Priya's SX/4 project

[IowaEagle]

Like I said before, she can come to my Eagle's rescue any time.

[priya]

Thanks guys, you're all very sweet.  And thanks for the egg Tim!

[priya]

Tim asked for some more pictures including some "overall shots" so I did my best in the cramped spaces.

Here's the whole car, or what you can see of it underneath the fenders hood, etc.  We're extremely cramped for space in this garage, I'm not sure how I'm going to prep the thing for paint as there's really no space to have the car in there and room to lay out the hood, fenders, doors, and rear hatch at the same time.


Here's the rest of the SX/4 pieces in my husbands van - a full size extended van at that.  He's wanted to use it twice since the project has started so unfortunately that's meant moving everything in the van back into the SX/4 and garage and then back into the van again.


Here's the passenger side after the first coat of body fill went on.


I tried to get  a picture on the driver's side similar to the one above but for some reason the lighting wouldn't cooperate and the same sort of angle wouldn't work out.


This was the best "overall" picture I could get of the driver's side - sorry I couldn't do better, Tim.

[IowaEagle]

From what I can see the rest of the unibody looks pretty solid.

[priya]

Yes, all things considered the rust wasn't really that bad, certainly it could have been much worse.  I've only had to make very small repairs to the floorboards in six different places, only about 12 or 18 square inches in total.

[timsamc]

Wow Priya!  You sure aim to please!   THANKS for the photos!  It makes it that much more inspiring to know that you are doing such amazing work in such a tight space!   Incredible!  Well, keep plugging along and thank you again!   I love to have the "big picture" of projects...it just helps keep things in perspective and allows one to see the scale of the overall project!   Looks like you are pretty close to finishing up any and all rust repairs.   Is there any where next to you for sale...I should just move to wherever you are so we could be neighbors.  I could paint your house and you could help me with the one spot of rust I've found on my SX/4.  Otherwise, I can't find any.  The only area I found was on the passanger side door frame.  (It's on the body frame at the weld seam where the door jamb comes down from the windshield...just below the upper door hinge.)   It's not really bad...seems to be mostly surface from what I can see.  It's at a really hard spot to get a camera shot of it, but maybe I'll post it later.   Anyway, great job and the photos looked great!
-Tim

[priya]

Yes Tim, I'm feeling pretty good about where I am on this one, I haven't got too much left to do in terms of Rust repairs although the prep for paint is going to be a fairly big job as I'm changing colours and will need to paint door frames, engine compartment, etc. and the piece I need to form in the wheel well is a bit of  a bear as its got compound curves.

I'll let you know if any place near me comes up for sale, lol.  If you're able to get a picture of your one rust spot I'd be happy to give you my best advice on it.  Sounds like kind of an unusual place for rust, hopefully its just a bit of surface rust like you say, you could test it by putting a pointy object against it like a scratch awl and hammering on it lightly to see if it goes through or is still solid, but if you're not ready to repair it that might leave it worse than it was.

[priya]

Well, I got the front half of the outer rocker on today.  Here's the area after the backing plate for the top edge was welded into place as well as the jacking re-inforcement plate:


Here's the replacement panel I formed last September, it needed a fair bit of tweaking to make it fit right:


And here it is welded into place.  It put up a fight but I was more determined that it go on than it was that it not go on properly.

[trapperjack]

Priya, I'm going to have to quit reading about your work, I'm hanging my head in shame. I actually bought a roll of roof flashing, self drilling screws, acid for killing rust, and some roofing tar to fix my rockers (if you know what I'm going to do with all this, you might be a redneck)  You're doing a great job.

[timsamc]

Yes Tim, I'm feeling pretty good about where I am on this one, I haven't got too much left to do in terms of Rust repairs although the prep for paint is going to be a fairly big job as I'm changing colours and will need to paint door frames, engine compartment, etc. and the piece I need to form in the wheel well is a bit of  a bear as its got compound curves.

I'll let you know if any place near me comes up for sale, lol.  If you're able to get a picture of your one rust spot I'd be happy to give you my best advice on it.  Sounds like kind of an unusual place for rust, hopefully its just a bit of surface rust like you say, you could test it by putting a pointy object against it like a scratch awl and hammering on it lightly to see if it goes through or is still solid, but if you're not ready to repair it that might leave it worse than it was.

Hey Priya! 
   I tell you what, your bringing the SeXy back to your SX/4!      It really is amazing to watch your progress!   It must be cool to think that the light your seeing at the end of the tunnel (as far as getting nearly done with your rust repairs) is truly the light at the end of the tunnel and not the light from a mig welder!  LOL!   

I will try to get a picture posted this weekend of the rust on my car to show you.  Thank you for the offer of looking at it...I truly appreciate it! 
-Tim

[priya]

Thanks trapperjack and Tim!  Trapper, I wouldn't have done this extensive a job myself but the car has been unlicensed for over 13 years and as such has fallen off the provincial licensing system computer so it has to go through a safety inspection before it can be licensed again.  That means the body has to be structurally sound and there can't be any holes into the passenger compartment.  My husband does safety inspections so he's been telling me how it's got to be done and he fancies himself a bit of a taskmaster when it comes to this sort of thing.

[Eagleneer360]

now that is love. That crazy work that i would never do. keep up the good work

[priya]

Thanks Eagleneer360, I'll keep at it.  A friend of my husband's asked why I chose to restore such a "hard car".  I wasn't sure what he meant exactly as I don't see the Eagle being any more difficult to restore than anything else, but I told him I had an Eagle wagon and was really impressed with its good gas mileage and power for a 6 cyl 4WD plus it was great in the snow so I thought an SX/4 would be even better because its lighter and I like the looks much better.  If I'd have found the Eagle nest before I bought this car and realized it was not in as good of shape as I thought I would have gotten something else needing a good deal less work.  But as it was I paid $400 for the car, $300 to tow it to my new home, bought roughly $1500 worth of parts for it, so not fixing it up was really no longer an option I was willing to entertain.  At this point, no regrets as the rust repairs have come along pretty well and have cost very little beyond my labour.

[IowaEagle]

I get Hemmings Classic Cars (an AMC friendly publication) and I have seen cars, parts wise, that are much harder restores than our Eagles.  What I think you do for all of us, priya, is keep us motivated to do what we can and to learn new skills regardless of our age or present abilities.   Now if it would only stop raining for a few days so I can do at least a few things on my neglected Eagle.

[priya]

Yes, Doug, I think if I can do it anyone can.  I haven't had any formal training in welding or autobody, back when I was in my late teens I bought a book on autobody with lots of pictures and being too dumb to realize I couldn't do it I decided to try it and bit by bit picked up the skills I use today.  My husband's been a big help, although he's a mechanic by trade he's been employed by various body shops and has picked up a great deal of knowledge about it.  The only thing I'd say about it is that it takes a lot of patience - as my husband says, if you're into instant gratification this isn't the hobby for you.  I've seen a lot of cars for sale where someone has decided they wanted to restore it, stripped it apart, stuffed all the pieces inside and then given up.  I try to not focus on the total volume of work, but just stay focused on the immediate job in front of me and just keep at it and that way it doesn't seem to get the better of me.