by David Atkin
An auto restoration is a process of elimination, and you want to create a list of all the areas of the car that might need restoration and work through it to eliminate the areas that need the lease work or no work at all, I usually start from the front of the car and work back, but that is all up to you, your trying to make this list as short as possible.
First of all I look at the grille, and check it of breaks on the front where you can notice them the most, and then around the areas where it mounts to the front of the car, what you need to determine is if the grille can be repaired, or if you need a new one, your obviously hoping that it doesn't need any work at all.
After you finish the grille you can move on to the headlights, and there mounting hardware, your looking for the same things here, you'll repeat this process quite a few times on the entire car, on the headlights look for broken springs, screws, and rotted out headlight mounting buckets, your obviously looking for the same thing here, little or no damage or ware.
Now that you have finished the grille and headlights you can move on to the bumper, check it for dents, cracks, chips, and peeling chrome, look at the bumper mounts for breakage and wear, look at the mounting hardware, the bumper bolts for wear, and rusting, your looking for perfection here.
Then move on to the valance panel of the car, or the front panel that sits the closest to the ground, check for dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, you'll be redoing this process on every last panel on the car, and on the interior of it.
Now you'll move to the header panel, this panel sits right in front of the hood, and once again you'll be looking for the same things dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, this all sounds a bit dull and boring, but it's a necessary evil if you want to restore your car, this will save you a lot of time and money.
Now loo at each fender, and you'll be looking for the same things here, dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, the fender includes the inner fender also and it's mounting hardware, once you have eliminated the fenders from the list, or left them there so you know that they, and there hardware needs replacement, you can move on to the hood.
Now look at the hood and look for all the same things, dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, after you inspect the outside of the hood it's time to lift the hood and look at the underneath for all the same things, but here you'll need to look at the hood hinges, and springs that hold your hood up when it's opened.
This has basically covered the front sheet metal, except for the firewall, and you'll need to inspect it for all of the same things, dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the hardware on the firewall to insure it's integrity, and then remove it from the list, or leave it there so you know that it needs work.
Mechanical and electrical inspection is the exact same, except your looking for worn parts, torn, cut, spliced, or frayed wiring, mechanical parts with excessive ware, things falling of of the car, leaks, noises that should not be there, and the like, you'll be listening for bumps, rattles, whines, and by whines, I don't mean the old lady whining at you about the car, I mean rear ends, and transmissions; you'll be looking for anything out of the ordinary, if it doesn't belong, then it needs to be fixed, and should be left on the fix it list.
An auto restoration is a process of elimination, and you want to create a list of all the areas of the car that might need restoration and work through it to eliminate the areas that need the lease work or no work at all, I usually start from the front of the car and work back, but that is all up to you, your trying to make this list as short as possible.
First of all I look at the grille, and check it of breaks on the front where you can notice them the most, and then around the areas where it mounts to the front of the car, what you need to determine is if the grille can be repaired, or if you need a new one, your obviously hoping that it doesn't need any work at all.
After you finish the grille you can move on to the headlights, and there mounting hardware, your looking for the same things here, you'll repeat this process quite a few times on the entire car, on the headlights look for broken springs, screws, and rotted out headlight mounting buckets, your obviously looking for the same thing here, little or no damage or ware.
Now that you have finished the grille and headlights you can move on to the bumper, check it for dents, cracks, chips, and peeling chrome, look at the bumper mounts for breakage and wear, look at the mounting hardware, the bumper bolts for wear, and rusting, your looking for perfection here.
Then move on to the valance panel of the car, or the front panel that sits the closest to the ground, check for dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, you'll be redoing this process on every last panel on the car, and on the interior of it.
Now you'll move to the header panel, this panel sits right in front of the hood, and once again you'll be looking for the same things dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, this all sounds a bit dull and boring, but it's a necessary evil if you want to restore your car, this will save you a lot of time and money.
Now loo at each fender, and you'll be looking for the same things here, dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, the fender includes the inner fender also and it's mounting hardware, once you have eliminated the fenders from the list, or left them there so you know that they, and there hardware needs replacement, you can move on to the hood.
Now look at the hood and look for all the same things, dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the mounting hardware and insure it's integrity, after you inspect the outside of the hood it's time to lift the hood and look at the underneath for all the same things, but here you'll need to look at the hood hinges, and springs that hold your hood up when it's opened.
This has basically covered the front sheet metal, except for the firewall, and you'll need to inspect it for all of the same things, dents, rust roles, scratches, chips, creases, and general wear, look at the hardware on the firewall to insure it's integrity, and then remove it from the list, or leave it there so you know that it needs work.
Mechanical and electrical inspection is the exact same, except your looking for worn parts, torn, cut, spliced, or frayed wiring, mechanical parts with excessive ware, things falling of of the car, leaks, noises that should not be there, and the like, you'll be listening for bumps, rattles, whines, and by whines, I don't mean the old lady whining at you about the car, I mean rear ends, and transmissions; you'll be looking for anything out of the ordinary, if it doesn't belong, then it needs to be fixed, and should be left on the fix it list.
No comments:
Post a Comment