Saved from the Demo Derby: 1990 Country Squire

[kishy]

Took the tailgate and rear bumper off. The tailgate was pretty heavy. The aluminum bumper was quite light.

You aren't kidding. The tailgates are very nearly a 2-person job. I have two in storage that I've moved around a couple times and it's no fun.

Going from that to an aluminum bumper, it feels like you could toss the thing like a javelin.

Nice to see the dedication here. It's clear from recent Bring a Trailer postings that these cars will command a decent value when they're in good shape, so whether its for yourself or the future, it's worth making it nice.

[Tiggie]

Took the tailgate and rear bumper off. The tailgate was pretty heavy. The aluminum bumper was quite light.

Dug into the rust spot on the left quarter. It got bigger, as I think it always does. Ended up cutting out some of the inner structure as well. Also cut out the damaged seam because rust had worked its way into that as well.

Creating the patches was not bad. Welding them in wasn't either. The problem is this panel has an odd radius. It's relatively flat in front, with a curve on the rear. This, combined with the damage from what looked like a jack being used on the edge, and the welding made this thing "oil can" central (the metal pops in and out). I ended up getting some 16ga square tubing, and with the help of sheet metal screws, plug welded the quarter to the tubing to lock it down. It's still absolutely wavy as can be, but they aren't deep and they are stable, so filler will hold. Apologies to all you real body work guys that know the real way to fix this.

Ordered primers and some wax and grease remover to the tune of $500. Ouch.

[87gtVIC]

Looking good with it all stripped down.

[Tiggie]

WOW look at that wide white wall tire.
Your wagon looks much better

Haha it's more a yellow wall these days. I use it as a spare. It's a Sears Allstate from dad's 51 Ford. It's from the 70's and somehow has absolutely zero rot.

[Mainemantom]

WOW look at that wide white wall tire.
Your wagon looks much better

[Tiggie]

Finally all the woodgrain and glue are gone. Gave it a bath today with some Dawn dish soap and some Brillo pads.

Next job is to get the rear bumper off and the plastics around it. I think that will finish disassembly.

Found another reason the left quarter drop off has some rust. Previously thought it was from the filler neck seal on the fender well side, and it probably is. But also someone forgot a screw. I believe it was left off at the factory...

[gadget73]

agree on funky production tolerances. These things often had shims in various places to make it all fit together. Once in a while it requires serious abuse to make it go. I had to let mine get backed into by a crackpot in a full size Dodge van in order to get the driver's door to have proper panel gaps and close correctly. Best guess is that tweaked the frame or the A pillar back to where it actually belonged after a weld repair on the frame tweaked it where it didn't belong. Don't know, don't care, the door shuts nice now.

[Tiggie]

Header panel hardware cooperated, thankfully. Not sure if it could be shaved down... probably. I'm throwing it in the attic where the blue one came from, because a slightly tweaked header panel is better than one that is in pieces (hopefully the need never arises).

Stripping glue today. What a job. Screw vinyl woodgrain. That said, I don't like the way this car looks without it.

Found some evidence of "quality is job 1". This dent lives under undamaged trim. So it had to be there from day 1. I'm leaving it!

[87gtVIC]

Done now, but curious if there would have been enough material on the existing header panel to shape it to fit via sanding?

Did all of those fasteners behave themselves up in the fenders when trying to remove the nuts or did some want to back out with the header panel thus sandwiching the flange between the fenders and header panel?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Considering all the tolerances when these cars were built, there's no telling if it was wrong day one or if someone bumped something. At least the replacement panel lined up properly.

Progress is looking real good!

[Tiggie]

Tried to be busy this week.

Woodgrain is off everything but the front fenders. Glue remains... a project for this week. Have some glue remover that seems very promising.

Tailgate trim off.

Also finished removing the door panels to remove the side mirrors and exterior door handles.

Went on a quest or two for a hood. Quest 1 was a parts car; hood was bad (as was likely most everything else, sitting since 2008). Quest 2 involved a junkyard but the car was MIA.

Dad came over today. He said he throught the hood was okay. We looked it over and I noticed the darn header panel was high, not the hood low. It's either been tweaked or was made incorrectly. It functioned but made the hood look low on the front right edge. I stashed a header panel several years back. Tried that one and it seems fixed. So the hood is fine. Didn't plan on a header panel swap but that beats buying a hood.

Moral of the story. Keep a header panel in stock.

[Tiggie]

Lots of stuff came up this week that kept me from making adequate progress.
Rocker panel moldings removed; no broken clips. Drivers side door panels removed. Front driver door woodgrain stripped. Rear drivers side door handle removed. Yup, woodgrain underneath. Going to leave the others on for a bit, as I want to pull some addition trim around the rear windows and give this thing a bath to get that black moss junk out of there.

Going to try to get eyes on a hood. This one has a depression on the front edge and I hate body filler in hoods.

[87gtVIC]

Rubber wheels are so damn handy. I have used them a number of times but never to the extant you are going to be but have found they lasted more than I would have thought.

[Tiggie]

Where the woodgrain was cracked and exposing the paint underneath to the elements, is that just dirt lines or is it actually deeply etched from that?

Not 100% sure yet. I think it's hardened glue and dirt. I have some glue remover to use yet: I'll update once I try some of that. If it is into the paint, it's not very deep.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Where the woodgrain was cracked and exposing the paint underneath to the elements, is that just dirt lines or is it actually deeply etched from that?