Hired Guns

Award winning body crew took pity on my project and decided to come to my shop for a few weekends to get this masterpiece moving again. Granted, I did all the hard work and these guys get all the glory.

PS. Carworks young crew Austin and Joe had just finished applying POR-15 to the rest of the insides of the body and trunk that we hadn't painted last year.





Gary (don't know if I should use his real name) does the lower quarters.













Mike does the final "pull" of filler on the roof.














Right side door gets filler from Gary














Same door gets sanded by me.



















Right side door back on to help getting the lines right at the rear quarter. Andrew gets the cowl panel in order.












Left rear quarter gets coated. (Oldest daughter Kate visits later same week and not only remembers the smell of body filler but likes the seafoam color.)












Right side goes seafoam too.















What are these things? Glad you asked - these are homemade support anchors with captive nuts for fender braces.













Ready for welding.















Welded. Remember, don't hold the work while welding without a glove.














Looks official.

More Suspension Time

On the eve of July vacation week in the pouring and incessant rain, I have talked Linda into helping me update my blog. If summer ever comes, it would be nice to take a break from cars in general. So, the Rambler is the first wave of the furloughs. But we did make progress recently (see below). I am grateful for all the advice I've received from Robert B. and assistance I've had from Dave W. & Huw P.


Rear differential & rear leaf springs in place














Nice arc on those new rear leafs















Trunnion time




















Helicoil on the rear diff
















I told you it was posi















Wider shot of trunnion time




















Side shot
















Action shot (who needs factory tools?)












Beefin' up rear diff spring perches

















Nice weld Dave











Adding more welds between axle tube and diff body

Suspension Time

Old employee Dave W. (remember the scout that gave me the model of an AMX at a Christmas party a million years ago?) on the run from Swine Flu in Mexico via Cuba/Toronto (long story) becomes available for suspension work

Reinforcing lower control arm inner bushings
with homemade washers (thanks Robert).




This is what the lower arm looked like installed













Original upper control arm bushings before we cook them out in preparation for urethane bushings











Even a dummy would know that this bushing is toast















Reworking the lower arms (art shot by Huw)












Setting up suspension parts for paint















Looking good

Back Up the Hill to the Javelin

A little hardware and window stuff was all I could get this trip. If I had brought a chainsaw I would have been able to cut the tree on the passenger side and maybe cut the hinges. Oh well... at least Augie had fun jumping from roof to roof and trunk lid to trunk lid on our way back down the hill.














Good Boy!

More Mud

Suspension products - leaf springs and bushings came in Tuesday. Technically my first real new part purchase other than the windshield I bought two years ago.















Two applications of body filler felt pretty good to me but Gary, the award winning restoration guy, stopped on his way home from work and advised me that I need another pull and some serious hand sanding (20 minutes cure time) before he would be happy.










Side shot shows problems when joining Javelin roof with AMX roof (AMX roof has ridge).













Right side door needs some tapping and another full pull of filler (don't forget the tape on the center line). I can't wait...

FILLER TIME

First Mud!













Finally sanding the first mud.













Good shot of the new overhead doors. I'm glad it's cold and I still need them.












Speaking of doors, here's the right side with its first mud.

No more antenna hole!















Right door, lower skin patch panel, cut and ready to fit















It fits!

















Not bad



















Yeah