Looks like I'll be walking 500 miles - 71 Torino 500 restomod

[Billf67]

While looking for parts for my other project, S-1970 Torino, I stumbled upon a 71 Torino 500 302 about 30 minutes down the road. Had one picture in the ad and a short description but it was close enough to check out, worse case it might be a parts car. Got there and learned quick this was a parking lot car. Engine and trans were out due to the rear main seal but everything else was still on the car as the guy had been daily driving it until he bought a new mustang. Paint was driver quality but was starting to lift in spots, flake around the trim, and small bubble in the fender lips. Quarters looked fairly solid, and trunk gutter wasn't rusted thru tho, plus he had all the original documentation so we settled on a price and I had project number 3. Plan was to clean up the engine bay and rebuild the 302 and have a driver by the end of the summer.....LOL.

[chunger]

Looks pretty clean! Hows the interior?

Glad to see another one being saved!

[Alwhite00]

My aunt had one of them when I was a kid. Same color and everything. Good find.

[RMMiller]

Looks like a pretty nice car. I had a 70 GT, 71 base model and a 70 Type N/W. Wish I still had the last one.

[Billf67]

After getting her home, I went ahead and started tearing her apart. Engine bay was a mess with blue over spray on most everything, not to mention the nice two tone paint scheme in the door post from the quick color change. Scraped atleast 5 pounds of old seam sealer off as well. Once I removed everything and pressure washed it, I found the first problem on the cowl. The cowl vents had been sealed up underneath the dash and I'm betting this was the reason why. So now on to rust removal.

[Billf67]

After hitting it with the wire wheel, the rust had started to eat thru the lower section of the cowl as well so I couldn't just put a patch in the top piece. Knowing there was probably more problems underneath, I went ahead and cut a section of the cowl out so I would have room to work and see just how bad it was. For some reason I didn't get many pictures of the cowl before fixing it but it was pitting all around the back of the vent since it was a catch all that was lower than the rest. Made my patch panels for the rust thru areas, and decided to fiberglass inside the lower cowl then undercoat over it all for added protection. Shaped the rear so it would actually drain versus just holding water and debris and stop any future rust thru.

[jaybee]

Looks like you've got the usual issues, but not bad!

[Billf67]

Once the cowl was all finished up, it was time to blast it. It seemed like every chance I had time, it was pouring down rain but that's South Carolina for ya. After about a month, I was able to blast it and get some paint laid down. Man the difference that made. Next up was to check floorpans since I knew if the cowl was leaking it probably had rust under the carpet.

[Zspoiler]

It looks like you are coming along .So what plans do you have for it. There are a lot of choices out there .And what ever you do .Good luck.

[andrewb70]

Great progress so far! Looks like aside from the small cowl issue, she is a solid car.

Andrew

[Billf67]

Interior had been redone and was in pretty good shape. Bench seat car, black and burgundy throughout with the original brown headliner still intact. Dash had been dyed black over the original brown and had some bad spots but for a driver, it was in good shape. Pulled the interior and carpet and was really surprised at how well the pans were. Original sound-deadening was still underneath and only a few spots and pinholes in the grooves. Worst spot was under the driver pedal where the cowl leak had dripped down. Forgot to grab a picture of it but imagine swiss cheese in the most complex bend of the floor lol. After fixing all the rust spots, I stripped it and used por-15 to coat the floor. Naturally power went out as I was painting and had to use my phone flashlight to finish but it turned out good and it was all going to be covered up with new sound deadner later.

[Billf67]

It looks like you are coming along .So what plans do you have for it. There are a lot of choices out there .And what ever you do .Good luck.

So it was about at this point in the fix that I decided this was too solid of a car to not build. I've never been a fan of red on a car except firetrucks and ferraris and with the poor paint job on this one, it was going to get a repaint. Had 3 choices on color at the time; all black, f8 green, or lightening blue. Figured by the time I got the body ready for paint, I would know. Toyed with the idea of going modern drivetrain (had a 4.6 3v laying around) and rod and custom front end. But after going back and forth, decided to not dive that far into this project since I had the S-1970 and the 67 fastback to work on, both with coyotes. So mild built 302 it was going to be.

[Billf67]

Trunk gutters on these cars are usually one of the first things to rust away. This one was fairly solid other than the passenger lower bend. It took a few tries before I figured out the best way to make this piece but I was finally happy with it. Glad the trunks on these cars are so big because it was fun welding the bottom side of this in. Driver side had a small spot near the drain that had rusted thru but it was not as bad to fix. While I was fixing the driver side, I noticed a lot of seam sealer packed into the corner below the taillight. Scraped it off to find a hole that had rusted out. After cleaning it up, most of the lower tail light panel had rusted away under the tail light in this corner. Naturally its a tight corner with a lot of weird bends and overlapped metal. But got it all cut out and new panels put back in.

[Billf67]

After much debate, I finally decided to go ahead and put this car on the rotisserie knowing it was no longer going to be a quick driver like originally planned. Stripped the quarters to find more rust and bad fiberglass work. Got it all cut out and patched up on both sides. The curl on the inner tub was tricky to get right.

[chunger]

Nice progress. Doncha love it when your simple plan goes out the window and you dive in up to your elbows in two projects at once!

[Billf67]

Nice progress. Doncha love it when your simple plan goes out the window and you dive in up to your elbows in two projects at once!

Me and simple don't get along lol



Moved on to fixing the small spots on the wheel wells, both sides were bubbling in the same place. After cutting it out I realized it was a catchall where the tub meets the quarter so that explained why it was rusting out. While I was fixing them, I decided to shave the molding tabs on the rocker as well to give it a cleaner look. Never was a fan of the big flashy molding anyway. How about that green and red two tone tho

[Billf67]

Decided it was time to go ahead and start stripping. Needless to say there is a layer of red dust on pretty much every inch of the shop even with the doors open and fan blowing. It looks like wherever this car had body work done, it was primed with red oxide causing the paint to come off in sheets. Once I found this out, it made things go a lot smoother. I've said it before but if I could find a solid enough Torino I would just leave it in bare metal. Went ahead and shaved the rear marker lights as well since they looked like an eye sore in the quarter.

[andrewb70]

Whoa...didn't expect that! This will be awesome!

Andrew

[Peanut1959]

Love this body style. I'm glad you're giving her some TLC.

[Billf67]

Once she was all stripped, I could see what I was actually working with. I believe every time it was driven, someone put a door ding in it. But got the whole body sprayed in primer and main body work done. This is the first full car I've attempted to do body work on so it was a learning curve for sure. Pretty sure I need to invest in an inline sander for the next 2 cars because my fingers are still sore from all that hand blocking lol. Oh and a paper machine