AMC Concord Hardtop 1981

[juhap]

Have not the faintest idea of used time... many, too many because of those bad rust repair jobs...

[juhap]

Cleaned to bare metal and tin metal filler added...









It took several evenings to smoothen that... And then some fiberglass putty..



At last it was time to spray epoxy primer...



Testing vinyl... two years of storing... it has turned one size too small... oh s..t 





Here you can see primer... 



New roof and quarter panel need some holes... Checking my measurements using old sheet metal...



Wanted to see... what if...



But no. Saving this to my Matador Coupe.



Then it was time to clean windscreen frame to bare metal. There was just a little amount of rust... drivers side upper corner was the most..



Some weldings needed grinding and then some filler...





And at last some epoxy primer..



Merry Xmas to you all from Finland, land of Santa Claus...

[juhap]

Did some paint job...



This inner panel had some damage, because the accident. So used fiberglass filler to fix it.





Testing...



I glued that "wood trim" to it and that "chrome" window frame as well.



Dashboard needed some washing.



Did some sanding and suddently roof looked like it needed some black paint....





Now there is a decent paint, so I can glue that vinyl roof and gloss paint helps me to do final finish before final paint.
It is quite nice... just a couple of small dents at the drivers side... nothing much. There is no bondo at all...



Front side looks decent...





And these too.





It is not finished yet...

[juhap]

I needed new light bezels and frames. And front parklights. Donor cars has left some parts behind...



Then it was time to take front end apart... spring first...



Brakes then... Discs are shot... they are "one year only" rare version...



Rest of brakes are also dead. But the best of this is...I have got a load of new parts...



Nice factory rust here...



Under body treatment hides same rust above. Spring is OK.



Thank god it is only surface rust. No welding needed



This "sand box" is full of dirt... are there any rust, ist the question...



No onhan sitä siellä. Peltiä sen verran, että ei näy läpi.
Of course there is rust... Sheet metal is very thin layer...



This side needs almost same amount of welding than previous...

Happy new year!
Hauskaa uutta vuotta!

[juhap]

Puhalluksen jälkeen oli aika ottaa ylätukivarsi työn alle...
Uudet puslat ja toisen puslan hela sekä prikka, jolla vahvistan toisen puslan kohdalta tukivarren reunan. Jostakin syystä nuo takimmaisen puslan kohdat ovat ruostuneet ohueksi...
Putki on asennusta varten.

Sandblasting and new bushings...



Done.



Then it was time to take apart the rest of the front suspension.



And there was rust a lot of it and dirt..



Parts waiting to be cleaned. Brake discs are beyond salvage...



Bolts were tight...



This cover plate was bent... touching exhaust pipe... nice sound, I recon...



Bushings are dead... Local shop had new ones...



There was a lot of rust covered with stone chip spray. Needed cleaning.



Clean parts are happy parts... there´s more to come.



It´s welding time...again.
Took a part of solid metal to find rust, again...



After removing that "dirt shelf", I found more rust. Wall towards engine bay and spring tower have rust holes.



I did cut new sheet metal.



Welded with counter nut.



New side panel.



There is more rust to be found. Whole this area was swollen...



Cutting more... Here you can see brake pressure regulator.



Inner part has some bent because of the rust...



Inner fender fixed.



Upper part welded.



Finished.



Painted...



And then I covered it all.



What is under there...



Finished that area. Brake hose bracket welded...



Surprise... there were no holes at all, just rust layers between sheet metals.
Cleaned it all and then paint between.



Done...



And then some paint...

[juhap]

Started to remove motor..



Steering arm needed proper puller.



Oil change and rust removal...



Motor removal in action...



.. radiator and many other part removed.



Done...





Something to weld...



Oh boy...



Sad....



Firewall.



There was oil and s..t all over.

Cleanig with brake cleaner gives some results.



Cleanig and wireloom removing.



Something to do...





There was an older repair...



Beautiful..



Oh...



...so beautiful.



OH s..t   



This needs some new sheet metal...




There was a hole hidden...



Opened front strut lower part...



Opened front leg.



Removed paint, rust and under body sealer...





New sheet metal.



Welded.



Cutting more.



Cleanig welds.



Made a new piece with nice bend...



fits well.



Welded.



to be continued

[Taylor]

Awesome work! Awesome skills! Do you use a weld through primer on those areas that are hidden from view?

[juhap]

No, I don´t.. welding creates heat and heat destroys that paint... I paint those areas afterwards using rustpreventing paint. I´m using under body cavity pipe... works well...

