A look back.... Engine Bay Transformation

We first started working the front of the car and the engine bay in July 2009. Yesterday we shot a couple coats of Slicksand for the last stage of block sanding before top coat materials are applied. The engine bay will be shot with a black base coat and a pre-flattened urethane clear coat for durability.

How it looks Now:


While it now is in good shape, smooth, rust free, it didn't start that way. Some of these pics are in previous blog entries but thought I would summarize here:

The old suspension components were in bad shape, all rusted and completely locked up. We made quick work of them.





Over the years, battery acid eventually rusts out the battery tray, front apron, core support, and frame rail if not fixed. Unfortunately, needed all those things repaired. You can see that someone attempted a very poor repair using some galvanized sheetmetal and riveted it in place. You can get an idea of the frame rail in this pic.



Frame rail rust:





Only about 15" of the frame rail was rusted, so we replaced that with new metal.

Matt welding the new section in:








Core support and front apron cut off and ready for the scrap yard.






We cut out the shock towers also in preparation for the blockoff plates that are used with the Rod and Custom MII front suspension setup.





Block off plates and other sheetmetal smoothing:





New Core Support and Front Apron:





All sheetmetal finished up: