopped in. Long story short 500 bones and I drove it home.

So Far I have put 20 bucks worth of U-joints in the Driveshaft, New rotors and pads up front, and a set of HTR 200's in the back.It went for 15k miles this year before the rad problem!! Awsome little bugger. best 500 I ever spent.

So far I have gutted the enginebay in preperation for a good cleaning, sanding priming and then paint. All teh suspension pieces up front will be pulled and painted as well. All bushings will be replaced, etc..

Here is the start of what I did in the last 24 hours. Past the point of no return!!

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Not bad for a few hours work removing 28 year old rusted body fasteners!! More pics to come as I do more stuff

Another 1/2 hour and the engine and trans are out of there home. And man it is dirty:D

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Got the entire engine bay gutted. Steering box and shaft and all. In a couple days I will have it up on stands and drop the front suspension and cradle. Also I will drop out the drum rear end in preperation for the LSD disc brake rear end:D

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taken with my jetpack!!
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I am pretty excitedabout getting to do this finally. Even the wife is into it...the planets are in alignment:D

See, that is why I love FB's. You can tear them apart in no time, so simple!!

Good look, and can't wait to see the results!

My only complaints so far is that 1) The main harness is a mile long and has to be pulled back thru the firewall.( Seriously thinking about doing a bulkhead conector) and 2) The clutch master nut(top one) is almost impossible to get my big ass heands into with any tool. Other than that I am really liking the FB

Some shots of the little parts after a coat of POR15. So far the clutch master and slave, brake booster and master, battery tray, and heater hose pipe(not shown).
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EEEEW!! 28 years of grimey build up!!
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Here is what happened after cleanig. Much better looking. Still have the oil pan to clean better and paint tomorrow. Also the radiator shrouds are in 3 coats of rustoleum for rott stop( out of POR15), Then tomorrow they get primered, sanded and sprayed in black base/clear coat. Should be slick.

The engine I am leaving all Aluminum colored until I rebuild it. The water pump will be black and the alternator and The intake manifold are getting color matched to the enginebay. Sanding the enginebay tomorrow as well. Got it nice and clean with the pressure washer and SG. Hopefully doing the tranny as well tomorrow, lots on the plate though. It will be Aluminum as well. Still shooting for a completed enginebay by next weekend hopefully. I still have the cradle and suspension to tend to paint wise as well. And the rear axle...It never ends!! But I love it. Kinda sick

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Some shots of yesterday and todays progress. Rust taken off to bare metal and spot primed to stop flash rust.

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2 coats of sealer to start things off. Hopefully shooting primer tonight. We'll see how it plays out.

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so i take it your going to restore it to originalish color

Hot damn. If I had another car, I'd be motivated to rip mine apart and clean it. This thread is motivational

No not original colors. It was a white car to begin life. I got it and cleaned up some rust spots and removed and filled the badge holes etc.. I then put it in a coat of black epoxy primer. ( which it still is in)
The car is going to get a 2 tone job. The enginebay and topp of the car are going to be a PPG Brilliant orange. Similar to the 350Z and Honda VTX cruiser bike color. The bottom half of the car is getting a gloss black( On the fence about throwing some small copper flake in it as well)

Hopefully I will spray the enginebay tomorrow. I still need to wetsand the primer down tonight or tomorrow morning. Then it is ready for color and clear. The wheel wells are going to get a truck bed coating or a rubberized undercoat of some sort. As will the entire underside of the car eventually.

I just got back from a buddies house 20 minutes ago with the GSL disc brake LSD rear end that is getting put in. As well yesterday I got the full RE-Speed(energy suspension) bushing kit. Installing those bits as well next week if all goes well.

well i was incorrect, lol

Here is the initial pics of the newly aquired GSL rear end. The chunk is in the garage, just forgot to take a pic of it. I did a quick wire wheel on the right side of the axle to remove the rust. Then it started raining and I covered it up and came inside:D Going to POR15 it and then some gloss black. with a color matched center I think. 100 dollar rear end is a good thing. Now I have disc breaks and LSD. I already refurbished the GSL M/C and booster to go with the new discs.

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Really great post, I can't wait to see the finished car.

Good job man - I like it when somebody takes the time to do it right, reminds me of somebody I know... ;)

Cant wait to see the orange... I've thought of doing an Orange FB... not sure if I can do the bright orange though...