After getting the floor carpet pulled and most of the other items pulled from the floor I moved on to the rear of the interior and into the trunk. The interior side panels that flank the back seat as well as the back panel holding the speakers had to come out. From there I had to pull the rear bumper and tail lights, finishing up the rear of the car. The side panels were pretty easy as these were held in with simple sheet metal screws. There was still a matter of being careful with the movement of the panels as these things are made of whatever passed off as plastic back in the middle 60's. The last thing I want to do is make one abrupt move and crack or damage these panels, especially at the mounting points. Well with that, I did get the two panels out completely. The speaker panel wasn't really bad either as it was held in by a few 1/2" hex head bolts. With that the panel came out quick and dirty, going along side the side panels prior to their trip up to the garage to be put on the shelves or stacked up for cold storage while the body undergoes its transformation. With these panels pulled I did take time to use the shop vac to vacuum up all the dust and rust and dirt and crap that was accumulated behind these panels and on the floor, especially since most of this dirt was from the ants that made an ant hill in the car, up through the hole in the floor from the actual ground outside. Well needless to say, those little bastards have been formally evicted. Moving on back into the trunk area I took a few moments to pull the tail lights from their mountings. This was rather easy as well, only a few small bolts needing to be removed to get the two housings pulled free from the tail light panel. I will have to really look at that panel to see if I want to try and save it or just cut all this stuff out and replace all the sheet metal and start fresh. It would be nice to be able to retain some of the original sheet metal from the car. Lord knows not much is left. The bumper on the other hand wanted to be a challenge to remove. The large bolts holding the bumper to its mounts against the rear were rusty at best and seized at worst. I was able to get two out of four of the bolts free but ended up just pulling the reciprocating saw and angle grinder to chop out the nut side of the bolts from the inside so I can pull the bumper free. The remaining stubs of the bolts were easily removed and will be replaced with some chrome plated bolts later on during the rebuilding phase of the project. For right now I just wanted all these old fasteners removed. Even if I was able to get the nuts and bolts free, I still tossed a lot of these and will more than likely toss the whole lot, replacing them with all new hardware so this won't be a problem again. Most of these old parts are being held for the sake of scale, using them to line up panels to new mounting points for the body and any new frame mounts or other fastening points. With the old fenders and doors and other panels I will be able to see where I may need to reinforce the body or add mounting points, especially as I cut away parts of the unibody that will no longer be needed, such as the front and rear sub frames, the torque boxes under the rear seat area, and the old shock towers in the front and back. Most of this will not be needed as most of this structure will be provided by the truck frame itself. I just need to get mounting points for the fenders and front valance and bumpers as well as the radiator support that will need to be reinforced due to rust. Even if I did plan on rebuilding this car metal for metal, I will need to replace 90% of the metal since its either rusted to the point of being unusable or its just gone, rusted into dust. This project will definitely be a learning experience. I am coming into the home stretch when it comes to stripping the smaller stuff from the body. At this point I will start pulling stuff from the powertrain in order to prep the system for removal when we can get the car up to the garage. I will have to pull the driveshaft, exhaust system, shifter and engine/trans mount bolts. With that all that will need to be done at that point is hook the crane up to the unit and yank the works out. On a side note I will also pull the rear shocks and the backup lights from the rear just so those components will be out of the way when I do start working on the body. This project will definitely be a learning experience.
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