Mac-X Update July 12
This will be the last update regarding the paint removal and body damage portion of the Mac-X restoration. From here out, I'll be removing literally every mounted part of this car, sans a few bits on the bottom that hold the suspension. As you will see, the front fared far worse than any other part of the car. I will explain as I show you what I have found...
Starting with a photo of the front cover, this cleaned up nicely with the only damage done to the driver's side corner, (shown top left) up front. Minimal damage really, and not too concerning.
But things change with the lid removed. Here is a couple of photo of how things started. With the black paint, things don't look too bad. Pretty much carbon copy of the rest of the car. (or so I thought)
Here is another view, looking directly into the front wall area. Still not too bad...
Now we peel up the front mat and hmmm... things aren't quite so clean-looking...
... 9 hours later, the trunk is clean (yay!) but what is revealed doesn't look so good. The base of the front trunk really suffered from corrosion. You'll notice the battery box doesn't isn't looking so good either. To the center of the photo, you can see rust has corroded the round hole. Same to the left side, but not quite as severe. This panel will be tricky to repair or replace.
Here's a (somewhat) better look at the battery box. You can't see it so well, but there are several holes on the surface of the metal that go all the way through. This one's definitely got to be replaced.
Looking toward the front of the car, things don't appear so bad. Until I started taking measurements...
I noticed from measuring the undamaged Donor car that there was a 0.75 inch difference between the bumper shock mounts on Mac-X. And when I stepped back, I realized that the accident that destroyed the left-front bumper had pushed things in a lot harder than previously thought. It actually compressed the nose cone by nearly 0.5 inch.
Looking down from the inside of the trunk, you see (arrow) an oval hole that has been warped by the movement of the inner fender.
Looking at the nose cone itself, dead-center in the front you see more compression
And at the left front corner, lots of areas that got compromised. (arrows below)
I haven't got updated pictures, but I spent nearly an hour stretching the bumper shock mount back to it's original position and removing the kinks (shown above) in the metal back to nearly perfect position.
In doing all this, I am beginning to feel that the body work portion is really out of my league. I can take apart, put together, whatever, every way from Sunday but I'm
not an auto body man. I admit it.
So I did a little searching and found someone local who does car restoration for a living. (he does street rod restoration) He came over, looked at the X over the course of about 30 minutes. I showed him what needed to be done, told him I'd deliver a stripped out car and expected to receive a "beautified" stripped out car back with all panels repaired or replaced. (I was surprised how much cost difference the paint selection alone makes) So the deal is, I buy the paint and materials, he repairs, replaces, welds, finishes and paints up a show car. (I say show car but this one will be driven) I dare not say what this will cost, as the cost is expensive but will be less expensive (and a better job) by letting him do it between jobs starting late October through next March. Roughly an April (or sooner) delivery. I'll supply him with all pre-cut or new panels and he'll make it all happen. I have seen many examples of his work and I can say it'll be 1000 times better than anything I could ever do on my best day. I've yet to see anyone do better than our own Bob Turchan but given the 3000 + mile difference, I'll have to settle.
I believe this to be the right decision and proactive to getting Mac-X back on the road.
So from here on, I'll be removing all existing parts, engine, wire harness, cooling, etc.etc. and getting Mac-X ready to roll out of here sometime in October. I'm hoping to take 1 more set of photos before she leaves, then make occasional trips to the body shop showing progress.
Lots of work still left to do so I'll keep you all updated.
Sorry for the lengthy posts.
