No work, but a whole lotta haulin!

I went to Charlotte to pick up this beautiful 1979 Toyota Celica GT Hatchback. Engine turns over, but there's no key. Just the normal traffic, light rain, heavy rain, hail and long drive back from Charlotte.

Next day, I put a newish battery in it and got it to turn over. I also checked out the Chilton manual from the library while I wait for my ebay auction to end. I do need to get a key made as the seller had lost his set.

The car is complete. It even has all the trim in the trunk. The gauges seem to work. The carpet doesn't look to bad. This will make a nice daily driver and race car.

It looks like the Nash will go to the crusher for some sweet sweet dublons. I'll put the 620 back together and drive or sell it. I might just keep it as the engine has a new head.

Almost took a fork in the road today

It would have taken me to a 1991 Mazda 323 hatchback. Nice little car with lots of parts replaced: timing belt, water pump, alternator, belt. But, it's just not what I'm looking for, so onward with the current crapheap.

Off with it's Head, errr, Hiney!

This is what happens when you let untrained people build a $500 race car. We cut the back end off the Nash to slide it over the rear wheels. We're not able to drop it down, as the Nash frame sits just on top of the 620 frame. I suppose there could be more cutting and cussing, but this is about what it will look like. We'll add some metal and bracing to drop the fender down in front of and behind the wheel. That should give us some protection.

Now the front is another mess of fun. We're going to cut the inside to allow it to drop down onto the 620 frame. It will ride nice and low in the front.

Add some sheet metal to connect the pieces and viola! we have a race car. On the plus side, it will be easy to put a cage in. Oh the minus side, it will look like crap. But it will look like award winning crap. So that's the plan.

Lot of effort - Little to show

For tonight's work we lifted the Nash and slide the 620 frame under it. It doesn't look like much but it was a workout. The rear of the 620 is about 3' longer than the Nash and about 6" wider. The front looks like it will fit over the frame. So our plan is to chop the Nash apart past the B pillar and mount the front where it needs to go and the back as far back as we can. We'll then put some sheet metal to fill in the gaps and have a stretched Nash. Oh yeah, it's going to look funky. If that doesn't work, I'd love to find a Datsun 260/280 with no engine and tranny we can drop ours in. I'll start looking at CL for anything that may be available. Seriously, Datsun powered Desoto? What could go wrong?

Anyway, the real reason you come here, the results of our labors:

Sell all the glorious luggage/hauling space? Eric vetoed the idea of just putting another Nash end on the Nash end. Some people have no vision.

Look at that stance. Look at that styling. Look at that POS! Oh the humanity.

Looks like that frames line up. That's a plus.

Hovercraft activated

We were able to remove most of the running gear. The front spring mount bolts won't budge, so we're still working on a solution. I think it will involve the sawzall again. We used the engine hoist to lift the rear of the car up to get the rear axle out. There's nothing like watching the car slide backwards off the front jackstands. A quick girly scream and some forward pressure and all is well.

Working at the Car Wash!

Eric brought over his pressure washer and we used it to knock off about 25 lbs of West Minster dirt and cow dung. This should add about 5 hp to the vehicle when we're done. It was a nice feeling washing off the crud that kept dropping on us everything we worked under the Datsun. Now it's ready for its new shell.

Thursday's agenda: Remove all the crap off the underside of the Nash and jack it up!

Action shot of Cooter cleaning the frame. Look at that determination. Look at that concentration. Look at that POS. Oh lordy.

Ummm...Did we actually do anything?

Well, we got the old engine mount/cross member off the car. No, really, that's an accomplishment. Think rusty bolts. Now think 50 year old rusty bolts. Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about. We did manage to situate the engine and tranny where they're going to go (again.) So we're ready to built the mounts and get it in place.

Should we be concerned about the large amounts of rust. Or should we be concerned about the large amounts of missing steel and structural integrity?

General floor area

Yummy frame member. Don't know why this is showing up in this orientation.

Passenger side door sill