I heard a good way to break the seal around the rear window was to use some piano wire to cut through the rubber. I got some old metal guitar strings and tried using those. We got through almost the entire bottom edge of the window before all the guitar strings broke. I’m going to have to find some other way to get the window out.
I also began using the grinder to remove some of the surface rust. I quickly realized that my compressor will not be up to the task of cutting out sheet metal and removing rust from the frame rails. I’m going to need one of those big 60 gallon compressors. Unfortunately, those run on 230V circuits so I will need to run some electric to the garage.
I removed the front to rear brake line, vapor line, and fuel lines. I’ll probably replace all these lines with stainless steel versions.
I removed the gas tank. It was easier than I thought. I’m guessing there is maybe a gallon of 10 year-old gas in there. The metal above the tank looked real good. The frame rails on either side are very rusty although it looks to be just bad surface rust. It doesn’t appear to have rusted through any of the frame. With all the rust-removal I need to do, I have to keep reminding myself that I originally planned to take 4 or so years on restoring the car.
The taillights and door panels came off today. I am not sure if the doors can be saved. Removal of the taillights revealed serious rust in the back corners.
Today, I removed the headliner and the rest of the interior panels and trim. All that is left in the interior is the dashboard and front kick panels. I think I will leave the dash in place and just get a new pad and trim for it.
Front seats are out. I had to cut the mounting bracket on the passenger seat because one bolt was very rusty and I couldn’t get anything to grip it to turn it. The front seats will need new padding and recovered. Once the carpet came out, I found large holes on the passenger side and a couple of small holes on the driver side.
I removed the rear seat and found the original build sheet. Looks like the car originally had the snowflake wheels, but now it doesn’t 
. I could not get the trunk open by reaching thru so I had to drill out the lock. The trunk floor is in excellent shape – just a couple of places with surface rust. The t-top bags were in there, but so was an old can of transmission fluid and it had leaked all over one of the bags. The underside of the trunk lid is very rusty so I will probably need to replace it.
I bought a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am on eBay for $710. It had been sitting for about 10 years. I plan on restoring it. I am not sure at this point if I want to keep the original engine and rebuild it or buy a crate engine. The body has some rust. I’ve never done any bodywork before, so this will be a learning experience for me.
I purchased the car on eBay and highly recommend the seller. Here’s a link to his eBay store: SandDPerformance. I’ll keep a link in the sidebar too.
