vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

Hey Guys,

I just finished writing this story to a friend, and thought I'd share with you the latest project I've gotten involved in - the restoration/kick-assification of an '85GSL that belongs to my friend Eric. It starts with the '84GSL Eric was driving last year.

Well, Eric's car is a bit of a long story , so sit back and enjoy


Last fall, he parked his 84GSL in his dad's garage for the winter. We were going to work on it over the winter (clean the engine bay, rebuild the carb, change the brakes, install the new Eibach/Tokico suspension he bought etc...) but about halfway through the winter we realized that the floor of the car was rusted through so badly that the car wasn't salvagable. I mean, his lower control arm (driver's side, rear) had torn right through the floor and there was megarust in under the bins. There was not enough solid metal left to weld the control arm's mount back to the underside of the car and it was obvious that the others weren't far behind.

It was a shame because the rest of the car (body panels, interior and most parts) were in awesome shape, it was jus the frame. So in the Spring, Eric found a car almost IDENTICAL to his other one and bought it. His old one was an '84GSL, dark grey with red interior, the new one was an '85GSL, same colours.

The only problem was that the only thing really good with the new car *was* the frame. Most of the rest had to be switched over from Eric's old car.

So we've done most of that. We still haven't switched the better engine over, but the one he has runs for now. The RB exhaust got switched over, we stripped the interior so that Eric could mount his stereo/speaker system and we could switch the better interior pieces from the '84 (the '85s previous owner had painted some of the interior panels white and done a crappy job).

Then of couse we remembered that neither car had good brakes or steering. Since I had *just* done both of those systems on my car, we knew what we were in for, so Eric bought ALL the parts to do the complete steering rack and brakes.

We just haven't had time to finish. Today we installed the rear brakes. Discs, Calipers, SS Brake Hoses, Pads. Man what a job that was. There may be less structural rust on the '85 but it has definitely seen it's share of weather. The bolts on that car are more seized in place than any other I've seen. The back brakes are now finished But we still have to do the fronts.

I had started on the fronts two weeks ago. For those of you who are familiar with our cars' brakes, but there's one bolt on the front brakes that's a bitch to get at because of a metal lip and the front knuckle arm. Well I didn't think it was possible, but I stripped that 14mm bolt. So what we have to do now is take the entire spindle out!

It's not a bad thing because in the front we still haven't installed the Eibach springs or Tokico shocks, so we'd have to take the spindles out anyway. Two biggass bolts on the bottom hold the spindle to the control arm, and four bolts on top hold it to the strut tower. Once we get it off, it'll be easy to get an impact and a tight socket onto that bolt and get it off, or get a grinder or torch in there or whatever. We'll get the spindles off, remove the brake discs and bearings from them, and take them to a suspension shop to have the new springs/shocks mounted. then we'll put them back on the car, install the new brakes and we'll be all set

And we've gotta get this finished before winter. The '85 takes up the space just outside Eric's garage in his driveway, while the '84 parts car sits inside the garage still. We have to get the '84 towed out of there to the scrap once we've finished stripping it of all the useful parts, then drive the '85 in. The '85 needs to be drivable before winter so that Eric's dad sees that we've made real progress and will *let* Eric continue using the garage he hasn't been able to use for a year.

Things left to do on Eric's Car:

1) Remove front spindles. Remove brakes from spindles. Have suspension installed on them, install them back on the car, install new brakes.

2) Swap the front fender panels, re-align the hood and doors, re-mount the front bumper and tie up any loose ends for body panels/fittings

3) Finish the interior. Install the new speakers, AMP, Stereo, Nintendo, and console piece. Swap any body panels as needed from the parts car. Install the best of the 4 seats. Tidy up interior and finish any loose ends (like the vents, spare tire, etc...)

4) Take the car to Glen (my mechanic) to have the steering installed. Inner and outer tie rods, adjusting sleeves, pitman arm, idler arm, ball joints, front end links, sway bar bushings...

5) Take the car for an alignment

6) Install a stock exhaust system and safety the car.


List of NEW parts on the '85 when we're finished (all bought within the last year, installed for the first time)

Suspension:
4 Eibach Springs
Tokico Struts/Shocks front and back

Brakes:
Discs, Calipers, Pads, SS Hoses (all around)
Front Inner and Outer Bearings
Master Cylinder
Ebrake Cable

Steering and front Bushings:
Inner and Outer Tie Rods
Adjusting Sleeves with Nuts
Idler Arm
Pitman Arm
Ball Joints
Front end Links
Sway Bar Bushings

Sound System:
Some kickass cd deck with one of those pop-out LCDs that plays DVDs
Some kickass front and rear speakers
Custom sub box with sub
Processor, Amp
Wiring, fibre
misc... sound stuff

Misc:
Oil and Filter
Coolant
Fuel Filter
Dist Cap and rotor, Plugs, Plug Wires
Battery
Antenna


And probably some stuff that I haven't thought of yet.

And that's what we were doing today, what we need to do yet, and what we've done this past year

Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we enjoyed doing it.... most days . Some days it can be pretty frustrating. We stripped some of the threads on the new Stainless Steel brake lines, and had to resort to re-carving part of them with a swiss army knife to get it to work, and many other little troubles along the way.

We've had our share of challenges so far, but having done all of this on my car already we knew what we were in for. Of course the one enemy is time. I was working weekends until just this past week, and Eric had two jobs and school to juggle.

Man this car will rock when we're done. Of course, until he gets it repainted, it'll look like crap because of the mismatched hood/body panels vs. the rest of the painted hard body/rear end. And until he gets his rebuilt 12a from his '84 in there it won't win any races either (not that Eric races it... though he probably should auto-x it). But we've done/are doing to his car in one year what my restoration project has had done to it in FOUR.

Take Care Guys, I'll take pictures whenever I can.

Jon