Patcon

The check valve may be missing but I still suspect the booster is bad...

You have your work cut out for you now. All of that paint has to come off if it peels that easily...

I would not apply for a salvage title. If I could get a clear title I would. In many states some cars that are total loss still carry clear titles and I have come across cars, including my present project, that could have been totaled but weren't. There are a number of states that have really harsh rules for wrecked cars, Florida being one of them. In my state there are no "rebuilt" titles, only salvage titles which means the car went back to the insurance company and they got a salvage title from the state. There is no reason to brand the car if you don't need to...

Don't you love being able to do it that way?!

I thought that was incorrect...

Hadn't spotted that yet...

I agree this car isn't a rusty as your latest but at that point I'm not sure it's a car. It might be a bunch of spare parts held together with rust... I noticed that there looks to be a good bit of filler in the rear hatch area where they normally rust. I guess it's possible they replaced the whole rear end with a 260z rear section. I will have to get underneath at some point to see if I can see what kind of signs I can find of welding

Yes, just got here last week. Many times these cars will start and run once they dry out and you change the fluids... Probably, if you look at the drivers door picture the yellow line near the door handle is the water line... Even if all the electrical were bad I have all of that here in spare parts. The rust is the bigger issue for me. I don't really want another big body and paint project...

If you want to avoid rust don't run it when there is salt on the roads. When you look at the underside of the car and how many of the seems are open for water intrusion it is very hard to seal them all up. Once the rust gets a foot hold inside the structure it is very hard to stop. If you have a nice clean rust free West coast car you should keep it that way by avoiding salt...

Here are some pictures of the "Rusty Pig". This car came out of Miami and has a salvage title. I was a flood vehicle so I assume it was in the process of being painted then they had a flood. I was hoping they wouldn't spend the time and paint to paint a "Rusty Pig" but I was mistaken I believe it's been lowered. Haven't looked to see how they did it yet.. Rockers look bad and would really need some work This is the part I hate most, the cowl area needs work... Early air cleaner I believe. I believe the engine has been replaced. Also shouldn't it have the early valve cover... Some new door seals in the box... Rear pan is wrong. The replacement from Zedd Findings is inside the car

Ok, I took another shot at the strut caps. I took pictures of the previous results. The first cap had some dull plate on it. So I added a 1/2 TBspn of brightener to the tank (3 1/2 gallons) . Then continued plating. It was sort of an experiment to see if I could brighten the plate part way through the process. The answer is ...no. The one on the right side of my hand is the second cap I plated. It was much brighter and plated out pretty good. There were a few sections that I would have liked to be shinier and that may be from the leaving them in the pickle too long. I may try skipping the pickle and see what kind of results I can get. It was interesting that the backside of both of them plated pretty good. I wonder if this has something to do with the shadowing effect making the plating finer I also experimented with the way I tied them because of the issues I had the time before this one. I found no difference this time. In actuality the one I plated with the wire through the hole did better but probably because I added brightener. I also used a fresh piece of copper wire. So it was either bad prep or a contaminate on the wire. So on this last past, I took the dull cap and started over.. I also switched away from the wire wheel I have been using. I was concerned about contaminants on the wire wheel. So I switched to a 3M ceramic brush. The yellow brush I am using is 80 grit, which doesn't give me the finish I want. It really needs to be finer. I am still working on that. I have the green one too but it is 50 grit. I had problems with my chromate tanks being too cold last time. This time, I had moved them into my shop, then I put them on heating pads to heat them up, which didn't work. I am going to use some larger tubs and use a hot water bath to get them to a decent temperature. When they are too cold the reaction seems to really slow down. I also bought a quart of brightener, so won't run short anytime soon. If you need some PM me, we can work something out. The 4oz seemed too small and the next size up was the quart. So a quart it was... Blasted it and brushed it. Tried to pickle it until the bubbling stopped but 10 minutes later it was still bubbling This picture is part way through the plating. Are any of you other platers getting brighter plate than this right out of the tank? This is after the blue chromate These are after yellow chromate They are not awful but they could be more evenly shiny. I did notice when I dried them that seemed to get a lot or red sheen to them. I don't know if that was accidental or some issue of my technique. I am going to continue to work on the details...It's all in the details!!!

@carnutatthebeach

I would hope there is some documentation for this somewhere. Not the previous owner told me...

It actually ran with the socket in the dizzy? How bought that!!!

The way I understand it is all the VIN tags (3) match each other but not the engraving on the firewall. So they are not original to this chassis

Ok. Spraying paint takes a lot of air and the more the compressor runs the hotter there air coming out of it is. As the air gets hot it absorbs water. When the water comes out the end of the paint gun the Venturi effect cools the air drastically and can cause water problems in your paint or water spitting. No harm in trying with it but you need to get a couple of dryers to put in line...

I was referring to compressed air for the paint gun...

Yeah that is a problem. I know the aluminum ones can be relined. It's expensive right now but I think over time it will be come more comparable to buying steel drums and they are more desirable from a correct part aspect. Is there some other way to get the drums off. Drive them off with the stub axle, maybe...

Sorry for that! So they either hot wired it or more likely towed it...

I agree with Grannyknot. Use it as you see fit and let sleeping dogs lie. If you are gonna sell it you should make the buyer aware of the issue. I would be surprised if you could get the firewall VIN used on a new title. DMV's don't really want to mess with these issues and you may end up in a situation where they questions the legal title of the vehicle. In other words you could potentially, maybe a long shot, loose the car or clear title. You get into a supremely gray area here but I have considered making the firewall VIN match the plates. The law and the DMV say the car is this VIN number, so is it improper to make the fire wall VIN match what they say it should be?

Yes!! Lincoln makes a good welder. Purchase a little bottle from a welding supply or buy an empty bottle and have them fill it. What is the situation on available air?

I hope you are saving the rear struts and the aluminum brake drums...

I agree with Mark on the flux core but I will also add I had boat loads of frustration with a cheap 100amp 120volt welder. I was like this can't be this hard or no one would do it. I bought a better welder, a Hobart, that is 220v which you don't really need and plenty of capacity and the welding got much easier... Thoughts on your approach: Do you have problem neighbors? Painting in SC is not a problem; painting in CA could be.. paint smells and problem neighbors could cause problems... I don't know that I would try to get all the way to metal. If I had the car all apart and blasted clean then I would go epoxy primer but for you, it just adds work. If you get down to something solid and well adhered I would start priming from there and block it out. The more you can remove from the car the better your Maaco job will look. I would probably leave all the glass out of it and just let them tape it up... You need to be careful with paint products!!! Especially products like epoxy primer, they can be very bad for your long term and short term health. You need a good respirator and know how to use and care for it. Is your garage big enough? Can you get all the way around the car with some room to spare? You will need to tent up the garage when you spray or it will be on everything and all your sanding dust will be in your paint. Also do you have a reasonably large source or fairly dry air to run a spray gun? The more CFM the better...

Do you know how it was stolen? Hot wired? Broken window? Towed?

Are you gonna paint it yourself? If not ask the body shop, they will have to stand behind it. If you are gonna do it yourself, talk to your local paint supplier. I suspect you will have to clean it good! Shoot a base coat with the flake in it. Then clear it. Basically a whole new paint job...