Removing paint and polishing original intake manifold
Polished original intake manifold
Painting the rear cross member
Rear suspension and clutch parts painted
Left side strut supports painted
Right side strut supports painted
Front cross member painted
Rust in transmission
Rusty gears
Pitted bearings
Correcting chewed first gear teeth
Cleaned transmission parts
Transmission mounts cleaned and painted
Cleaning rust from exhaust manifold
Original set of manifolds
Manifolds complete, painted with Rustoleum high temp BBQ paint
Engine tins straightened and protected
Aluminum rear grills
Sanding and Polishing rear grill
Right rear grill polished
Both rear grills welded, sanded and polished
Power Train Preparation
Time to start putting things together, Starting with some Rustoleum Rust Reformer on certain parts, then a good coat of primer on the power train parts.
Then came about four coats of green paint on the engine and transmission to resist whatever chemicals it might face, and a little time spent polishing the intake manifold I got in Salta. I later realized that this manifold was missing two mounting "ears", so had to remove allthe paint from the original one and polish it.
Since the front cross member is welded into the car and there is a lot to do in the body shop, I prepared and painted the cross member in it's place so I can assemble the rest of the suspension to it and move it around.
Here you also see all the painted parts for the rear suspension and engine mounts.
I decided to take a step backward and clean up all the SAE 250 oil in the transmission, finding as I did some rust to clean up and first gear teeth that were chewed up, as well as a couple of bearings that were pitted.
The exhaust manifold had a lot of rust, so I removed it with a wire brush, coated it with Rustoleum Rust Reformer and then painted it with Rustoleum BBQ high temperature paint. Now you can see the difference in before and after.
I also sandblasted and straigened the metal that goes on the sides of the engine to the chasis, then coated it with the Rust Reformer.
Here are aluminum rear grills that I believe were aftermarket rather than original, but I got a pair in Salta and sat down to polish them. To download the detailed instructions of how to polish this aluminum, as well as the stainless steel trim, click here.
