my hatchback project

monkeydude3 · Nov 2, 2007

Okay so first off, be gentle. I bought this as a project base car to ressurect as best I can. It is a 1982 Hatchback. It will definitely need floor pans and a new roof skin. I do not want the sunroof and it's rusted out, so I bought a donor plain roof off a newer rust free (but crashed) Fox.

I'm planning to build a 331 stroker engine, run good heads (Edelbrock, AFR, not sure) with the edelbrock air-gap intake and a Holley 650 or larger carburetor. I may set it up to spray too, we'll see. As for the tranny, either a world class T5 or a TKO500. Not sure yet. Going to have 3.73s in the rear in an 8.8" rear that I plan to buy.

For the inside, once the floors are in, I am going to put in an 8 point roll cage for looks, strength and safety. The factory dash is gone and in its place is this custom made one that I think is a good idea, but I will be painting it to match the car. I will put voltage, coolant temp, vacuum and fuel level in the four square, and the large one will be a speedometer w/ odometer. I plan to put the tach, fuel pressure and oil pressure gauges on the cowl just in front of the windshield. This car is NOT going to be a DD, and will be a race inspired weekend car that I hope to run more than a few times at the track.

So here is the car sittin in my garage. Not pictured (yet) is our 69 Impala which resides next to it. I put a tarp over the Impala because with the grinding, sanding, drilling and welding that will take place I want to keep most crud off the Impala.

So here is the car as it sits in my garage now.

This is me just wondering, where do I begin? But it will be a learning experience no doubt..

Here is the dash and most of that junk on the floor is gone now.

No engine... yet (got that 5.0 block I'm playin with though)

The roof I bought

So let me know what you think. All constructive input is welcome!

trav_19 · Nov 2, 2007

wow thats a project as long as the bodys rust free and you dont mind tackling that huge of a project i think its awesome...so whats the plans?? return it to stock....keep the track thing going? or a middle compromise? you plan on redoing the interior?

monkeydude3 · Nov 3, 2007

Floor pans and a roof skin are the bad areas. The rest just needs some cleaning/repainting. It will be a project. Not going OEM on most of the stuff, somewhere in the middle. All race oriented stuff but still street driven occasionally.

A few cats lived in there before I got it, so NEW INTERIOR!

More details as I progress!! In the next few days I'm going to start drilling out spot welds on the original roof skin because the new roof skin is the first thing to do.

scarface · Nov 3, 2007

weld a square brace around the inside of the roof area just below where you plan to cut it off. that way it keeps ts shape...if not you wont get the glass and stuff to go in correctly.

trav_19 · Nov 3, 2007

Scarface said:
weld a square brace around the inside of the roof area just below where you plan to cut it off. that way it keeps ts shape...if not you wont get the glass and stuff to go in correctly.

very true and that would be a pain .....how does the bodylines line up?? door gaps and such ...i would do subframes first....that way the car is restored to its shape if the car has begun to sag in the center from age and apperently its been raced it could be twisted and when that roof gets cut off ...wow you could have some issues

monkeydude3 · Nov 4, 2007

Have you guys ever done a roof? I have not but I have corresponded over the internet with a few guys who have done a ton with many pictures. I am not cutting the roof off in the same way I cut my donor roof. The donor roof was off a wrecked car so me and the guy just cut it with more than enough metal to spare me to do a transplant.

I am replacing the ROOF SKIN which I don't believe is structural, it's just a piece of metal that welds down over the actual roof frame. All four pillars stay in place. I don't know how you guys handle me linking to a different forum, but there is an excellent thread on roof skin replacement on the corral forum if it would be okay if I posted a link here.

Last night I started grindin down the paint to see where I have to cut and drill the spot welds.

AaRoN · Nov 4, 2007

that looks like quite the project. good luck and keep us updated.

scarface · Nov 4, 2007

as long as you dont cut the structural frame you are ok.

Paul · Nov 6, 2007

Looks like a heck of a project. Good luck and have fun. Four eyes rock!

monkeydude3 · Nov 7, 2007

Yep it's a project but it will be all done the way I want it!

I just registered for a welding class next semester at school, so by the time I take out all the junk that needs to I'll hopefully have learned enough from class to weld her together right!

Can't wait to get rockin on the engine too... 331 stroker, carbed... possibly sprayed too... drool drool

scarface · Nov 7, 2007

that welding class will come in handy with this project.

fixthedoor · Nov 8, 2007

Looks like you're gonna be showin that car a lot of love. :thumb:

Shouldn't this thread be moved to "build ups and projects"? :dunno:

monkeydude3 · Nov 8, 2007

Probably... that's my bad. Didn't think this thread would grow like this...ha

yeah I'm gonna give it some love but it will be worth it!

scarface · Nov 8, 2007

fixthedoor said:
Looks like you're gonna be showin that car a lot of love. :thumb:

Shouldn't this thread be moved to "build ups and projects"? :dunno:

yup..good catch.

monkeydude3 · Nov 8, 2007

Sorry about that... Like I said, I had only originally thought I would show a few pictures of the car and then come back and start a new thread later, then this one just took off.

If any of you have read my lounge post... I may or may not get to the car for a little while here as we had to call an ambulance to take my dad to the hospital this morning at 3 am. If you have conerns, comments etc regarding that, post it there.

If i make any progress or changes to the car... I will post it here.

Thanks for your support on both my dad and my project! :thumb:

monkeydude3 · Nov 8, 2007

Here are some recent pictures. If they are blurry it is because it was dark and my camera doesn't like the dark, but I will be taking more as things go on.

Starting to grind down paint and see what I have under here

Took a torch and some patience to the body solder and located my spot welds I need to grind away here

Took the driver's door off.

Another view with no door

What do you know, corner roof rot on a fox body...

I chipped away at the bondo and found it hid many surprises!

Some minor rot at the bottom left corner of where the windshield will go. This should be patchable once I get my welding skill from none to slight...ha

More to come!!!!

monkeydude3 · Nov 9, 2007

Some more of what I did today

I took the rear bumper skin off

I played with the dremel and careful cut away some of the spot welds. Worked great. I dont' have to save this roof skin as it's the turd one going bye bye. Once I buy the spot weld drill bits, those I will use to trim up the donor roof.

If you can see how I placed the bucket, I had to have a little daydream.. ha

realitygt · Nov 9, 2007

that looks like a solid car to begin with. how much did you get it for? btw i love the rims

monkeydude3 · Nov 9, 2007

realitygt said:
that looks like a solid car to begin with. how much did you get it for? btw i love the rims

It does have some decent rust in areas... the floor pans, the roof, and that's about it. The frame is solid, the strut towers are solid, the K member is "surface rusty and dirty" but it's solid ( I think I can upgrade it though). There isn't much in there in terms of wiring, so anything I want I will have to either get a harness for, or study a diagram and make myself which in all seriousness wouldn't be that bad. No engine or tranny.

I'm going with a 331 stroker ( have a 302 long block I'm tearing down), edelbrock or AFR heads, edelbrock air gap intake, holly 650+ carb, and the cam is yet to be decided but you bet your a$$ it will be radical; world class T5(or TKO500) and 3.73s in an 8.8". I'm hopin for a solid 12 second car all said and done. You think I can make this car pull wheelies? I'm not talking wheel stands, but on the launch lift up both tires a little bit.

I paid $300... well, I paid $60 and somehow my mom handed me $240 to seal the deal. SHe said she wants to drive it when I'm done, which is no prob. My mom's first car she picked was a 65 (or so) Mustang.