and so it begins

[WS6]

Well, as some of you know I totaled my 96 Formula back on Feb 28th. I got out of school for the summer on May 8th. That day I started tearing the car apart to get the drive train out and part the rest of it for money. The plan for this summer is to put the LT1/T56 combo into my 79TA and make it driving again. I don't have a lot to spend so I'm doing it cheaply but correctly. Unfortunately, in order to get the car rolling down the road again with the LT1 in it, I need to do brake work as well. So I'll be updating this as I go with more than just the LT1/T56 swap. I plan to get pretty detailed once I get into the LT1 swap part itself. I figure it is bound to help someone with a second gen. There aren't too many of us here yet.

For now though, I'll start with tear down photos of the TA and some clean up. I'm moving quickly on the car so I'll have more to show soon. It's just a matter of getting the pics uploaded and replies typed up.

Yes, the motor is green. Laugh all you want. I do not care. What you're looking at is a heads/cam 403 with a TH350 behind it.







As you can see, I'll have some rot repair to do also. No way this is going back on without being fixed or replaced first. I have some plans though for strengthening it before I put the core support back in. I'll be building for function not restoration.



She is actually running in this picture. I had to get the car from behind the shop into the shop. It's the last time that engine ran in this car. The person who bought the drive train has a 79 SE TA. He's using mine to teach his sons how to work on and build engines. He already has a motor in his TA.



Hood fenders inner and out removed.



More of the rot from the battery. The battery is being relocated to the trunk as part of the swap.



Front clip completely removed at this point





And now the subframe is stripped and ready to pull



This picture shows what the subframe looked like before I started cleaning away the rust, dirt, and grime. You can also see a section I have completed and my tool for getting this mess off the metal. Aside from sand blasting, the wire wheel on the end of an electric die grinder works tremendously well. You have to wear gloves, eye protection, and ear protection. The thing is a monster. The only downside is getting into tight spaces. It really can't do that very well but if you're working quickly and on a tight budget, this thing works wonders. It'll also tear through undercoating pretty well. The wire wheel won't harm the metal like you would think it should.



All clean and wiped down with Ospho to convert any rust still on the metal.