Engine Bay Paint Stripping January 08

Having finished stripping the entire interior compartment, I decided why stop there? So the engine compartment was next. There were a couple of places where rust was an issue, but generally speaking the metal underneath was, like the interior, in very good shape with just a few exceptions.

 

A shot of the fire wall, stripping pretty much complete.

The worst area in the entire engine bay is seen here,

caused by damage from a leaking battery.

A shot of the passengers side foot well.

A better view of the damage to the battery tray area.

A shot of the drivers side foot well. The brake and clutch

master cylinders mount here, damage below caused by

leaking brake fluid. This damage looks worse than it really

is, mostly just surface rust.

The same area as above now stripped. Visible here also

is the body mount reinforcement.

A closer shot of the body mount reinforcement. There

are one of these on each side and they proved to be

another area of weak engineering design. The body

underneath in the valley was cracked on both sides and

the spot welds had failed on one. We designed a fix that

greatly strengthened the area without using welds.

More on this later...

The passenger side just behind the fender.

Almost done with the drivers side.

The rather substantial bracket with the large whole in it,

we assumed, was used by the factory during assembly.

We fabricated a lift bar that used these holes to lift the

body from the frame. More on that later...

A shot showing the valence and part of the driver side

headlight enclosure.

A closer shot of the valence.

 

A tighter shot of the valence showing the bump out for the

front bumper bracket. Some rust here.

 

 This is the passenger side headlight, part of the valence

and inner fender. Just visible under the headlight enclosure

is damage sustained long ago.

Here's a closer shot of the damage, not too bad, the

valence was apparently straightened out but the entire

right side wing (fender) was replaced.

The entire drivers side complete.

A tight shot of the brake and clutch master cylinder area.

A tight shot of the windshield wiper motor mount bracket

area. The pedal box is mounted from underneath using

all of those holes.

Same area on the other side.

The body mount reinforcement bracket all cleaned up.

Some views of the complete job.

From the left.

From the right.

The finished fire wall area.

The battery box shelf with all of the rust removed. The

dent at the front still in need of some attention.

A better view of the dent. I eventually intend fabricate

a stainless steel plate to cover this area.