Removal of the gas tank, the aerodynamic panel between the gas tank and rear body edge, the rear axle, rebound straps, clutch linkages, emergency brake linkages and lots of other little stuff was hard work made much more difficult by the presence of about 1/4″ of accumulated crud. The crud is a mix of grease, road dirt and dust, oil, undercoating, and other debris hardened over the years by continual wetting and drying, heating and cooling.  In many cases I had to use a screwdriver and wire brush to expose the bolts holding an assembly together and clean the treads so I could get it apart. I can’t complain too much about this crud though because it protected the metal in these areas from the elements and kept it free of rust.
The tools I used for this job were a 3″ wide putty knife/paint scraper with a sharp edge, a dull pocket knife, a wide bladed screwdriver and a course bristle wire brush. Before climbing under the car I put all 6 of my jack stands under it in case I shook it loose with my scraping, I don’t want to end the project prematurely by having the clutch pivot mounting bracket pierce my lung when the car slips off of a stand. I should add that I wore a respirator, eye protection, gloves and a ski cap. Even with this safety equipment I usually went home with dirty fingernails, eyes red from frequently fishing chunks out of them that got around the glasses and black snot (sorry, I have allergies and blow my nose a lot…). The hat was not so much a safety precaution as a practical way to keep from having to shampoo 6 times to get all the junk out of my hair, like I did the first night.
If not for the rebound strap this shot could be anywhere under the car. I took this picture so I could refer to it later when putting the restored rebound strap assemblies on the car.
Continue reading “Bodywork #4: Scraping through 47 years of crud”
Fiat 124 Sedan Special sway bar mount is not nearly as complicated as the drop link arrangement found on the Giuliettas I’m used to. Here the silent block IS the mount.
