Some Updates
Made the unpleasant discovery that the car has been repainted. There’s a run just behind the driver’s door:
and the LS stickers were (poorly) masked instead of just removed and replaced afterwards.
Otherwise it’s a decent job. Would I like a glossier/original finish? Sure. But at least the clearcoat is intact.
Lots of work to do in the engine bay:
I got him up on jackstands on Friday and started removing parts. Canadian winters have had their way with everything under there. Exhaust leak, check:
Managed to get most of it off, but the studs securing the downpipes to the exhaust manifolds snapped immediately, so I had to rip off the intake manifold and remove the exhaust manifolds also:
Fortunately, thanks to a combination of heat, penetrant, just the right socket extensions and a lot of patience, all 14 nuts/bolts came off with breaking any. So the engine will not have to be pulled (yet).
At the rear, 3 out of the 4 subframe mounting bolts snapped:
A nice neighbor came off and welded nuts onto the bolts so we could get them off with the air gun:
There’s also a good bit of rust under the shock towers:
Wire brushed it and hit it with a couple of coats of POR-15.
And I finally got the fuel tank off earlier this evening:
Some rusty patches above the tank, which I’ll also wire brush and treat:
I’d like to powerwash all the undercoating off, but I think that would take something stronger than Simple Green; probably some scrubbing action, which I don’t have time for at the moment.
Very close to being able to start reassembly, which should (hopefully) go more smoothly.