When I brought the Station Wagon home the only thought in my mind was that I would do some kind of restoration job on it. As I looked it over I saw more and more things that were wrong, and for piece of mind I decided to do a frame up restoration. It will cost me more money and a lot more time, but I think that it will be worth it. This way I won't have to be driving down the road worrying about that wire that I found that doesn't go to anything, or about those brakes that I just never got around to.
I don't have the time or the money, or the interest to keep it 100% stock and original. Sorry guys, it's not that original isn't cool, but my plan is to go for about 80% original with a few upgrades. First thing to go is the old 6 volt system. I have the 6 volt starter and generator, but if I went with 6 volts and one day I accidently forget and leave my lights on, I can't even get somebody to jump me, nobody drives cars running on 6 volts anymore. So I will be upping it to a 12 volt system probably with a GM alternator with internal regulator.
The engine will stay, it's a F134 and seems to be in pretty good shape. Well, it ran when it was parked. It's not froze up and it's not blown up, so I should be able to rebuild it. This will start probably sometime around January 15th, and I hope to have it done before February 15th.
Leaving the stock engine allows me to keep the front and rear ends stock, along with the transmission and transfer case. I want to go through each of these, inspecting gears and such, making sure everything looks ok, then it'll all get put back together. I do plan to get a warn/saturn overdrive unit for the Dana 18 just because it will be my daily driver and that may help me out a bit.
No lift, stock wheels, close to stock tires. I am going to be driving it everyday, I don't want to have something with 33" tires that is specialized for offroad. For the light offroading that I plan to do, it will go just fine when it is stock. That should just about do the chassis, then it's on to the body work.
The body is going to be a bit of work I've decided. It needs nothing except cleanup and repainting done to it from the front of the doors up. The drivers side door is out of adjustment, no big deal. The floor under the drive and the passenger is trashed. There is very little left on either side. What is left will get cut out and replaced with just sheet metal.
Rear quarter panels have been modified by somebody in the past. Either lack of shocks, or the desire to put on big tires possesed them to do a hackjob around the wheel wells. Probably cut 3 inches off all around, you can see it in my pictures, very noticable, looks like crap. The quarter panels will get replaced.
Large dent in drivers side rear. I don't know if somebody drove into a tree or what, but it really messed the back up. The dent will hopefully pound out without too much trouble. The tailgate hinge is ruined, had a little too much rust or something on it. Good thing I live in the town of industry, piano hinge is cheap. I may have to replace some metal on the bottom of the tailgate, don't have it apart far enough to tell as of yet. The hatch is in really good shape, will also need a new hinge, but that should be it.
New glass all the way around. In 50 years glass has a tendency to go bad, all of it has seperated and has nasty bubbles around the edges. I can get new glass cut in town and install it myself, should only take a couple days to do, and will help a lot.
Completely new wiring. I haven't decided if I want to drop 250 dollars on a new harness or if I will build my own, but it has to be done. I plan to relocate the rear tail lights to outside of the tailgate, and sunk in to look nice. I will add blinkers, although I don't know what to do about a switch yet.
I'm not going to put a backseat in it at this time. I don't have the frame and spring, and to buy a new one would be crazy because I hardly ever haul more than one other person around with me. So I will either reupholster the front seat myself or get it done. My mom's friend has an industrial strenght sewing machine, so it is possible to make a new seatcover, but it might be better to get a pro to do it. Depends on cost.
Oak panels all around, new oak strips on the floor, and matching ones on the tailgate. This will provide a lot of protection for the floor and the tailgate, and will look really good.
Guages will be reworked to look nice and cleaned up a bit, but otherwise left stock. A tach may be added, in an inconspicous spot, or it might not. Still a long time to decide all that.
Custom pedals. Will be milled out of aluminum and polished to look really nice. Keeping the on the floor starter switch, because it's neat to have. Plus it's a theft deterrent.. when you can't figure out how to start it it's harder to steal :)
Will be painted a maroon color. Was going to go with a bright red, but decided after much deliberation that a maroon would look much better. Accents will be black, will be little or no chrome on it. Bumpers may or may not be chrome, I currently am bumperless, but am working on a deal with a guy to get both a front and a rear.
I think that's the plan more or less. If it changes this page will reflect those changes.