1970 1800E Driver Restoration

[didenpx]

Figured I'd document the restoration of my 1800E to daily driver status. Bought the car over the summer. Found it about 1/4 mile away from my home. Guy I bought it from had bought it from an estate auction a couple of years ago with hopes of a father son project but it apparently didn't come to pass.

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The car was last registered and on the road in 1982 (based on NJ inspection sticker). The odometer reads 12,XXX and for a while I hoped that it might actually be a 12,XXX car but alas:

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It's an intact car and despite a rubbish paint job sometime in the late 70s or 80s it still looks respectable enough. It was pretty filthy inside and out when I got it so I spent a hot summer day cleaning, vacuuming and polishing it a bit:

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More to follow

[didenpx]

The car has some of the typical rot, but overall it's pretty amazingly preserved. It appears to have been extremely well undercoated and there's layers of waxy undercoating on brake lines and such. I'm very appreciative of the original owners doing this!

So the main rot is on the driver's side rockers, the longitudinal frame rails (front and back, both sides), the radiator cross member, and a few small holes here and there in the engine compartment. All in all extremely solid, though I'm sure I'll find "surprises" as the project progresses.

It all appears stock. I'm going to swap these springs for some vintage IPD springs and will be putting in a vintage IPD front sway that was on my 1800ES project (which ain't going to be doing more than sitting anytime soon...)

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The 1800ES that this bar came off of is another big mystery. It was in a crash at some point and the right fender was replaced (and poorly). I thought that this sway was added after the crash but when I pulled it the bracket on the right side was squashed toward the back, so it was obviously on at the time of the crash. What makes it interesting (to me, anyway) is the fact that the cheesy little paper label was still on the bar. I'd have expected it to have weathered away if the car was on the road for any period of time.

[Owsley]

This will keep you out of trouble for a while. Thanks for sharing. Show some interior shots, please.

[didenpx]

My goal is a pretty much correct 1800E that I can daily drive in good weather. The car came with the engine out and the transmission (M410) missing.

My plan is to rebuild the front suspension, steering, and brakes and then move on to the various welding bits that need doing in the engine compartment. From there I'll do the rear suspension and brakes. After that pull the fuel system, start rebuidling the engine, etc., etc., etc.

I've got most of the parts needed to rebuild the front suspension and finally had a chance to dedicate a full day to it. Unfortunately I got a bit carried away on the left hand side when I was pulling the upper control arm. For some reason I thought I had to remove the upper wishbone shaft to pull the wishbone (duh!). Despite months of repeated PB Blasting I managed to break not just one, but both of the bolts holding the left hand shaft to the front cross member. Tried to drill out the bolts while crouched over the cross member inside the empty engine bay only to have a drill bit break off inside the second bolt....ok guess it's time to pull the cross member so I can fix my stupid mistake.

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It wasn't a totally wasted effort though. I already knew that I had to repair and reinforce the upper shock mounts (more evidence that this is a 68,XXX plus chassis and not 12,XXXX

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I still need to clean and inspect the rest of the welds on the cross member but I've already found this on the front support for the lower wishbone bolt:

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Not sure I would have seen this if I hadn't pulled the cross member, so that's how I console myself for my stupid mistake.

And here's the result of the first full day's work:

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[didenpx]

Andy by popular demand the interior shots:

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[didenpx]

No more pictures but a little bit of additional progress. De-greased the control arms and cross member on Saturday. On Sunday I pulled the rear springs, yanked out the remnants of the exhaust system, and salvaged the chrome tail pipes (pitted but so nice and heavy and intact that I am saving them). Spent maybe a total of 6 hours over both days dinking around on this.

Today after work I dropped the front cross member off at the local welding shop to get the shock tower tops reinforced, sort out my screw up on the upper wishbone shaft bolts, etc. After that I will be finding a local shop to do the media blasting of the cross member and the other smaller rusty bits on the front suspension (going to leave the control arms as they are...just going to sand off the little bit of scale where they weren't undercoated and hit them with Rustoleum black.

Also tallied up a list of additional parts that I need for the front end; looks like another $250 on top of what I've already spent. Probably best that I not keep a close tally of the costs as I go along.....

[Sine Qua Non]

I'll be watching this closely obviously.

[didenpx]

Originally Posted by Sine Qua Non

I'll be watching this closely obviously.

Excellent; I'll need motivation to keep this on schedule. Really want to be able to get it on the road NLT late summer next year. Earlier if possible.

[Old Iron]

Great peoject!

[didenpx]

Got a call from the welder today; front cross member is ready for pick up. To weld the crack, put washers on the shock mounts, and remove the broken bolts it came out to $55.00. Great deal! Picking it up tomorrow and hopefully dropping it off for blasting.

[didenpx]

Cross member and brake backing plates at dropped off for media blasting. Should be ready next week. Time to get the other components cleaned up and ready for them.....hope to post some photos of the as-is condition of stuff today.

