Was gonna buy a truck, got a 1980 245 instead

[spock345]

Well that explains some of the noises.

 

[dl242gt]

Those look like the oil filter was sitting on the passenger mount. Nice to get rid of the funny noises and engine/trans movement. Probably got a lot more torque going to the wheels.

 

[John242Ti]

Do you know if the later r0,960 round face speedo guts are the same as your earlier square face speedo? If so, I have a couple later 85 mph clusters that I'll make you a good deal on. I ran one of them for a while and the speed seemed pretty accurate, the other one was off ebay and I only got it for the VR sensor. I think the odo is working on both.

Edit: gratuitous pic of my blue wagon - spider eyes FTW

Guts are the same. Just have to swap the face and the needle.



Yeah, it's a decent look...

 

[spock345]

Those look like the oil filter was sitting on the passenger mount. Nice to get rid of the funny noises and engine/trans movement. Probably got a lot more torque going to the wheels.

Surprisingly it wasn't sitting on the oil filter.

 

[spock345]

Thanks to Bob for sending me those speedometers. I got one installed and it works perfectly.

Also rebuilt an '86+ passenger seat to match the driver seat. My logic is that when I can figure out seat covers then I'll go back to the early style seat. But for now it works.

New shocks in the back, struts to be done at some point. The old ones had some issues.

A good sign for the condition of the engine is the next to complete lack of corrosion anywhere on the thermostat housing, most I see are pitted. I did a change on all the fluids.

Lastly I pulled the windshield trim to assess the rust. Scraping off all the bubbling paint there was only one really bad spot. I only found those while poking the metal with a screwdriver looking for thin spots I should patch. But in the grand scheme of things the rust situation is really good for a 40 year old car.

 

[spock345]

Made a discovery while checking to see how far rust had spread under some paint in the windshield channel. Oh no.

And whoever did the windshield last filled rust holes with body filler.

But wait, there's more!

And the welding begins (I covered the newspaper with a towel before welding). Forgot to cover the cowl, I guess I was going to do paint work on it anyway.

 

[spock345]

Epoxy primer, filler, and paint.

 

[122power]

Damn nice work dude gettin it done.

 

[dl242gt]

That's looking very nicely repaired. Have some blood wine to celebrate!

 

[spock345]

The windshield saga is finally over with. No glass shops near me wanted to deal with the old style windshield, so the later style went in.