Using CAD to create new patch (carboard assisted design)



Done...



Welded...



Cleaned all...





Last job of saturday evening...



Fits well.



The next step...



Welded that.



Cleaned weldings... Left those "original" ones... factory look, you see...



This is finished. Then it is time to do passenger side...

[juhap]

Co-driver side looks kinda suspicious...



Surprise, surprise... rust...



Made a new patch... like before.



Used that old CAD-template... it just needed a couple of inches more...



Using that hitech template, it was easy to create new piece.. testing...



Finished part.



Welded.



Cleaned...

[juhap]

The last patch... i hope..



Welded...



Cleaned...



After some bondo it was time to spread filler primer.





And then I had to sand it smooth...



Both sides, of course.



Then some black primer.



Air is full of paint dust...



Started to clean engine... found out that transmission crossmember was very...dirty and mount was dead...



New mount and fresh paint.



Vinyl arrived...



Inner fenders are done...





Crossmember fits well



Little bit cleaning made...



This side too..

[juhap]

Little by little this is coming together. Wiring harness needed some attention. Polished old paint in engine bay. Battery tray bolted on as well as steering box.



Wiring had some issues, like this head lamp washer pump relay set up... removed all extras.



Fixed.



Ready to rock...



All bits and pieces coming together.. some small gogs still missing in some boxes...



Wiring and piping done. Steering column as well. Body protection sprayed all over...
Accellerator wire needs its spring clip. Where to find one... APD hadn´t one...



Cleaned radiator. It had rust, thick layers of paint, underbody protection and oily sand...



Engine had bad idling and it had no power at all. Cleaned carb and distributor, no big issues. Opened valve cover... oh no! Five push rods were out of their places... two of those were bent... No wonder it ran rough...

EDIT: found a couple of push rods... and found out that one hydraulic lifter is dead... It stays in compressed length... Tried to lift it with a magnet... and there is 5 mm movement... Should be zero... 



Painted radiator- If I find other one, I´ll change it. It is not in very exellent condition...

[juhap]

Made a priming tool and tried to get dead lifters up...



Two dead lifters came up, but pressure sank when drill stopped... Oil water mixture look yammy...



Time to choose a new motor.



Found one.



It took some time to get it to downstairs.



It is in...


That used to be in my Sport Eagle.



Eagle has deeper oil pan, but it fits well to Concord.

Maybe the last weld...



Front suspension going together.



...shock tower...



Engine bay is done...



Front suspension done.



Minor jobs left.



Brakes are still old, new calibers are coming soon.

Eagle wheels needed spacers. Put winter tires, because I´m going to drive this outside as soon as possible.



Fits well...



Fenders...



Now it is roofing time. Some calculating had to be done.



4 cm smaller than it used to be.



New vinyl coming together.




Testing... not bad.





Glued seams, so these bacame flat...

[juhap]

It was too cold to glue that vinyl, so I had to do something else...

It needed windscreen... I had a new one and an old used original AMC Hornet glass. I chose that used...
I had 8 mm butylband, it was too small... It should be 10mm. I found one retailseller (webshop) here in Finland, and the price was not right... But I had to have it...



It needed some polishing, so I used ceriumoxide.



It took several hours to get it decent. And I recieved that 10 mm band.



Same web shop did sell vinyl spray paint with right color. (and a pinstriping set... for my SC/Rambler replica striping)



There was need for that paint... dashboard pad had scratches and steering wheel had sunkissed areas.



I had new (and old) window molding clips just enough.



My son helped me to install windscreen.



And then door glass. This is just temporary.. door needs welding and such...



It was too cold to vinyl roof... so I cleaned and painted and installed those parts...



It was not easy to wait warmer spring days. But today "Holy thursday" it was warm day so, it was time to glue.

I cleaned around rear screen and painted areas. Protected whole car.

Measured the centerline, again...

First I folded vinyl...



Roof was cleaned, again...



Sprayed adhessive to vinyl...



...and to roof.



After few moments it was time to glue vinyl... I could have use for third hand... Sidewindow area had to be opened to get vinyl even.



Same to the other side. Did that rearwindow area too.



Cut away all extra material and installed window frame.



And the other side too. Looks fine to me.



And from this angle too.



Testing roof molding. No BS, I think...

[Taylor]

That looks AWESOME. Great Work!

[juhap]

Thanks... This was very first vinyl roof I sew and glued.... Not so bad for the first job...