Headed to the shop this morning after breakfast and spend maybe 3 hours on the car with at least two of those hours with my buddy Randy lending a hand. So we are all in at about 10 hours of stripping work and by mid day when we wrapped up we are at 95%. Here is a pic of the tools we used.
Here are the tools used for the day. Added a few from the first day but all still pretty basic.
I started the morning labeling odd connectors at the engine side of things and figuring out what I wanted to spend energy on. Head lights, side markers, horns and all other miscellaneous systems that may not be present I disconnected but made little effort to label. I am halfway between knowing this car will be a dedicated track toy and a pull to make it street-able if I so choose. Cord has let me know that the head light wiring will more than likely need to be new.
Once Randy joined me we tackled the steering column. I maintained a steady tension load at the steering wheel and Randy gave the joint a few convincing taps. (I had soaked the joint over night with 3in1 oil to help things along.) In this case I could not get heat on the joint but normally that’s my go to bolt remover. Rarely do I ever put any serious load on a bolt without first giving it a little time with the torch. I have snapped and rounded to many heads to not know better now.
With the wheel out and the wiring labeled up we started disconnecting and removing systems from the shell. The headlight assemblies were removed and saved; these should make easy ebay items. Next came the radiator tubing and the horn. I got lazy with the horn; we drilled some holes in the front bumper and pulled on the plastic a little to avoid having to remove the already damaged plastic.
Exhaust side.
Intake side.
With the left and right wings of the wiring harness fully disconnected and hanging free we were able to feed the wires back through the firewall and into the cockpit. Four hand makes this job a lot easier but it is probably doable alone. This harness weighs a ton. I expect I will be printing out the full wiring schematics and removing all the unnecessary systems.
Main harness. Little 1750 Alfa engine in the background.
Cockpit fully stripped out.
With the topside of the car now stripped and free we turned our attention to the bottom side. Removing the shell from the PPF was actually one of the main reasons for writing this blog. Everyone that has done it says just how easy it is and leaves it at that. No pointers, no clues, no pictures. Well I can tell you its about as easy as they make it sound once you can get passed the dash. I will write a post specific to removing the shell with as good as documentation as I can; though I understand why there is little documentation now; once you get into it taking the time to take pictures is a commitment. Look for the next post to give you all the details of splitting the shell from the PPF.
Catfish? 