Well last month finally saw a warm spell in temperatures so I rolled Mad Max out of the garage and decided to crawl under the car and take a look at the frame. I recalled that it wasn't perfect and might have been in need of a little TLC so I thought I'd get a closer look:
Who the hell was I kidding??? The frame was totally SHOT
So I sat down, meditated, and came to terms with reality. T-minus 2 months till Moab - - - and I've got some serious magic I'm going to have to pull off!
The next day I rolled the Galaxie out and began the tear down. A couple pictures under the hood and a few bolts on the firewall to begin:
Next was the 8 bolts holding the bumper on. Naturally these bolts ended up being a real pain in the neck, ribs, fingers, and wrists. I broke 4 of the 8 bolts trying to get the bumper off!
Finally after a few bloody knuckles I was able to free the chromy carcass from the front of the car.
I had this weird theory I could just pull the whole front at once. This was mostly due to how long it takes to completely disassemble and reassemble a front end. Maybe my theory was more wishful thinking, but hell, this isn't a show car!!! I don't think my Galaxie would mind if I tried something new, I mean, at least it made it this far without ending up in the crusher, right? I started by wrapping a tow strap around the front:
Then I slowly began lifting, tracked down two bolts I missed, and continued slowly lifting...
"I love when a plan comes together!".... or was it 'apart'?
Ah, nothing like the sweet smell of freedom and victory, both of which were lingering in the air
All that was left was to find a spot to put 'er down!
I just tucked the front end back in the nose of the garage for safe keeping while the rest of the mayhem continued.