6.1 Swap

[rebelyell]

Inner fenders have some pretty good rust. It's through in a few spots. Here's what Im dealing with.

Doesn't Eastwood make a "well, I wasn't expecting rust there and I cant fix it, but I gotta paint it soon" spray paint?

[Dmod1974]

Yeah, but so does Rustoleum or Krylon in a much cheaper rattle can, LOL.  Their rust encapsulater works ok, but unless you're driving this thing in rain, snow, and salt for another 5 years before tear down I wouldn't waste time on anything fancy.  Knock off the loose stuff and hit it with matching spray paint if you don't like the eye sore.  The rust took 50 years to get where it is today, and it certainly won't accelerate now that it's likely a summer weather garage kept ride.

I actually used their rust encapsulator on my beater 1999 Silverado and it only held up for a few years before peeling off in sheets in certain areas where light surface rust was present.  I doubt it'll fair better on perforated sheet metal.

[rebelyell]

Lol, noted. That's kinda what I was thinking. Scrub, decrease, wire wheel the rough areas, degrease, red scotch brite, high build prime, paint.

I'm going to talk to a body shop right up the road about it tomorrow. Might see about getting some rattle can closely matched to the outside. I dont have the skills to use a gun and reducer and mixing (and I hear the collective cringe). I know it's probably not hard, but I'd almost rather pay someone else to do it.

[rebelyell]

Turns out that a guy I work with used to do autobody and he's dropping by this weekend to help with painting the engine bay. Picking up supplies tomorrow. Going to match the body color in another few weeks. Didn't quite budget for this, but it just wouldn't seem right putting that motor in that nasty engine bay.


Now to the wiper motor..does anyone think this is worth cleaning up and semi-restoring? Its dated 1978, so it's one of the very few things that's not original. It works exactly as it should.

[anlauto]

Likely dated 1968 by the look of it

[rebelyell]

I can't make out the top numbers, but it's a 73691 motor and has a 1978 date underneath. Any chance it's the original motor?

Looks like:

2988 033 ?
73691
1978

[anlauto]

It's an early 1969 B Body with a mid-July 1968 assembly date.

[rebelyell]

Neat. So it's not original, but it still works.

Is it worth putting a little elbow grease into and making it look good again?

[Chryco Psycho]

Why not you have it out ?

[soundcontrol]

I think it's going to be a chore to match the orange and also figure out where to stop on the underside with the orange. Those are my hangups. Black seems easy and might make the engine stand out better? I want it orange, but I think it presents more challenges than I'm willing to face. Now that I'm thinking it through, I might be answering my own question. If I'm going to get absolutely trounced for painting it black it might sway me in the other direction. 

I'm painting my wifes 65 Barracuda in the engine bay and inside now, car is gonna be pearl white exterior, painting the engine bay plain white, not gonna match 100%, but close enough.

[rebelyell]

Why not you have it out ?

I mean vs buying a new one. I have no idea how well this one will clean up.


Got the engine bay sanded and etched. Found some bondo and a few patch panels. Were e-bodies prone to rust on the top of the inner fenders underneath where the fender tags would be? It looks like the inner fenders on mine both rusted where the suspension support is underneath. Also that flat area under the battery tray had been patched poorly.

[ZippyZoo]

Why not you have it out ?

I mean vs buying a new one. I have no idea how well this one will clean up.


Got the engine bay sanded and etched. Found some bondo and a few patch panels. Were e-bodies prone to rust on the top of the inner fenders underneath where the fender tags would be? It looks like the inner fenders on mine both rusted where the suspension support is underneath. Also that flat area under the battery tray had been patched poorly.

wiper motor: -    As Chryco Psycho stated,since it's already out.  You can do a lot without even disassembling and even more with minor disassembly. see before and after pics

Fenders: yes again.  My inner fenders on top of the shock mount area were rusted through pretty quickly being a Midwest (salt) car.

[rebelyell]

You did that? What did you repaint and did you send anything out to be replated? That's what I want mine to look like.

Ok, well that explains the rust then. And also why they never replaced the fender tags.