Tipping point, ‘72 rebuild Options

[Ishley]

I’ve been working on my 72 1.7 since March when I decided to tear it all down and rebuild / fix rust and update all the things that were never done. It’s a mostly all original car with 94k miles. The car was painted twice (poorly) and had rust in the longs and some bad repairs.

I’ve repaired the longs, hell hole and most of the misc rot areas (bumper mounts etc) and today a started on the floors.

The jig I built is based on the restoration design bottom section built with 1 1/4 square 1/8” walled steel. I fabricated and bolted it to the trans mount and front suspension mount area. Then I attached 2x6’s and 3/4 plywood and lots of constructions screws.

We rolled it on its side today so I can weld in the new floor and finish up what I hope is the worst of the metal work.

I’m sending the hoods, engine cover and doors to a dipper next week to have the paint stripped. Also some parts I can’t fit in my blast cabinet will be blasted there.

After the new floors are done I might wheel the car out of the garage and have one of those mobile sand blasters come and do the trunk areas. I plan to paint the whole bottom before I get it all off the jig.

Been a lot of work but I feel like i really making progress. A lot of lonely days cutting welding and grinding. The disassembly of the suspension parts took a while along with cleaning and sandblasting all the parts.

I’ve only seen one othe post with a tip over jig like this… but it was easy and it works. 3 of us tipped it… but 2 people could do it.

[Ishley]

John,

I have pictures of your original post on my phone. I referred to it as I was building my jig… which was a mix of ideas based on the Restoration Design jig. The 914 World community is an awesome resource of great ideas.

My car is pretty much done now… 2 year project. Engine took time with a lot of parts delays. I’m still working on tweaking the tuning. I have 200 miles on the car and as soon as the Chicago weather turns I’ll be able to get out for a few more miles.

Ed