ShelbyFoister.com – Est. 1981
1Sep/110

So Many Pieces…

Alright, so by this point everything is removed but the transmission and the engine. Obviously I'm leaving the suspension and the steering in place so that I can deliver the car to the restoration shop as a rolling chassis and not just a pile of parts that can't be moved around the shop. I would just like to add that when the car pulled into my garage I really had no tools for this kind of project. I had a very small ratchet set and 99% of the disassembly was done with this set. As I have gone I have bought all of the tools as I need them. I am mechanically inclined and working on cars is nothing new to me but I have never taken on a project of this magnitude.

All in Pieces

 

I removed the window trim with the correct tool, but being a complete newbie with it I am afraid I may have damaged the trim in some places. I really hope not, I don't want to buy new stuff. I'll need to inspect it and hope I can straighten it back out if it's serious. For removing the window itself I used a large flat head screwdriver and drove it down between the glass and the body. The rear window was the most labor intensive part of the entire disassembly process. What a nightmare...
Here is the tool used to remove the trim, I found it at Advanced Auto Parts for under $10.

Trim Removal Tool

In the first photo on this post you can see the exhaust laying on the ground under the car. Par for the course I didn't have the tools I needed to really remove the exhaust. Not that pulling out the exhaust was hard but I could not get the car high enough to easily turn it so that the high arc in the back over the rear axle would clear. So I decided my objective was clear, this shit needed to come out and I don't care to save it so I'm going to man up and buy something dangerous (if used improperly).

Reciprocating Saw, Wins!

My advice to anyone removing exhaust on jack stands. Just cut it out, don't waste your time trying to find the best angle to pull it over the rear axle.
As I removed everything from the car I put all the screws and bolts and such in baggies with notes that indicated what they were for. I put all of the parts in boxes and labelled them. I tried to group all of the parts together into categories that I would be restoring them in. Such as Lighting, Interior, Body, Dash, etc... Unfortunately as I labelled and added notes inside of the baggies I didn't know what every little piece was called so I have notes that say things like "Bolts with threads on both ends go through the bottom clamp on the steering column and into the threaded piece on the bracket that holds the pedals" and my favorite one "Screws that hold the weird box thing to the front radiator support on the driver's side." I have since learned that it is called a  voltage regulator. But that's ok. I'm not going to correct myself now because when this car is done I'm giving all of these little notes and scribbles and greasy diagrams to my wife to make a scrap-book out of. Here are a few photos of my organization process.

Trim Organization

All of the trim, busted up or not is tied down to cardboard and hanging in my garage. Once everything is polished or replaced I'll be wrapping it in paper and putting it in the attic.

Boxed Up For Later

All of these boxes have labels and are organized into restoration groups.

Organization Process

This is what my organization process looked like. As I removed things I would drop it in its respective box and add it to the label. Anything that would not fit in a box was labelled and added to my spreadsheet. Yes, I have a spreadsheet also.

Click for the larger image to be displayed in all it's glory.

Restoration Log Spreadsheet

 

Maybe I am a little anal, maybe I am a little OCD. But I'm not going to lose anything. And I know how much this thingamajig costs even if I don't know its proper name.

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