Full Restoration?

Topic: Full Restoration? (Read 2537 times) previous topic - next topic

Full Restoration?

February 25, 2008, 12:33:48 PM

Just a general question. Has anyone, or better yet, how far has anyone taken their T-Bird in rebuilding the whole car. I think we have a unibody, so I have taken everything off the car except the doors and main body. Has anyone taken the body, or shell off the frame? Would it be necessary?

Oh yea, I have a 1988 T-Bird and the body is in above average condition.

Full Restoration?

Reply #1 – February 25, 2008, 12:46:45 PM

Yes actually there is a guy on here who went so far to put his car on a rotisserie.

Full Restoration?

Reply #2 – February 25, 2008, 01:30:07 PM

Quote from: CougarSE;206183

Yes actually there is a guy on here who went so far to put his car on a rotisserie.

But he didn't exactly..."restore"... his.

But still, would be a great help.

Full Restoration?

Reply #3 – February 25, 2008, 01:49:01 PM

I had just about everything off:

Those photos were taken before door and fender and hood removal. We had to get the paint scheme taped off and the doors lined up first (new pins and bushings). The painter did have a rotisserie but there was another car already on it so we had to do things the hard way (plus it would have been too heavy for it anyway). The drivetrain remained, though, so I guess it wasn't a true strip-down restoration at that time; however, the drivetrain parts did previously get changed. Actually...the only original, untouched part on the entire car is the windshield.

A full restoration is something that has to be carefully weighed with these cars. A majority of the time, all that's needed is exterior work (rust hole patches, etc.) and new paint. Interior work can all be redone in one form or another. Ditto for engine/trans/rear end work, and suspension. The only reason you'd really need to put the car on a rotisserie is to patch floorpans from the underside, or rustproof/paint. I guess it just depends on where you live and how bad your floorpans are. In my experience, most of my cars have been rock solid in those areas.

The same guy that painted my car is now working on my brother's 1973 Trans Am. They custom built a rotisserie for it; got to see the car painted the other night. The entire car got media blasted first. They had multiple floor pan patches, plus a new trunk pan. So in that case, yeah, working on the underside via a rotisserie was a godsend. But you have to remember, there's nothing in the car so it's fairly light. Once you have a drivetrain installed then the car gets so heavy that you can't use a rotisserie. It's only made for rotating a shell of a car.

For the record, our cars are unibody...there is no subframe to unbolt. My bro's T/A has a front subframe that we had to move the other night with the newly assembled suspension, brakes and steering components. That wasn't fun. It's kind of cool the way his car comes apart like that, but I've always felt that it was at the sacrifice of rigidity. Our cars have MUCH less cowl shake and front end jounce in that respect, because everything is welded together and not just bolted on.

Full Restoration?

Reply #4 – February 25, 2008, 02:36:06 PM

Pretty much everything on the '83 has been "restored" at some point, just not all at once.

Full Restoration?

Reply #5 – February 25, 2008, 04:12:42 PM

Currently my car is pretty well disassembled. The engine & transmission are out of the car, and the interior is gutted. When Mother Nature decides to get back into the 50° range and higher I will start putting the interior back together.
Then the front clip will be coming off to get the engine compartment painted and get that all put back together.
While swapping out the 7.5 for an 8.8 disc brake rear; I dropped the gas tank and thoroughly cleaned and detailed it and the undercarriage . A rotisserie would have come in very handy at that time.

Had the entire car re-painted and all of the body side moldings, bushings, nameplates, and several interior parts that wear with use (door lock buttons, console plates, shift , etc.) were re-placed with new ones. All replacement items used were NOS Ford pieces.
Hopefully it will be whole again this summer.

Brent
:cougarsmily:

Full Restoration?

Reply #6 – February 25, 2008, 04:21:49 PM

I've taken a few things off myself. the only thing that will be original when I'm done, is going to be the roof and trunk lid and of course structural stuff. (most)

Full Restoration?

Reply #7 – February 25, 2008, 05:56:56 PM

Mine is pretty well gutted as well. I would call it a Resto-Mod instead of a full restoration though.

Full Restoration?

Reply #8 – February 25, 2008, 06:02:10 PM

Quote

Just a general question. Has anyone, or better yet, how far has anyone taken their T-Bird in rebuilding the whole car. I think we have a unibody, so I have taken everything off the car except the doors and main body. Has anyone taken the body, or shell off the frame? Would it be necessary?

Oh yea, I have a 1988 T-Bird and the body is in above average condition.

What are you restoring or repairing?
Got any pics

Full Restoration?

Reply #9 – February 25, 2008, 06:59:37 PM

Sorry about that, let me show you the pictures of before and now during....Thanks for the reply. I think I'll go for the Resto-Mod!!

Full Restoration?

Reply #10 – February 25, 2008, 07:02:52 PM

Oh yea, I'm kinda of new....where's the thread for putting pictures in here?

Full Restoration?

Reply #11 – February 25, 2008, 07:50:38 PM

Quote from: Thor Power;206180

Has anyone taken the body, or shell off the frame? Would it be necessary?

Oh yea, I have a 1988 T-Bird and the body is in above average condition.

Ain't possible on a unibody structure such as these cars ,there is NO frame... Now if you want to use a torch...

Full Restoration?

Reply #12 – February 25, 2008, 08:16:24 PM

couldn't imagine drilling out all those spot welds to remove 4 small pieces of subframe.
----------------------------------------------------------
Put the pics in the post. Do you have a picture storage host like photobucket or something like that?

Full Restoration?

Reply #13 – February 26, 2008, 10:42:01 AM

Click or cut and paste link. Photobucket password is thunderbird

http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n126/thorpower/?action=guestlogin

First set of pictures are of Thor in 2006. The engine removal and start of my resto-mods are in Feb 2008

Let me know if that worked

Full Restoration?

Reply #14 – February 26, 2008, 11:42:24 AM

It worked. Looks nice. 5.0 TC conversion?