My plan is to do the same thing I did with the wagon. I start with the bolt on panels.
I will repair the front guards and fit the new set of doors I have to make sure all the body work lines up. This is the stage with the wagon that I realised that the drivers side rear guard needed to be brought out a couple of mm to line up with the rest of the panels. To adjust the doors so the panels line up perfect, I need the front guards to be done and fitted to the car. I'll go through the front panels I have and pick the best ones and repair and fit them.
The doors I got yesterday are (from what I can see so far) PERFECT. And the boot lid too. The bonnet I got wasn't to bad but a little bit of rust on the front of the support frame. The bonnet from the car doesn't really seem to have rust yet from what I can see, but has hail damage and small accident damage to the passengers front corner. I should be able to fix that no problem. I think the bonnet that's on the car is the best option yet (I'd rather repair dents then rust).
The roof of the car is covered with hail damage too, I didn't see this when I first looked at the car, the roof was covered with crap, and to tell the truth I was really more worried about rust.
The rear passengers guard is my biggest problem for rust, but I'm pretty sure I can handle that. I've managed to sort a loan of an oxy welder to fix it (I'm a rubbish welder with a mig).
The Bumpers may be able to be fixed, I got another rear one yesterday, I may be able to make one reasonable 1 out of the 2. I'll still have to straighten it a bit though. If I damage the chrome too much in the process I'll just paint the bars, the front on isn't too good either. I don't have a spare GD front bar anywhere and unless I can find one then painting them may be my only option. Or covert it to a GC bar, which then causes the problem of where the front blinkers and parker lights go. I don't want to fit after market (or auto parts shop generic) lights, they look gay.
The GC tail lights I got yesterday are near perfect so I think I will go ahead with that conversion. I just want to see the rear panel on a GC compared to a GD (without lights) to compare how much they are different. Can anyone help me with pics? Kirk maybe?
astronturbo77 wrote:best way mate is completely strip her to a shell and put it on stands and start on the body
I will do this, everything will come out of this one. Window glass, wiring, interior, petrol tank and suspension. Have a look at the build pics for my wagon. I only left the rear axle assembly and exhaust in the car. I couldn't remove those things because there was no room in the pathetic garage that I was working in and the car had to be moved out on the driveway everytime I had to work on it. The exhaust was welded in one piece front to back , so I just masked it up and worked around it
I've got a big shed this time, so this time I can leave it where I'm working on it.
Dave...