71 Runner followed me home

[Basket case]

great project

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Quarters (full and patch) are available form AMD.

Yep, I have a set of full quarters waiting at the body shop for the car to get there

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Waved goodbye to it this morning. Off she goes to get new quarter panels put on and some rust repair around the trunk opening.

Time to do some stuff around the house & garage -- oh, and I'd best get that 440 torn down so I can have the block checked out

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Well, it's not much... but I squeezed in about 20 minutes between errands and other projects to start pulling the old motorhome 440 down. Hey, it's a start.

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Been a minute, progress has been slow... but there has been progress. New full AMD quarters, and some repair around trunk opening & drip rail areas.

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Block has been torn down the rest of the way & the shop's got it cleaned up. Pic is prior to line hone & square deck but that's been done since. 0.030" overbore is next. Yes, we sonic tested it first.

 

[hanks73340]

Been watching and I have to say....SWEET! Glad you saved it. This will come out beautiful when your done. Enjoy!

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Not much new going on here, just primer... but I got the car back home this past week for a bit to do some grunt work stripping the engine bay down while my body man works on another project. But it feels good to see that the main fuselage is squared up & the heavy lifting on rust repair is done!

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Still slow going... but the 440 block has now to date been align honed with ARP studs, square decked, bored & finish honed (with torque plates) to 0.030" over. Rotating assembly on the horizon...

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Been quite a while since anything's gotten done on this car. Got derailed by some house/family stuff through the fall & winter.

Still have some electrical work to do on the house, so goals are modest for this spring/summer: Get the engine bay ready to paint, and get the engine assembled & ready to go into said engine bay.

For now, just gathering parts. OOPS truck dropped these off this morning... didn't hurt my enthusiasm for the project one bit!

 

[Midnight_Rider]

*Zombie thread bump alert*

Well things got derailed for a couple of years due to a rough patch on the family front, but I am not dead & neither is this project! Finally getting a chance to get back at it.

Seemed like the battery tray had seen better days...

In fact, so had the entire fender apron.

Sick of looking at the rust for the last 2 years, I decided to make this happen:

I also got the steering column out today. Tomorrow I pull the gearbox for rebuild and continue to grind spot welds down. Goal for this summer is to have the front end rebuilt & engine bay ready to paint. I suppose I will actually have to decide on the color soon.

 

[71Beeper]

LOL! been there, done that.

Keep up the good work!!

 

[rrTor-Red]

^^^^^What he said

 

[whayden2003]

Zombie thread alert...
That's pretty good.

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Zombie thread alert...
That's pretty good.

Seems like a good time for a Return of the Living Dead thread revival... again.

I finally got the engine bay & firewall painted today. My painter buddy made a house call. Lots left to do still but now I can put the K-member & engine back in! Stuck with the original GB7 Evening Blue.

 

[whayden2003]

Very nice looking work. How’s the project coming? If you ever need measurements or pics of stuff hit me up.

 

[Midnight_Rider]

Very nice looking work. How’s the project coming? If you ever need measurements or pics of stuff hit me up.

Going slower than I'd like, but I have the hood & trunk lid stripped & epoxy primed. Painter still has my fenders & doors.

After I get the engine/trans & k-member/suspension in (and probably rebuild the steering column), I'll go back to working the panels with an eye to getting the inner/under sides done & the car jambed after winter. I'm doing the basic grunt work -- stripping, cutting, welding, grinding & my painter buddy is doing the more skillful stuff.

I have a lot of parts on hand, still need to get fuel lines, brake lines & master cylinder, alternator etc. Just ordered upholstery so I didn't get stuck on a 6 month or longer backorder. Have to rebuild sure grip & swap gears. Need to get an X or H pipe.

Appreciate the offer for reference help, I'll take you up on it if the need arises!

 

[JDmac72chrgr]

Looks great!!! Nice color!!

 

[ct71rr]

Looking good! Glad to see the update!

 

[Midnight_Rider]

So it begins... today, for the first time in a long time, I bolted something onto the car instead of taking it off.