1st Generation Specific (1979-1985) 1979-1985 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections

update on project 83 GS restoration

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Old Jan 9, 2005 | 10:13 PM
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update on project 83 GS restoration

Ok, technically this isn't an update cause I've never posted anything else about this car. Anyway, for the last year I've been restoring a 83 GS that I rescued from a junkyard. Tore it totally apart, every nut, bolt, wire, hose, and piece of glass was removed from the car. Removed all the sound tar and undercoating, welded in patches where ever there was rust (which was a lot) and seam welded the whole car. Anyway, I'm about halfway (give or take) through the process of rebuilding the car. I just got done putting the engine/trans back in, by myself no less. Its definatly not a job to be done alone, but I did it anyway. I attached a pic of the engine bolted in the car, obviously a long way to go before it runs. Oh and its just a stock 12a, didn't even rebuild it cause I'm low on funds. Eventually (spring, hopefully) I'll build a SP12a for it, I have everything except the rebuild kit, so I'll have to do some saving. I'll have to get around to posting some pics of the rest of the car, once its done it should be pretty badass.
Sean
Attached Thumbnails update on project 83 GS restoration-12a-.jpg  
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Old Jan 9, 2005 | 10:39 PM
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Way ta go, grasshoppa! You've certainly made a lot of progress on that project! I remember the pix you sent me during the rip apart and weld back together phases! Lots of long nights working on that thing! It must be love!
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Old Jan 9, 2005 | 10:57 PM
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haha thanks ron, yea lots and lots of hours have been put into that thing. Haven't added it all up, but its gotta be more than a thousand, its been over a year, and until this fall i was working on it every night for hours and hours. I don't even wanna know how much I've spent so far, it would make me cry. haha
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 07:53 AM
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Sean, gotta love the dirt floor. Give me a call when you need something heavy lifted.

John
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 10:21 AM
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sean...you can give me a call when you don't need something heavy lifted...

you've got alot done so far man...and its COLD...you can sure hang during rough weather :eek
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 10:33 AM
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That's great Sean! Hoping to have that thing running by the time camping season rolls around?
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 10:35 AM
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Allright, a few people want me to post more pics, so I shall. I have like almost 600 that I've taken throughout this whole thing, so finding ones that are good enough to post was kinda hard, most of them are up close detail shots to remind me how it goes back togther. Anyway, the 1st pic was taken back in march, right after i stripped all the sound tar out and found all the rust. The 2nd pic is of it months later (out of order time wise i know) after all the rust has been fixed and after I painted the engine bay and interior. You can see bondo etc on teh outside of the shell as I was getting it ready for primer. The third pic jumps back a few months to what I was left with after cutting out all the rust on teh driver side wheel well. It was at this point that I was seriously questioning whether I could pull this off, but as you'll see in the next pic I was able to. Made a whole new well out of several pieces of 16 ga mild steel. Not too pretty, but strong as hell. The last pic just gives a rough idea of what I was up to with the seam welding, you can also see how i repaired the giant rust hole at the base of the strut tower. I also seam welded the frame rails running the lengh of the car, and just about everything in between. I think from start to finish I went through like a dozen of the 1lb spools of wire in my MIG. Anyway, the car is much further along than these pics indicate, as shown in the first post of this thread, It's still in primer, but a good part of the interior is back in, and obviously the engine as well. I wanna make it run before i paint it, so hopefully soon. Comments welcome, as long as they aren't "you suck"
Sean
Attached Thumbnails update on project 83 GS restoration-1.jpg   update on project 83 GS restoration-2.jpg   update on project 83 GS restoration-3.jpg   update on project 83 GS restoration-4.jpg   update on project 83 GS restoration-5.jpg  

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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 11:27 AM
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That's really impressive, Sean!
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 11:56 AM
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thanks tom, and everyone. And yes I plan on having it done by spring, so if we camp it *should* be there. we'll see how that goes.....
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 01:08 PM
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looks great, got any before pics?
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Old Jan 10, 2005 | 09:02 PM
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i have a few pics before i really got into it, but i had done a few things to it. As I stated earlier i got it from a junkyard, it was someones unfinished project that they had given up on. Anyway, I attached one pic, kinda gives you an idea, beat to ****, but complete so I went with it
Attached Thumbnails update on project 83 GS restoration-000_0640.jpg  
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