[didenpx]

Figured I would get some more engine bay work done while I'm waiting for the front cross member and backing plates. Managed to get about 4-5 hours in here and there throughout the day. Focused on getting the decayed radiator cross member out and cutting out the rot on the passenger side front frame section. For detailed descriptions, click on the photos and go to Flickr:

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Work to be done around the passenger side headlight/parking light:

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Removing the Radiator Cross Member (or what's left of it)

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Handy Harbor Freight hole saw for drilling out spot welds:

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Drilling out spot welds on bottom of front valence where the support connects to the radiator cross member:

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The offending member:

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More spot welds to be drilled on each side to get remainder of the cross member remains free:

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Still some cleaning up to do on both sides where the support met the frame rails. There's so much scale there it's kind of hard to tell where the cross member ends and the frame rails begin.....

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Day's End....what a mess!

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Gotta check that rear passenger side jack stand!

[83glt]

This looks great! A fine car to restore. This should be a helpful tutorial for me with the Express as well. Good luck!

[Duder]

Looks like a fun project. I'll be following along and showing my wife who has a '66 1800S project car that I'm doing the bodywork / rust repair on. It's a little further gone than your E appears to be, but fundamentally sound. Your shop looks fantastic in that east coast wooden floor barn kinda way, which we don't see much of out here in SoCal.

[didenpx]

Originally Posted by Duder

Looks like a fun project. I'll be following along and showing my wife who has a '66 1800S project car that I'm doing the bodywork / rust repair on. It's a little further gone than your E appears to be, but fundamentally sound. Your shop looks fantastic in that east coast wooden floor barn kinda way, which we don't see much of out here in SoCal.

Thanks; it's an awesome barn! Circa 1892. The main floor is wood but the ground floor has a two+ bay garage with proper cement floor.

My initial plan was to get some of the suspension work done up top so that I could enjoy the convenience of the garage for my DD until I was ready to start the welding....but now that plan is a bit fouled up. I have to do at least that patch on the back of the front frame rail while its upstairs unless I want to mount and then de-mount the front suspension (not likely).

[Old Iron]

Don't forget, bought a dog gate to help support this project! JK,jk I look forward to seeing progress on it!

[didenpx]

Originally Posted by Old Iron

Don't forget, bought a dog gate to help support this project! JK,jk I look forward to seeing progress on it!

Dog gate money was spent on the front suspension components so you'll see those go back together in the next 3-4 weeks (time permitting).

Need to offload some more parts to buy the remainder of the front end parts.....probably time to take some nice photos of the early 240 fog light and single round setup that I bought from RWC a few years ago and never used.

[didenpx]

I've got 240s so I could figure this out for myself, but I won't get around to it for days; anyone know how the unibody "frame rails" on a 240 compare to those on an 1800? Basically wondering if I can save myself some trouble by salvaging some junkyard 240 frame sections to extend the front of my frame rails to meet the radiator support cross member.

[M.H. Yount]

More likely that you'll find a closer frame rail DNA connection between an Amazon/122 and the 1800.

[didenpx]

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

More likely that you'll find a closer frame rail DNA connection between an Amazon/122 and the 1800.

Thanks; those are non-existent in northeastern junkyards....but sort of what I was figuring the answer would be.

[didenpx]

Got the backing plates and cross member back from the shop; I'll be doing my own blasting from now on, regardless of how messy and annoying it is.....total cost was $310.00.

Blasting revealed three more small stress cracks that needed sorting:

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After welding and grinding:

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And after the first coat of finish paint:

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Here's the cross member with the first coat of finish paint:

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Also got the patch to the back of the front section of the passenger frame rail fixed. The welds were ugly (my first-ever welding attempt) so I intentionally didn't take any photos. Yes, there's metal underneath the filler. Sprayed it with Rustoleum semi gloss black after the filler cured.

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Backing plates had a couple of small pin-holes but are good enough for my purposes. Primed them with SEM acid etch primer and then shot them with rattle can wheel paint:

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Blasted and then painted a few small front (and one rear) suspension components:

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Second coat of cross member paint will go on tomorrow. hope to start putting the front suspension back together evenings starting next week, then it will be time to roll the car into the basement/garage so things can begin in earnest.

[Old Iron]

Great progress!

[didenpx]

Spent a couple hours this morning getting small bits and pieces ready for the front suspension rebuild.

Removed the undercoating and polished up the brake junction and lines that run across the engine cross member.

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Blasted the upper wishbone shafts, the u-bolts, two of the bushing shells that were really crusted out on the inside, and some other small bits and shot them with semi-gloss black.

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Also harvested some parts off an 1800 front cross member that I got in a parts haul last year. Thanks to a MAP gas torch I was able to get the two upper wishbone shaft bolts that I need along with some more shims. Also salvaged the lower wishbone bolts off that piece; they are a lot straighter than what came off my 1970. How common is it for those bolts to be bent/saddled anyway???

With slow paint drying times due to the cool temps I'm now aiming to start putting the front suspension/brakes back together Thursday after work.

[didenpx]

A little bit of progress but I'm on hold until a swap for some vintage IPD springs comes through. Hope to have them within the next week. Also trying to determine if I need to replace one of the new lower control arm bushings that I hosed up a bit so that it doesn't seat as deeply as it ought to....

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[didenpx]

New lower control arm bushing ordered from FCP. Planetman's advice greatly appreciated. It should be here by Monday so I can hopefully get it pressed in using my Jawhorse 1T vice on Tuesday after work.

Should have the vintage IPD springs (that I traded to Volvoracer for last year and am now trading to get back ) next week at which point I'll need to blast and paint them.

Looking like it will be the first week in December or so before I can get this on four wheels and roll it into the garage.